The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1895-03-15
NO GOVERNMENT.
vonaas Town That Has No
Municipal Officers.
uumboldt Manages to Avoid PayinA
nobt Contracted Nearly Twenty
Years Ago-IIistory of
the 4 fair.

!. humboldt Manages TO AVOID FayinA
nebt Contracted Nearly Twenty
Years Ago-IIistory of
the Affair.
he town of Humboldt, Kan. is an
<anized city of the third class with
IN hundred people, and for
.bteen years there has not been
municipal officer in the town,
h,orrh the city election has
H. held every year Thereby hangs
4 L. told by the Memphis CONNER.
4 Appeal. And as it contains warn
1 AGAINST the voting of bonds and go
I into debt it should be told. In the
s;nc of 1870 there was projected south
|, Function City to Parsons a rail-
IA called the southern branch Of the
H. Pacific. humboldt was not a
Inc town then, but bond voting was
/ fashion. and Humboldt, which was
enough to know better, voted
L. 10 the extent of one hundred
4 seycntv-fve thousand dollars
tbe road. Not satisfied with this
II in 1876 the town voted twenty
] thousand dollars to the Fort Scott,
snboldt & Western, road known in
/ west as the "Old Fifth Parallel"
H. road was graded from Fort Scott
Humboldt. but it was never equipped.
h Grade may be seen to-day by pas
neers riding along the Missouri Pa
Il But the grade did not bring the
H. Of trade that was expected, and
! bonds being sold to the usual lin
eent purchaser, the town began to
irmish around the courts to keep from
Eipr an unjust debt. The inevitable
ne and in 1876 the town as legal
horation dissolved into thin air.
h. The officer of the court came to
omboldt in 1876 to compel the mayor
4urn over the interest due on the
,nds he found that, although there
a been red-hot election the spring
Ia re- and although there was man
b. called mayor, there was in deed
ID in legal truth no mayor at all. The
nation has remained the same for
ohteen years. In two years more the
'bt win be outlawed. Then Humboldt
coming up to breathe the free air
&c more as a municipal corporation.
present the programme is written
b. tangled web" Every year
mayor and city council are elected.
Il old administration retires and the
b administration comes in-only 1t
esnt 1t comes to the threshold, but
Doesn't enter. 1t does not equality"
Tie council meets without taking
! oath of office. The mayor is mere
chairman of committee of citizens
De- couneil-and the meetings of the
hmittee are held regularly. Ordi-
bees are passed giving the city mar
al and the street commissioner power
keep the town orderly and clean.
ie council cannot handle any public
'ney. The little money used by the
unci is raised by private subscrip-
N among the residents of the town,
q as it does go through any red tape
chine and as everyone who pays
ese volunteer taxes knows just how
lch he pays for everything, the
,ney is not squandered. 1t is, in fact,
siness administration. The city mar
al is only a fat functionary. AS city
lrshal he has power to do nothing
cept scare small boys who throw
ion rinds in the alleys and to notify
ners of pig pens to clean up, but as
lstable of Humboldt township he can
est men and enforce the laws as
II as the best policeman in the world.
e street commissioner has no power,
re with the consent of the people,
lose property he grades up or
wn. He is sort of advisory board.
lie city clerk issues licenses to show
lich are clearly fiat, and his records
the proceedings of the council would
i've no weight in any court. None of
lese appointive officers qualify. The
hole machinery of administration in
e little town is carried on by common
nsent
The present mayor-the man who
IS elected, but who has not qualified,
d will not-is w. Z. McElroy, editor
the humboldt Union. Mr.. McElroy
been in the little town for thirty
lrs, and his paper is twenty-nine
lrs old. lie thinks when the citizens
out of this hole the man who offers
vote bond on the town site will be
nged. lie says that the city stands
ldy to compromise with the limo
NJ purchasers" of the bonds for ex-
ly what the purchasers are alleged
nave paid, twenty-five cents on the
lar This proposition, he declares.
5 been made and rejected several
les. Every few months an officer
IN some court tries to find funds of
extinct corporation in some bank in
e county. Not long ago the officer
Ied Lola. But so far the courts have
en- unable to get the funds. The lit
Town seems to have the best of the
A'esy, and only time will release It