The Bemidji pioneer., 1901-02-28
In SORE
DISTRESS.
Beltrami Bankrupt Taxes III
legally Levied for Three Years
Past Relief Sought
From Legislature.


Beltrami county is in distress. I'm
less speedy relief is granted By the
legislature, condition will prevail
there bordering on anarchy.
The treasury Of the county is ex-
hausted. The limit Of Indebtedness
has been exceeded, and the county
government is a pauper, without vis-
able means of support.
The jurors drawn for the January
term of court struck, refusing to accept
county orders for their pay, and the
court adjourned without doing any
business. The Judge could not hold
them, as under the law there was no
means Of paying them.
Sheriff Bailey has eight prisoners
ia the county jail, but says he will
have to release them in a few days un-
less relief comes from some source.
He has firewood for four days more,
and cannot get another stick without
the cash. AS his salary has stopped
he does not feel inclined to advance
the money without prospect OF return.
Merchants refuse to accept county or.
ders for groceries. There are S23, ,00O
IN county warrants and orders OUT
standing, which will not pass any
where The citizen of 4 the county
have awakened ia earnest to the situa-.
tion, and will petition the legislature
for relief.
The immediate cause OF distress is. a
decision made By Judge McC Clenahan,t
Feb. Is, in q suit brought BY the county
against T. B. Walker, Walker 81 Ake-4
ley, the Red River Lumber company,
to enforce the collection of 1893 taxes
The Judge held that the taxes levied in
the county for the past three years
were illegally assessed, and were in
valid, thus putting a stop to the col-
lection ofrevenue.
The trouble is that Beltrami county
has outgrown the law under which it
was organized. Beltrami and Cass
counties were organized in 1897, when
the former was vast wilderness, with
no railroads, and nearly all the pop
ulation the floating inhabitants of lum-
Der camps. To prevent the looting of
its treasury by carpetbaggers, the law
provided that the county should not
levy more than $4,000 in taxes for all
purposes. and placed a limit on its in
debtedness of $4,000. The 1899 legis-
lature raised the tax limit to $40, 900
and the indebtedness to $12, 600. Such
sum was even then sadly inadequate
and for three years the law has been
disregarded, in the hope that the
necessities of the situation would be
recognized.
Residents Of the counties paid their
taxes without protest, but the lumber
companies refused, and have paid
nothing since 1897. Meanwhile the
population of Beltrami county has in
creased to Ii, ,030. With the advent of
the Fosston line of the Great North
ern, Bemidji has grown to city of p
600 inhabitants. The valuation of the
county was $1,000, 900 in 1898, since
when the value Of pine stunpage has
more than doubled. It is now placed
atnearly $4,000, 900.
Under the 1899 valuation, state taxes
amounted to over SO, ZOO, and the state
school tax to about $4,000, leaving
less than So, 200 for the expenses of the
county and for local school taxes.
The total salary list of the county is
S8, 500 per year, the district court costs
s6, 900 per year, the justice courts S2, !
900, and supplies for the Offices $1,000
per year, while the total revenues of
the county for four years are onlyS22, :
600 in collections of all kinds. 1t is
easy to see where this puts the county.
There is now about S32, 600 in delin-
qlent taxes outstanding, which will
not be paid in since the decision of
Judge McClenahan. The decision
brought the county face to face with
ruin. The judge said he would have
much preferred to decide in favor OF
the county, but it was impossible. He
attached a memorandum to his de-
cision, saying that the restrictions i.