The Forrest City times., 1898-12-02
A Reply.
Editor Luxora Appeal:

| ask space in your columns to
answer labored effort on the
part of the Mississippi County
Democrat to answer me on the
levee bond question.
If Mr.. Palmer would confine
himself 10 truthful statement OF
The facts at issue, instead of trying
10 mislead those who do not know
the actual condition of the affairs
of tho levee district, / would have
no disposition to reply TO his arti-
cIe, for / feel that full and fair
discussion of the matter is what
the taxpayers Of the district want.
They simply want TO know what
is best to do under the existing
conditions, and / have opened up
this discussion with a fair state
ment, as / understand our condi.
tion. ] have done this in order
that all who wanted to be heard
npon the matter, might have their
say. As / said at the start, that is
simply a business proposition, and
| want the people who have to
foot the bills 10 understand tho
matter fully. l have nothing to
conceal and simply want to do
what ! believe to be for the best
interest of the whole district, but
in discussing this matter l had
hoped that all who had dlsposl-
ton to enter into the discussion
would do so fairly, and instead of
disappearing matters that they
that they would confine themselves
10 Facts. This, Mr.. Palmer has not
done in bis opening attack. He
starts ont by saying that the board
Dyes $4,000. This is not true.
The board now owes less than
SIS, 900; it having paid off this
summer over s33, 900, and by the
first day of January it will cut this
debt down to less than $50, 900, all
Of which is not due. and by the
first of May rext the board will
Rave just about paid all debts it
now owes. The Bodkin contract
Just let will not be completed be.
tore the last of the year 1899. Con-
sequently. the board will not owe
hut very little, if anything, by the
first of next May, Or the com menee
ment of the new year.
Another thing Mr.. Palmer over.
looks is our last years collections,
which were over sl02,0 900, instead
of s64, 900, as he says. He again
shows his want of information
when he states that ihe life of the
levee board will expire in 1906.
If he examines the law he will
find that it has no limit; that it has
come TO stay. So all this talk
about this debt not being paid
when the life of the board ex-
pires, is simply misleading.
Again he says, suppose we issue
S750,000 in bonds, what would
they be worth!
In answer to this l would state
that should the legislature allow
The board to issue bonds ! shall
insist on the act fixing a price at
not less than hundred cents on
the dollar, and / assure the tax
payers of the st. Frances basin
that not one dollar will DO sold for
less than their face value. know
what the bonds can be sold for,
Notwithstanding the fact that Mr..
Palmer would lead you TO believe,
If he could, that these bonds would
be sacrificed. He says further,
that the opportunities for corrup.
ton in such schemes are too great
TO need to be more than suggested
TO be imagined. Now / would ask,
would there be any more chance
10 act corruptly with bond issue
than there is now with a certificate
lssuef The board now has un-
limited power TO issue certificates
Of Indebtedness, and these might
be disposed of by the officers of
the board, even to the amount Of
millions of dollars, while on the
other hand, if the legislature
the board TO issue bonds
this power would be fixed at GER
tain amount, beyond which the
board could not go. The great
and unlimited power the board
now has, under the law TO issue
certificates of indebtedness, is why
it is impossible for the board TO
let contracts without giving ox-
orbitant prices for work, because
after the board lets one contract,
they can turn around next dav
and advertise for more bids for
new work, thereby increasing the
debts of the board and reducing
the price ofits securities. Con,rac-
tors dislike to undertake contracts
for this very reason, while if the
board was allowed 10 issue, as we
would like TO do, $4,000, We
could pay off all the debts we now