Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1897-01-28

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eion of cities, whereas here, on &C.
count of the Davenport holdings. no
whatever has been taken
OF the most beautiful building sites
in close proximity to the
city. This makes it all the easier to
get unusual and splendid park loca-
tons, and at remarkably low cost.
l found that while our two cities are
scarcely as large combined as Peoria,
our lands of the same character are
not valued at more than o~ne-fourth
Of what theirs are valued at; this con-
.ition is abnormally low and will not
long continue, and what we do in
this direction Of establishing a park
system should be done at once, that
we may avail ourselves Of beautiful
sites and extremely low prices. With
our rapidly growing population,
which few seem to appreciate, it
would be almost criminal negligence
longer defer what we must newt
ably do in that respect, if we keep
pace with the progressiveness of
modern civilization. By procuring
lands now for a series of parks and
b%oulevards at this opportune time.
we can then take our time to their
eventual improvement and compile
ton, in the meantime, profiting by
their rapid enhancement in value
and usefulness as our cities rapidly
grow up around them.
Raising the Money.
1.-The establishment of a park sys-
tenn sinvolves the creation of a new
municipality. totally Independent of
city, township or county govern
ment. Such municipality has power
to levy taxes of 6 mills on the dol
lars valuation; and it also has power
to extend the necessary expenditure
of money, necessi,ated in buying
lands. over any period of years, moi
to exceed 20. oy bond issues, thereby
imposing an equitable part of the bur
den on p%osterity. which will get cor
responding benefits. Our proposed
park district would include about
Sc. O00, 900 worth of property equal
ICED valuation) at present giving US
a maximum annual revenue of $780,
600. and power to create a maximum
bonded Indebtedness of $3.50, 900.
which, with prevailing low prices,
would be more than ample to pur-
chase sites and pursue q steady
course of improvement. l never
knew q city that adopted a park sys-
tenn to afterward regret it, nc matter
what the sacrifice in procuring it.
l think the people, upon considers
ton, will find that now is the most
favorable and opportune time to in
augurate q system that will be
worthy the beauty of our twin cities,
and l assert that nature, which Law
ished its blessings on Jul vicinity
with no sparing hand, thus render
ing doubly attractive q poiat not ex-
celied by any place I eve saw in
natural advantages, both as a BUSH
ness and residence center. 1t is true
our taxes are now high. but it is also
true that our assessments are alb
normally low, in fact, so low that
our Peoria friends did not fail to
note the disparity between our as
sessed values and theirs. so that in
fact u taxes are not unusually
high; and then, too, it q be sc ar
ranged that our special park taxes
to pay bonded indebtedness will not
commence until after the expiration
OF our special court house taxes. 80
that we will not in reality notice or
feel the taxes at all. Further more,
taxing the city of Rock Island as an
illustration, half the necessary addi-
tionai tax will probably be paid by
about one hundred persons and cor
porations, leaving the people gener-
ally to pay for the other half. Thus
the tax will fall where it should-on
those most able pay. To the ordi-
nary man, the tax will be insignifi-
cant. only amounting to q few
street car fares.
Grand Location.
"For one, l am most heartily in
favor Of it. I believe we have the
greatest localities in the whole west
for a large city, and destined in the
very near future to be q great me
tropolis. midway between st. Louis
on the south and the twin-ciities on
the north, and i. is q duty to our
selves ouo 70 our p~osterlty 10 peaut-
lily and adorn it. It should be started
now. The time to perform public
work is during hard times, when
work 10 scarce and material low in
price. At Peoria the laboring classes
in particular were eager for the i'm
Provement. as it not only provided
them unusual advantages for rest and
recreation from daily toll, but
actually employed from 800 to 400
heads Of families in making these
Improvements. I feel certain, with
my knowledge of our people, that 1
am not presumptuous In guarantee
Ing that at least q laboring classes
will not be behind their Peoria
brethren in that respect, and that
they viii with eagerpess take hold OF
the proposed work and push il to