Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-08-17
Action On the County Debt.

The county of Santa Fe ives a large
amount of money in funded indebted
ness. On the greater portion of his debt
no interest has been paid for years, and
some of the bondholders have brought
suit to recover the amount of the cou-
pons upon which there has been default
in payment and also for interest on said
coupons.
1t is believed that by proper manage
ment and with proper men to conduct
the negotiations, a compromise can be
effected with b~ondholders by which the
enormous debt of the county, which now
amounts to nearly 40 per cent of the
taxable property, as shown by returns
to the assessor, can be adjusted salts
factorily, the principal largely reduced
and the interest lowered from 5 per cent
to 4 per cent, and that the debt can be
refunded into long time bonds.
OF course, it is well known, and ad-
mitted by even the bondholders, that
the county cannot pay the entire debt
as it stands at present. Hence the only
sensible thing to do is for the county
representatives and the creditors to get
together and adjust the debt in as fair
and just a n as possible, taking
into consideration the ability of the tax
payers to pay.
This matter must be looked into the
face %squarely by the taxpayers of this
county. There is no use in lodging, in
quibbling, in arguing nor in a deluge Of
talk when facts are as serious as they
are in this case. What is needed is ac-
ton, and that quick, decisive and
prompt.
The county commissioners must get
into communication with the bondhold-
ers and see what a be done. If the
terms are too hard they can easily be
refused. But this journal believes that
with the right kind Of management of
this deplorable matter, fair terms can
be obtained from the bondholders.
1t will not do to let the suits now
pending against the county for Ion
payment of coupons go to judgment and
increase the debt. 1t matters not what
are individual opinions as to the valid
ity of the debt. 1t is a condition that
confronts the taxpayers of this county,
and not a theory.
In the minds Of some of the foremost
lawyers in the territory and in the east
there exists no doubt but that the So
oo1Ia1 ,ot1uoo1 1ah% ~ thu oo,,rtxy
which, with unpaid coupons, amounts to
about $500, 900, is legal and binding, and
will have to be paid, and that any irreg-
ularities that may have existed in in
curing the debt, and any laches that
might have been taken advantage of,
have been entirely cured by the act
passed during the f1fty-fourth congress
legalizing and validating this debt.
The debt of Santa Fe county, in it's
present condition, is the milestone
around the necks of the taxpayers, and
is the cause why the county Is not pros
porous, and why new people are not
coming into the county. The load must
be lightened. The only way to do this
Is to now make an effort to secure an
equitable arrangement. A disposition to
delay, to permit judgments to be taken
and further default will only result in
more suits by creditors. The taxpayers
who are called to assemble and express
their desires in this matter should urge
the county commissioners to get in
touch with the bondholders and see how
favorable a proposition they will offer.
Acceptance or rejection can be consid .
cred deliberately, but the way must be
opened by official inquiry in order that
the taxpayers may know what Is before
them.