The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1896-01-31
SOME SENSIBLE
SUGGESTIONS
A Great Deal OF Public Interest Is
Stirred Up Over the City
Warrant Question.
CoUNcILMEN ARE ACrrv
The Impressions OF = Prominent Banker On
the Situation, and Ms Valuable niutS
CoueerniuG Important Phases
ol Proposed Change,

Courerniuq important Phases
oi Proposed Change
I Tho PRINCIPAL, and In tact tho only.
| topic OF discussion On the streets yCatcr-
/ day was the city council meeting Of the
I previous day, and moro particularly. that
I portion OF Il referring to tho PROPOSED
transfer OF all the various fupGs in the
municipality, to ono general pool The
public interest was very keen everywhere.
and made itself manifest by stree, cor
ner talk in all directions, which was
T materially assisted by mcinbcrs of the
council who appeared very dvslruus ot
ascertaining what the state OF the public
mind really was
Some ~ the councllmcn who had
through motives OF prudence. vigorously
opposed the proposed chango. werO anN.
toUs TO put themselves on record as not
by any means combating tho main ideas
of the measure itself, and they shnrvd IN
the general belief that the ordinance prl-
MARTY, VAS an excellent one. Messrs,
Young and Bergman particularly. wero
emphatic IN the expression OF this opin.
ION Both OF them heartily concurrcd M
the opinion cdltnrlallv expressed In vcs-
hNANAN sNFANA taAs AlAs#A ~ was NAA'AaNAfNtN
impossible for the clty TO pass any kind
" rcliSc bill with the object Of COM
pcnsating city officials who had already
signed receipts In fun FOR their wages.
and both declared that u the ordinance
resulted IN any material decrease. Ia the
amount OF these salaries. they would
Introduce an ordinance calling FOR IN.
creased pay an around, IN order TO cover
up the shortage
Mr. $. s Gordon. cashier Of the First
National Bank. Is among those who have
decided Ideas about the new movement.
and In an interview with an Astorlan rep
rcsentative yesterday. he gave very
clear and business like opinion conccrn-
Ing the mcritS OF the matter under dis
cusslon. He said;
THE police fund. ns at present constl-
tuted, consists OF the cash brought In
tr1m various license sources. and out OF |
Il are paid the salaries OF all the city I
officials, leaving a good margin OF cash |
which Is continually being utilized TO |
assist other funds There Is over s;,uol la 1
the police fund now. 4 great many war
rants on the general fund arr over three
and half years behind. and there arc
also u lot OF warrants for the extension
OF Chenamus. GerevleVe and Court street
and some sewer assessments. Tor which
thu city will be ultimately liable. al
though understand that there are some
OF the council who do not think
so These the city should pay. and will
be forced to pay The esti-
mate for the revenues Tor the coming
year. OF S5Se0. made by the ways ana
means committee. Is, think over
and Il would seem that
$500 would hC gpod deal near
ar the mark Taking this later
igure as basis the city could pay
,fter deducting the $1,000 interest on
bonds and warrants. .he sum OF sn0I |
This amount would come within 81 Oo0 OF
,ayinE OF the whole OF the outstanding
which amount TO $1,000 at :
resent and II this expectation IL realised !
he general warrants now outstanding.
yill, believe. undoubtedly, De cleared on :
n eighteen months Let Us take an H. u
istration. The county Is now selling q
'arrants at nlnety-eight cents. These v
'arrants VIII run two wears and half.
nd may be longer and are drawing u
My eight Per cent interest Then, au- n
,her Illustration. Within this present ~
eek there have icen Si.0oo worth OF King "a
'uniy Washington warrants sold IN As. d
ria. These were a new issue. They had %
accrued interest. and thoy bear on g
Ieir face statement Of interest al seven n
~ one-half per cent, and the expecta-
on Is that they will bc paid IN eighteen
onths. The man who bought these paid
.ree-quarters Of cent premium for
lem. making his interest really less than u'
ven per cent. Taking into considera- ~
On the fact that neither Of these war H'
nj issues Of Clatsop or King county. m
q really as good an investment ds our ~
yu Astoria city warruqts woul be II u
is new scheme Is carried into eject W
I'VE no hesitation IN saying. that atir ui
uncipal paper viii he worth ninety -"
70 cents IN "A very little while after the le
w general fund II created" ~
As things are now. our city paper is bi
.tting into disrepute, and II viii be ru- ra
alton to our credit IL something Is not co
ne quickly At present every man who &c
lls goods Of any kind to the city, figures pa
the time II will take TO get his money
I'd sticks on the price accordingly. The
Ily object in Issuing bonds, would be-
fund an Indebtedness that We have N,
ultimate prospect Of paying. II would
great deal better. IN my Judgment, es
get around the trouble by paying eight Sc
r cent on warrants for n few years than q
< per cent On bonds Tor twenty years di
the city council carries out this new po
home In an honest and careful manner. 10
ere Will be no need TO issue bonds of f''
y kind II the municipal government on
not extravagant, q VIII pun out all tN
mt and / have reason to believe that ni'
cry councilman is fully alive to the ma
uation. There are no bigprojects In nm
INT. no very large street improvements let
tually nocesgnrv rt present we havo lnG
rly good roads. tic fire department is
ly supplied with material. and / can 20
, no reason why waste should occur I'm
y part OF the city government during N