The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-08
DEBT-PAY1NG PROBLEMS.

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 County-The Collapse Following the
 Boom.
 It akes very plain and business-like proposition to win bonds in the west nowadays. The experience of the past has been very costly, and there is pres ent deep seated feeling that 1t Is bet ter to pay out than to get in deeper. Take St, Clair county, Missouri, for ln- stance, That county has almost for gotten that there is a war in progress owing to its bond fight, Away back thirty years ago it voted $231 ,000 in bonds for a railroad. The road was never built, but the bonds were issued by the county judges and got into the hands of the ever-present third and in- nocent party. After while there came the demand for interest, and the county refused to pay and suit followed. It went against the county in both the lowest and highest courts, and judg ment was given that there should be levied a special tax to pay the bonds and the interest. The three county judges refused to do it and were order ed to jail in contempt of court. They went to jail and stayed there, Since that time, more than two decades, there has never been a judge who would break the rule laid down for him by the people. Each judge was literally elect ed to Jail. After his term was out he was released and the newly elected judge took his place-after there had been served on him the proper sum mons. It was not easy to do this, for there was not a deputy in the county who would serve the papers, and It was not exactly healthy for an outsider to come in with the intention of doing so. The deputies took every advantage to get their papers served They posed as book agents, as laboring men and as tramps in order to get to the judges. But the people were all detectives, and more than one man was taken to the edge of the county and told to git With the settlement of the county and the building of new railroad lines there was no escaping the officers, and the judges took their places in jail without complaints. The debt amounts, with interest and costs, to about $1,420,O 900 and the people are getting very weary of the warfare. Last spring there was proposal to compromise, and the judges were allowed to go home with the understanding that they would vote for a special election to pass on the issuing of new bonds to take the place of the old ones They talked with their constituents and adjourned. No election was called. The other day they were put back in jail and the case still stands without a conclusion being in sight. One of the judges convinced the federal judge that he was favorable to the issue of call for an election and has been released. It is doubtful, how ever, if it is very pleasant for him at home Such Is the history in brief of the most famous bond case in the west but in many of the newer counties and towns are cases that have as wide a significance for the people.
 The boom left a legacy that is just coming to a place where it is anoying to the people who must bear the bur den. The bonds were issued with such lavishness that the interest charge, now that there is a decreased popula- tion and valuation, makes burden more than the people can bear. One Kansas town recently issued circular to it's creditors, telling them frankly that if their debt was not scaled down there would be a general emigration from the town site and the bondholders could take the place. Two other towns were by special act of the legislature allowed to compromise their indebted ness to the state and start new. Many bond issues all over the plains are be- ing contested, often with a good show of success for the regulations of the municipal and county officers in the boom times are very lax. Because these compromises and contests are going on there is a readiness to arise and hurl the epithet "repudiators" al the people who are struggling with the problem It Is true that much of the money was used for digging holes ir the ground in search of gas or coal which did not exist in that section. Ii is true that sugar mills and carriage factories were built out of the proceeds of alleged "waterworks and electric light bonds-but it was all a part oi a desperate game that the west was playing in those days. But the people want to do what is just to the limit oi their ability.
 It was as easy to sell bonds as to is- sue them. Anything that bore the rec and green seals of authority was snatched by eager investors, who look ed upon the plains as veritable lan6 of promise. In every brokers office were piled up letters accepting bonds before they were ready for delivery "We could not supply the demand for a time" said the manager of an office of this kind, land 1t did not make much difference what kind of bonds we had for sale so long as they had plenty o1 signatures and seals"
 The western Nebraska and Kansas counties are trying to get the eastern creditors to compromise some of theil bonds; the towns that have too large 2 debt are doing the same, though more strongly, perhaps, owing to the closer relations of the people and taxpayers The problem is a. serious one and it is not to be wondered at that there is 8 decided objection to the meetings II favor of more bonds of any kind.
 In the counties where there is moi an oyer-indebtedness the bonds are be- ing refunded at per cent. and ever less instead of the and ' that were paid in the past. Here and there Is be- ing paid off a bond or two, and wher Tho ref,nding process is gone through