Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-10-26

There is no other explanation which
will stand the test of reason. or which
will explain satisfactorily the extreme
energy with which certain Republican
Councilmen and city officials are work.
ing the thing along. To make this
{ clear, | shall have to go back three OF
four years in city history For some
years previous to 1895 the city habitu-
ally ran little short of money. in var
ious departments. and it became a Gus
tom, which shall not defend. to allow
bills to be "pigeon-holed'' and to stand
over to the next year. The. Republi-
cans went into the campaign for the
election of January. 1895, with the cry
of reform and the distinct promise
to the people that they would change
the Democratic method of transacting
city business. would wipe out ,npaid
balances of bills. and would instill bus
1ness-like methods into the city govern
ment How well they succeeded is a
matter of history. The clamor for
place was so great ard the capacity for
municipal administration so small. that
they early found themselves hopelesslv
stranded. financially. AS a wav out thew
determined to resort to an issue of
80. ct't 'liE pCOblt WOuIu fiOI nave II
that wav. Then they determined tn in
crease taxation, but before doing SO.
they distinctly made the promise that
atl arrearaees would be wiped out. and
the cltv's affairs put upon a sound ba-
SIC They increased the city levy from
50c on the 500 to SAC, which took
10000 extra out of the pockets of the
taxpayers. but the city's floating in
debtedness was not wiped out" On
the contrary, they left the gas works
with an overdraft of about s13 900. and
even then, before tie year was out.
they were again putting bills in the
pigeon-holes. In 1896 more bills were
pigeon-holed and the condition of the
city was much worse, in this particular
at the beginning of 1897, than it was
under the rule of the despised Demo-
Gratis. Now, the outstanding orders
not including the ees works overdraft
which has been reduced through close
economy on the part of the Trustees
alone.to about $4,000, amounts to 500 900
and the people UP at the CITY Hall are
hopelessly stuck again-worse off in
fact, than they were before thew in
creased taxation. 1t would never do.
for political reasons to increase taxa
ton again, they either can't or will
not, economic. and in casting around
for way out of Egypt. they fixed upon
the reminding scheme. They have ac-
cordlDeiy determined TO try this racket
upon the people. have fixed she dose up
In what is meant to be an attractive
form. and are going to ram it down
me throat of the public if thew can
II it succeeds, the unpaid bills will be
taken up. and the administrative
Wheels Will have been nicely creased
Lhere will no occasion to think of any
such unpleasant thing as economy in |
city administration for some years to
come, the payment of the city's bonded |
obligations will have been saddled on !
he future, and the harvest time of the |
patriotic and astute City Hall crowd
will have fully come This is the milk
n the reminding cOcoanut. and it's pres
'nce fully accounts for the hue and
Try which has been raised that the re-
undlng idea is brilliant scintillation
II master mind, and that there is no
'olitlcs In 1t. If there was no politics
n It, it would stand no more show at
ne City Hall than feather in hades.
Mr.. Forgey has written an alleged
demonstration of the plan Of salvation
90 mHch, he realty proves 'Hotf1i gss
md makes some misstatements besides.
Near the outset he says:
zone difference between the present re-
unding project and those of past history
aiken at its lowest possible figure and not
me dollar is added. In no other of the
)ast refunds has such been the case-in- !
7ariably the debt has been increased"
| believe that is true: and that is |
xactly what the father of the refund |
ng idea wanted to do this time, until |
t was pointed out by more discerning !
'fficials that to add 100000 to the !
um total of the bonds would be to de- |
eat the whole idea And not only was
originally proposed to increase the |
mount of the loan 100000, but it
vas also intended to take up the
water works debt of 100000, and add
o it the charge upon the city treas
Try while making the Water Board
ork over $4,000 a year to aid in
,reasing the wheels. This scheme was
knocked out in committee, after it had
been endorsed and approved by the
eaders. The leaders pretended to
agree, but in reality they wept at see
ng so much ready money escape their
Mr.. Forgey then presents table
which shows the present city debt to
be S525, 900 1t is really much more than
that sum. OF this, $4,000 is the gas
works balance, which the Republicans
pledged to pay, along with other float
ing debt, in 1895, but which they let
severely alone Of the rest, $22, 200
outstanding city orders, the
result Of Republican extravaganza and
The remainder, S493,-
200, represents city bonds. These
bear interest at the rate of Az, and
s per cent, and it is proposed to re-
fund at 4, no bonds to be paid for ten
years, and the principal to be there
after reduced at the rate of S21 900 per
year. Mr.. Forgey fails to show that
the bonded debt is steadily being re-
duced. that the interest charge on the
people is annually becoming lighter,
and that in a very few years the city's
obligations will no longer be burden,
and that during each recurring year.
under the present system of paying
debt as it falls due, the city will have
more and more money to expendS in
other directions; he is at no pains to
explain to the voter that we are to
pay out 100000 for interest. during
the next ten years, under his plan,