Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-04-17
MAYORS MESSAGE.
Mayor Richardson Makes a Few
Z Suggestions to the Council
Help Little Falls.

LITTLE FALLS MINI, April Z, lS'6.
To THE HONORABLE COMMON t0UN-
CHI. AND CITIZENS OF LITTLE FALLS:
Having at the recent election held
in this city for city officials been
elected for the sixth time to the
Office of MAYOR 1T our Young anu
beautiful city. can hut feel some
what 4la,rd ut beiLg 40 frequently
honored hy being place., 1T the head
of our city government. by the
suffrage 1T the intelligent voters III
Little Falls, with whom have lived
for upwards of forty years., mourn
ing with them in times .nf adversity
and rejoicing with them 10 times OF
prosperity.
1t il not my purpose at this time
to go back into the history of our
city, az II has been my practice here
tofore to do in my messages to the
several councils that have had con-
troll of the affairs Of the city during
the several times that have had the
honor vt being chosen mayor.
Neither shall l go largely into de-
tails, and undertake 10 dictate to
you as t. the number and kind OF
officers. and the amount OF. COM
pensatiOn you should give each
employee of the city, as l regard all
OF you men nf excellent judgment
and have, believe, already carefully
considered most, II not all OF the
matters that are likely to come b.:
fore you for consideration. shall,
therefore, content myself with simply
calling your attention to matters vi
general interest to all Of us us citi-
zens. 1t is now seven years since we
threw off the swaddiing clothes of a
village, and dOnned the robe OF u
city. Time has demonstrated the
fact that we put on too gorgeous
suit, and have generally lived beyond
our means to pay as we went; so
that today finds us something like
twelve months behind in paying our
current expenses.
Although this condition Of things
has existed for several years, it is
but recently that the people gener-
ally have become aware Of the tinan-
cial condition of our city. You are
aware Of the action that has been
recently taken by calling public
meetings to cNrl~i.ler and look into
the financial condition Lf the city,
and that u COMMITTEE" of citizens
recommended Il radical reduction In
the expenses and cost Of running the
various departments of the city
government, and institutions that
are supported by taxes paid by the
people. In the action you have thus
far taken, you have Welded to- the
known wishes of the people, to- a
great extent. Many of our citizens
are in hopes that the school board
will join hands with you and see
their way clear to reduce the ex-
penses OF running the schools. 1 am
of the opinion that they will comply
with the expressed wishes of the
people 80 far as they can without
impairing the efficiency ofourschool.
I very much fear that the ASSESS
ment of this year in the city will be
materially reduced on the real estate,
which seems to be demanded In the
interest OF justice. Real estate In the
city is. on an average, assessed very
m UGH higher than outside property.
in proportion to its real value. II
this is done our basis ON which to
raise revenue will he reduced. which
furnishes another reason why we
should ecOnomiz+ and reduce our ex-
penses as low t,s possible.
While it is fact that we are poor
and find it necessary to economize as
much as possible. we are by no
means on the verge OF bankruptcy.
nding thelhard times that
have generally prevailed throughout
the country slice we were INCORPORATED
as a city. Little Falls has shown
far brighter than any other star
among the constellation of young
cities, not only in Minnesota, hut IN
the entire Northwest, having in
creased in population from 1890 to
1895 from 1884 to SIG, being an in
crease of 1T per cent, which is more
than double that done by the next
most prosperous city incur state.
As to what our future growth will
be, much depends upon the action Of
those who have the management of
the affairs of our city. During the
past year many fine residences have
been erected, but not many business
blocks, and thus early in the season
several new dwellings are being con-
strucled. While l see nothing that
indicates boom or mushroom
growth is to take place in the near
future, I can assure you that there
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