The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1896-01-25

Mr.. Drummond has very efficiently d
and w. j. Howe were his assistants. Boi
saying they would cash in the aggregate
$4,000.
And this is the great bueaboo will
which the gentlemen try TO alarm TN
~ax-paye and urge this supposed exor
bitaDt levy as a reason for a removal o
the county seat to Higginsvillel
The court house was built between tn
wears 1S47 and 80, and is worth TO-DAY
S25, goo. 1t cost over 10000. At that da,
Il great portion of our county was unim'
proved, and miles of land etwee here
aud Lexington were covered with wild
prairie grass. AS late as 1852 the value o
our county property, including slaves
was only SO, 564 5000. 1t was thought by
the fathers that at that time (1S4N tht
present court house was commensurate
with our wealth; but now, at a day when
cities, towns and villages are dotted al
over those former prairies, and the county
IL a garden spot from the river TO the
county boundaries, and our wealth aggre'
gates S12, 0O0, 900, we arc told that's an apPro'
priation-no thrown away. but actually
needed to be expended upon the peoples
property for their benefits exorbitantI
Lexington, by her public spirit and en-
terprise, is now building a structure ovei
the Missouri river which not only ada
/ Ndlu0 W ChCl Ae0
county, but the taxes from the assessment
of which will in a few years pay this pal
try 81, 900 thrice over.
But let us examine these resolutions fol
further reasons for the proposed removal
/ read:
s.Whereas, The city OF H~igginsville /;
more centrally located aud more accessI'
bic to all residents of the county, there
fore making it less burdensome and costly
to visit the same for transaction of bust
ness and for attending court" &C.
MY feIlow-citizens, il the design is tc
find the most centrally located point fol
the county seat, then / submit that the
court house should be erected on one OF
those beautiful mounds that crown the
city OF MAYHEM. AS a central point, from
her throne of beauty and grandeur, over
looking one-halt the county, certainly
Mayview leaves Higginsville lar behind
(Applause.). And suppose the Santa Fe
crosses on our bridge at Lexington and
runs q line south through MAYHEM
might be q cause of regret that you nad
moved the county seat TO hlggInsVliIe
instead OF to the broad heights OF May
view.
"burdensome costs, attending the court,
paying taxes" etc.
No man need attend the county seat TO
nav taxes. h law, sec. 1902, statutes
1859, requires the collector to give public
notice by hand bills put up in the several
townships aud by publication in a news
paper for two weeks that he Will meet the
tax-pavers in their respective townships
at a point designated for not less than
three days to receive their taxes.
II by sickness or other cause the tax
payerc cannot attend in his or adJoin-
ing township at these periods he can pay
his taxes through the mails. Even a nom
resident has this privilege. See sec. I6O6.
Judge Catron, our collector, told me
this morning that three-fourths OF the
taxes were paid through the mails py
checks and drafts. You know at nearly
ali the towns are banks through which
the taxes are transmitted to the collector
every wear, q ID the only cost is the amount
of postage required. So there is nothing
in that.
man knows that either the plaintiff or de-
PENDANT paws the costs, fees and mileage OF
witnesses, which costs cover tnelr ex-
penses, and | am sure that the good
people of Lexington sharse 10 .; ,nore ea lof q
than our friends in Higginsville would.
| Besides our farmer friends love catnsns
and while Higginsville would have 10 I'M
port them in q stale condition Lexington
Furnishes them fresh from the longest
river in the world. (Great laughter and
applause.) Move the county seat and you
oct no more catfish. (Renewed
Lexington has q line of railway from wa
verIy TO the western border OF the county
affording a means of travel for a distance OF
twenty-odd miles not enjoyed by Hig-
vinsville. The population OF Lexington
or Lexington township is double tnat OF
HigginsvilIe or Davis township. Le1lng-
ton il located III the most populous portion
OF the county.
Resides. il YOU move the county seat
east 70 Higsinsville do not the people in
the western part OF the county pave tha6
much farther to go east TO reach higgins
Vile? You injure not only we i9Fsese
..~.lAta fnUnQhln IN fine
county, but you incommode a vast number
VII reside west and south and east oil
I~exiugton. Will injure one portion
of your fellow cittzens TO accominooate
the other? Is this a falr plea!
Pint IL YOU are com elled at any time to
visit your county seat, would you not
prefer. rather than pillow around the
muddy streets of Higginsytile, to spend a
day in that "Athens o! Missouri" noted
throughout the land for her colleges,
churches-representing every religious
nodv-her beautiful women, her broad,
nayed streets, her handsome edifices
empowered in q living forest, her proud
old historic battle ground, the neatest
onera bouse in the state, and more bricks
IN her pavements han in all the houses
OF Higginsvilhf Greet applause
Expense to go to the county seatF
That reminds me of an incident tnat
of HieeipsyiIie approached an old farmer
and asked him TO sign a petition to
remove the county seat, stating IL would
cost the tax payers nothing. The farmer
signed it. He then pulled another paper
and asked the farmer TO snoseai9e 99bbe
farmer, thought this thing was 70 cost
Nothing. why il would only cost me a
dollar q year 70 60 TO Lexington, ana
can 20 there for a hundred years Oh sAe1
amount. tGreat laughter.)
For some reason all the complaint seems
to come from Higginsville. Yet Higgins
Vile is not injured. She Is IN close con-
nection with The county seat. BESIDES.
Higgipsville Is supplied with a court
house. Every suit may be brought there
ii SO desired, and save all expense OF
coming to Lexington. But it seems that
not satisAed~<es they promised tney "oulo
be--to haYe q COURT house thefeI theS
want to deprive the most populons sec
ton. and ali the western part OF the
county, of the court house at Lexington,
which the people have been taxed 10
build, and all for no sufficient or plaus-
ible reason.
interested in Coneorala. to fstnoYe the
county seat to EigeinsVillef
Some of you are farmers. You doupI-
less W lots in Concordia, or your rela-
lives or friends do. Do you think that
ii HigginsVille increases IN population
aud commercial Importance Instead oil
Lexington-twenty-bv miles RWay-tnat
such condition would increase your trade
or improve your IuATAtI oIu JOu cfSi
know a tender plant to flourish under the
shadow of a great, broad spreading WeedT
Did not the weed sap and draw away from
the plant the patronage OF the AIR and
sunahiue 30 peedfRl to its growth? Your
neiFhbnring town of AullViile was once
one of the greatest stock and grain ship
ping points in the county, and Il place of
no mean commercial Importance. Look
at her today and take warning from her
fate. She gre under the shadow of Hig-
einsvilie. ii the wealth of the world was
more evenly divided aud could be kept so
nv honorable competition and manage
ment. mahkipd would be happier 80 far as
the things OF this world Gopld produce
happiness. So 1t is with cities: II they
were more evenly populated the inhab-
itants would be more prosperous as n
whole.
But let US now dIseot the last and re-
naming plank in this wondrFui Platform
This plank consists OF . proposition
that certain citizens of HiHEtnsFhle and
yIcinity will execute a bond tor 10000 Tor
the purpose OF buying groundh and erect
ing thereon a court house and tosit block
i. Guaranteeing the '~round snail cost no
more than $1,000, SO that s62uyu spail re,
natein TO be 'appFopfiate6 ~ erfettne gAld
bIiiIdings., PRoVIDED AND 7N-qoR1fTIoN
that the seat Of Justice be mofe4 IRON
Lexington to Higgipsyille; &sht1.
y ae..f ont NTH sEhO CnO. N|WOInG |