Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-11-24

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| dragging the city down with it.
Moreover, the Registers partisan
ship is quite satisfied with the present
condition Of the Republican party
The people of this city are capable
of laying aside party feeling when
the interests of the city are a. sake,
| as they are in this instance. Mr.. For-
| gey and his confreres up at the G ~
Hall do not seem to appreciate this fact.
| They have been loudly accusing the
Register of injecting politics into this
discussion and of acting from political
| motives This howl has been constantly
raised when the refunding schemer5
| failed to find any other method of meet
| ing the arguments advanced in these
! columns against the outrageous refund
| ing plan. 1t is a repetition of the ce!e-
brated case of the shrewd pickpccket
| joining in the crowd of pursueis and
bowling stop theft The Register
has never considered politics N con-
nection with this matter and has pre-
! tested against the Introduction OF poll
tics into the discussion on the part ct
! the City Hall ring. They, AMI they
alone, have endeavored to make it
political matter, and they know why
They dare not fairly and honestly dis
cuss the matter on its merits, although
! they are fond of quoting AMI requoting
confusing mass of irrelevant figures
and tables to dazzle the ignorant and
mislead the casual reader. Therefore,
they hope, by making this thing a po-
litical matter. the better to accomplish
the trick by the force of partisan vote
at the polls, which they are now en-
deavoring to arouse by the aid of paid
party workers in every ward In the
city and by all the power and infiu-
| ence that can be eXerted from the City
Hail. So much for Mr.. Forgey's advice
as to the policy the Register ought to
pursue to be consistent. Delving into
the case from another point OF view,
Mr. Forgey says:
EX-SherlH FranZhelm Is reporter as
| saying: Il don't like the ten year clause.
If the indebtedness We're to be PAID al
once it would be all right" The ten year
clause is not one peculiar to this ordl-
/ nance. The fact is, that since 1860 scarce
ly a loan of any magnitude has been
! made that began redemption in less than
And Mr.. Forgey thinks that because
some of our loans in the past have
been made under these conditions that
that is a reason why we should do so
now. This is logic that won't hold water.
But Mr. t'orgey delves into his "fgger"
repository again and brings up double
handful of figures in an elaborate tab
ulated statement showing the financial
condition of the city. Now, everybody
who has studied this question is per-
} fectly familiar with these figures; every
| body knows the citys financial condi-
( ton; and everybody knows that after
| three years of rule by the present City
Hall ring the city is worse off than it
ever was. The present City Hall ring
raised taxes % per cent. one year, has
spent in round numbers million of
dollars of the peoples money and yet
| there is less than nothing to show for it.
| We do not need Mr.. Forgey's tabulated
| We all know the city finances are IN
! very bad way and that the City Hall
crowd are after more money to spend
and in the meantime they want 10 cover
| up their maladministration by refund
/ ing their own shortages along with the
rest Of the debt and to stop payment
on the principal of the whole for ten
years, in order that they may get at the
money we are now paying toward re-
ducing the principal.
This is not a deep nor an intricate
question to understand, despite Mr..
Forgey's formidable looking figures. 1t
is simply a question of how the CITY
shall best get out of the difficulty
| the incompetence and waste of the pres
| ent city administration has got it into.
! That is the whole sum and substance
of the thing. The refunding ordinance
ting money for improvements, for if any
of these are to be made to amount to
| anything at all taxes will have to be in
creased in the immediate future. The
question is simply what is the best
! plan for the city 20 pursue IN this emer-
gency, refund over a half million of its
debt in such a way that we will nave TO
pay sum equal to forty per cent. of
! it all in interest before a dollar Of the
| principal can be paid and making it
cost million dollars in all to pay it, as
| the refunding ordinance proposes, and
| al! for the mere sake of spending other
| wise the small sum of thirty odd thou
| sands year we are now paying en- the
| principal of the debt, or shall We con-
| tinue the present system of paying this
on the principal every year and thus
| reducing the interest chalse at COM
| pound rates until in three or four years
| we will have a comfortable and very
| rapidly growing balance in the treasury