San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-04-03
PAY YOUR DEBTS.

ease the strain on any community
as the prompt payment of the little
debts owed by one to another. The
payment of these keeps constantly
in circulation a larger amount Of
money than the payment OF a sum
infinitely larger paid into the bank
or into the hands OF some capital
ist who will tie it up in bonds or
land investments. The butcher,
the baker, the grocer and all the
rest, not excluding the newspaper,
| find their readieSt returns in the
small amounts put into circulation
for the payment OF hand to mouth
debts. What is true Of the bust
ness of individuals is equally true
OF: the business OF, corporations pri-
vate or public. Debts must be
paid or there will be no easiness to
the situation. San Antonio realizes
this at present, and does so very
keenly. Her treasury is empty,
and money is being borrowed to
pay her servants, those who have
been hired to do her work in the
municipal departments, not be-
cause she has no income, but be-
cause her income is not paid by
those from whom it is due. There
is no justice in compelling the citi-
zens who promptly pay their share
of the city's income to pay interest
on the debts of the delinquent
taxpayers. This livingsOn the
interest of what is owed is as ruin
Gus in public affairs as in private
business. The taxes due and long
past due in this city are keeping
the city poor, preventing those who
do her work from being paid &C.
cOrding to contract and their just
expectations. The money thus
withheld is kept out Of circulation,
as these unpaid servants cannot in
their turn pay what they owe in
the business houses OF town. Rents
are not kept up and landlords are
hard up. A regular stream Of an.
noyance and Inconvenience as well
as actual loss grows out Of
the negligence OF the delin-
quent tax debtors, because the
money needed in city improve
ments is not at hand and
the uncertainty OF the returns pre-
vents a good business management
from borrowing on a contingency.
If the taxes now past due were con-
veyed into the city treasury within
thirty days the city would feel the
rebound in every motion of its life.
The woman is not in it with the
cOlored brother up in those north
ern states, where equal privileges
in restaurants and cars and hotels
are given to the men OF color, while
the white women are denied the
right of suffrage. The North is not
through with its education by a
little bit.
So long as there are so many
millions of acres in this country
that cannot and will not be utiliZ-
ed for agricultural purposes for
generations to come there is sense
in the hegira OF northern farmers
into the equally fertile and far
more comfortable climate of the
southern belt. This having to pile
up for six summers months in
order to have the whereWith to
buy stock feed and house fuel
during the other six is being venti-
lated, and the result is that the
enterprising soil tiller Of that
frigid zone is making preparations
to leave his snow bound home
stead and take lands where a good
return will reward his labor and
where his winters will not consume
the substance Of his summer
growths. To these men Southwest
Texas presents a most inviting
{ fold, and when its advantages be-
come more widely known there
will be a general occupation of
I these southwestern agricultural
lands.