The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1898-11-02

interest on road orders
paid om July 1885 to January
16 clusfre, S2,91I86.
for county and roads $l3s-
Respectfully,
JoHN E. BELLER,
A. i. BoGGEss,
W. n. Howard,
COMMITTEES
ify that the above report Is
COR as taken from the records
IN 81 eHice.
J.P. r. B. SMITH.
srk Mason County Court.
Th Connty Court of this coun-
lty Del ng been importuned by the
fax ers to make an investiga-
Etion the Indebtedness of the
Ecoun and the several districts
on th 4th day of January. 1897.
appo ed 1Iessrs. L. Boggess
A..s IcSs.l..l oE1nItte
to ascertain such indebtedness.-
The County Court, at that time,
was composed entirely of Republi-
cans. The two gentlemen compo-
sing the Committee, were also Re
publicans.
On the 28th of the same month,
Mr.. John E. BeIler was added to
this Committee by order of the
Court.
The above report is the one
made by the Committee after seve-
raj months research into the rec
ords of the county, and shows an
indebtedness of S76, ,SOS.32, with
out interest; the Committee report
ing that they had no means of ar
irving at the interest that was due
upon this vast debt of SIG. sos 80,
on the outstanding orders unpaid: !:
and it would seem but a modest
estimate to say that the average
intererest would be for three years,
or upon the whole S13.925 so,
which added to the SIG, sos. 30
would amount to $50, ,633 80, at the
time the report ives made, with
interest accumulation since, would
make the debt over S1OO,OOO.OO.
1t is claimed by the Republicans
and We accept it as correct that
S12, 900 of these outstanding orders
were paid out of the levy of 1897.
If it was, does that do away with
the fact that the debt existed, and
are you not paying this debt by
increased taxation?
In the circular the claim is made
that they have spent more than
$50. 600 on bridges; they cite the
building of the new Jail. but this
is another attempt to deceive, as
they do not mention the large
amount of money that has been
wrung from the tax payers, year
after year, amounting to over $780,
600, and expended over and
above this Indebtedness. The
building of the new Jail was paid
for in two years. by special levy
and those orders were not taken
into consideration by the commit
tee in arriving at the county's debt.
In this circular they say the
"county was out of debt ii 1891, -
and that during Mr. Dunn's Zone
Democrat and two Republicans on
the Court term of Office. the new
work contracted for, amounted to
over $4,000. We don't deny i'm
provements, and do not object to
them being made, but, remember,
during the time spoken of, taxa
ton for county and road purposes.
only, not including school and
building fund taxes, was over $4O.-
600 90 per annumn-
What has been the occasion for
all this indebtness? The money
spent, as they admit, for bridges,
does not amount for the eight
years to over 100000. Where
has the balance that goes to make
up this debt, and collected annu-
ally upon taxes, gone to?
The property valuation for taxa
ton in this county is over FIVE
million dollars. Is there any ex-
cuse for a debt and high rate of
taxation?
1t viii be noted that July. 1859
is the period from which the COM
mittee began to make their inves-
tigation, and as all orders at that
time were promptly paid by the
Sheriff, we must presume that the
county and districts were practical
ly out of debt.