Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-02-14

hack with the apparent Intention Of
stickiBgfO the big show. y
"a call ar. two mere met without
respnDse. ami then g. f. Vasaly
made the suggestion that the city
clerks salary be taken NJ. aud II
was suggested that candidates he
heard from. The chairman and 9TH
ers expressed a belief that the meet
ing should discuss expenses
ana let the candidates go
before the people az they chose
on the question. No candidates
were urged 70 CRATE ON the proposals
ton. More calls for remarks were
made. and..J. FL, Rhodes finally took
the floor. re referred to the tax
levy III about AZ mills, and mentioned
the items Of which 1t was, Composed.
AZ follows. School tax l7.3 mills;
city tax, l2.2.mills; county, 8. s. mills.
and state. 295 mills. He expressed
u belief that the school expenses
could be reduced a considerable, and
went into details on wages. lie
called attention tn the general claim
that u dollar would 70 farther
now than 1t would few
years ago, yet there had been
a general increase IN teachers
wages In the city. He took up city
matters. and snld tina t many believed
the street tx pqnse Of over $1,000 q year
could he greatly reduced; some
I thought that the police force cOald
be reduced lii number, and possibly
in salary: other items had in the
past exceeded the real necessities Of
the case; the Electric & Water
company was receiving very large
som. ana a reduction should be OBJ
tained. He strongly advised a con-
ference with the Electric & Water
company, and an effort 20 settle any
differences III business way. II Il
conference failed Oi such results as
were desired or possible, then 1t was
time enough to consider what other
methods were necessary. He referred
to the city clerks salary, and SAID
that a salary IT 500 q month was
certainly not too much for a clerk
who possessed the necessary ability.
and who was obliged CO be mt the
city hall all the business hours OF
every working day. His remarks
were we'll received.
G. A. Ltndbergh next responded to
IL request to hear from him. He be-
gan at the iuuntla ton Of che income.
assessment of proper
ty and the payment Of taxes. He
pointed out many defects in the as
sessnent, aud the consequent delin-
quency IN many taxer. He suggest
ed the appointment Of county SUI
pervisOr Of assessments, and the re-
ductiOn Of assessments where they
were too high. and anincrease " here
they were too low. He expressed u
desire for reductions In such salaries
AZ could be reduced with justice to
the city's employees and to the well
fare of the city's interests. He re-
cognized the burden Of the sums paid
the Electric & Water company. and
was led to believe that the amount
could he decreased in the interests of
general economy II any effort was
made for an adjustment with the
company. Until such effort had
been made in a business spirit, he
could zee no grounds for the annlll-
ling Of contracts and the starting OF
law suits. He also referred
to the city clerks salary, and be-
lieved that as long as the present To-
cation Of the Office and the hours of
were required, no reduction
in salary could be fairly demanded.
j. L. Thatcher then explained some
matters Ut school expenses: and cor
rectel some erroneous Impressions
that had been made by the repetition
of unfounded rumors. -. ss.yr@ 49,
A. r. Davidson then spoke, and
urged reduction in expenses and
tax rate, and explained that the
board Of education. expected to re-
duce expenses about $1,000 next year,
but had decided that a reduction in
salaries would be of great injury to
the schools. The payments to the
Electric & Water company he re:
garded as too large for the city to
stand in Its present condition, and
urged a business-like settlement OF
any differences. He also said that II
the Council filled tile vacancies, he.
hoped they would select men Of
honesty, and Of good clean
records, So that the community
would have confidence in them. He
the appointment OF com
mittee by the meeting, as had several
of the previous nukerS, to confer