Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1901-12-04
More About the .s8usiness Admin.
stration. y

i SIE1G43kAs
Last week the little boss censured
us for asking a few questions about
the county treasurer's official report
published in the county official paper.
This report shows certain county
fundsoverdrawn, and the astonishingIy
small sum of s746,77 placed to the
credit of the county general fund. We
asked for this explanation not alone
for our information as taxpayer OF
this county, but for the information
OF all other taxpayers. For thus ap-
preaching the throne, % we have been
declared by the gang preSumptious,
and charged with maliciously doing
our best to ruin the credit of the
county. We now informed by the lit
tie boss who pretendS to know all
about it, and by proclamation sign
ed by the gang at the court house,
and issued with all the arrogance and
pomposity of the little Jew himself,
! that the finances of the county were
never in better condition. The county
officials who signed the proclamation
state that there was just So, O5O
county bonds outstanding at the
time that the county commissioners
concluded to refund the outstanding
bonds; their legal adviser, Royce, also
says that there was just S22, 900 out
standing at that time. This is his
language: "The outstanding bonds at
that time (January 1900 amounted to
So, 600" If this is SO, if this was all
the bonds of the county outstanding
at that time, then we ask why was
not more than s., 900 taken from the
county bond sinking fund and applied
towards the payment Of the old bonds?
Royce says that there is still bal
ance in the county bond sinking fund
Of the sum of 81 ,837.3I. Why did you
not apply this towards the payment of
the old bonds, and thus lower the in
debtedneSS? It was levied to pay the
principal of these bonds, why did you
not.apply it? Tell us Royce, what right
you have under the law TO divert one
fund to the payment of another and
different one, and finally why we are
on this subject, where do you get the
right to take $40, from any funds
in the hands of the county treasurer
as you and the county officials confess
you have done, and apply it towards
the payment of the bonds?
And we might also ask what has
become of the sinking fund which was
levied from year to year to pay these
bonds when they IN e
due. The tax payers Of b i S
county are annually called up
on to pay certain amount in the
way of interest on county bonds and !
for county bond sinking fund. The |
tax so paid has been continuously for |
a long number of years, and, although |
the sum SO levied of itself is small, |
yet, when the total amount of the |
taxable property of the county is con-
si1ered, the aggregate amount of the |
same for each year runs into the
thousands of dollars, and for ten |
or fifteen years it amounts to an as
toniShing sum. Is it any wonder |
then that these questions are asked, |
and is it not strange that the Self-cOn- |
Stituted legal adviser of the county, |
Royce, and the public officials of this
county should think it presumptious
on the Taxpayers to ask for information
If these levies were not made as re-
quired by law why were they not made?
Taxes are unusually high this
year and the crops are short, and con-
our expenditures ought obe
looked after closely, and so we will |
ask of you men on the "throne, - and
we do so with our heads uncovered,
and forms PROSTATE at your feet, will
you condescend kindly to answer these
questions that we may know just
where we are at financially?