The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-02-26

Richmond they sold down as low do 'i'
and in fact 1 am informed that ltlc i-
molM's bonds, when issued ana put upon
the market by the city, have usually sold
below par, her SIS and SIS selling as low
as 70 to So But upon this point am
not tl,t1Cushly informed, aud since Ar.
wallerstein claims sources of 1nformd-
ton unknown to me- he may pc aple "
inform the public just what Rlchnoho
has realized in cash from the sale OIL her
various issues of bonds, which go 70
make up her debt of S7,221,5e2 and sle"
what rate of interest Richmond IS paying
on the money actually received TON
the sale of these bonds. 1t may proveslh-
tcresting reading We know that the aV-
erage interest. is about 5 IA per cent on
the mar value of the bonds, but what
rate is this on the money actually re-
ceiyed Ey the city, and what difference
would it make in principal ana interest
in favor of the city in all Of these Years.
if these bonds could have been sold at
par. OF course, it is only far to MAKE
nroper allowance for conditions exlsuns
Immediately after the Civil war, put
think lie can trust the people ~ 'iit''.
NOT A PUBLIC NECESSITY.
do NOT ask for a disclosure further
hack than the Civil War. have been
accused of dealing in Senerailtles, pc
cause 7 have shown that Richmond net
per capita debt is SYST. while the average
net per capita debt of every CITY III LIE
United, States with more than ooooo pop
,latiou is only si7.56. I stated that there
we're f34 of these cities, and as tMr. wal
lerstein has a list of them ana they are
all known to the general public, 40 hot
think the charge is well founded. HOW
ever, I shall endeavor to he speclnc mere
after in stating my reasons Tor Opposing
annexation, and If there is room 10 com
nlain os ..generalities' it will be my mis-
fortune We are opposed to the preseht
wholesale plan of annexation, because II
is in no sense a legitimate public necessl-
~. and it will prove SO burdenso1ne ano
oppressive to the people of Henrlco ina.
its ACCOMPLISHMENT will mean conflscatlol
to a large proportion of her people.
CITY does not require more room until II
needs it for the purpose of charging, ana
even then it's right to take should be Inn
tied by its ability to improve. Enlarg-
ing a city should mean something more
than the mere extension OF an imaginary
line, so that the property holder VIII De
given some consideration for the increased
taxes he will be required to pay. Rlch-
mond has not improved anything like all
of the territory she now has, and she is
not in a position to do justice to more
Her bond limit has been practically
reached; her present pressing needs, 9th
er than annual expenses, call for about
one and a half million dollars. OF her
1862 miles Of streets, only PA miles are
paved, e5 miles nacadamized, 81 miles
simply graveled "a method employed in
making country roads,, and 2s.3 miles are
absolutely unlmproved. There are 50
miles Of curbing to be put down, 20 miles
of sidewalks to be laid, besides many
miles Of water MAINS gas mains, Gull
verts and sewers to be extended. There
are about 5000 houses in Richmond lex
elusive Of stables, Seq, and there are
now within the city limits 154,696 feet of
vacant land suitable FOR building, allowing
. feet to the house. which is a fair aver
age. This gives room for 500 houses or
room on which to build a city more than
one-tllird the size of the present city Of
Richmond. And still we hear about con-
gestion, in face of the fact that there
has been al decrease in the population OF
three out Of Richmond's six wards within
the last ten years. According to the present
mileage Of streets per acre in Richmond,
the proposed new territory would con-
tain 1873 miles Of streets.
MIGHT BE EMBARRASSING.
The sum of $500, 600. which they proposed
to spend on this vast area is about sufh-
hcst-class city improv ements. Now we
can see why .'the motion appointing the
subcommittee was recast so as to leave
out the inquiry concerning future inn
provements.' 1t might be embarrassing
to know the cost of improving the terri
tory they propose to annex. So they
generously offer out of our own funos to
give us in the next three years the equiv
alent of first-class city improvements for
one-tlirtieth part, and for the other
twenty-nine thirtieths we can enjoy the
privilege of dating our letter-heads Rich
mond Va If they continued the inn
provements annually at this rate (Which
they do not offer to do), it would take
ninety years to improve the entire terri
tory. he present plan Of annexation en-
braces sections of country not suitable fol-
building, as well as hundreds upon hun
0reds Of acres of sparsely settled farming
lands. and ii Richmond wanted to do sc
it would be impossible for her to give
these people city improvements within
the next hundred years. The tax collect
ed by the city on this property would be
increased at once S. per cent. ana In q
very short time it would be further In
creased to about three and a half times
~, "a r.