Rosebud County news. [volume] (Forsyth, Mont.) 1901-1906, 1904-04-21
WHY SHOULD WE INCORPORATE?
An interesting Letter from Bigtimber
Throwing Light on the Subject
Some Stern Facts Concerning Proposition


request for information concerning the
results of incorporation in this town, 1
take pleasure in giving you the follow
ing statement of facts:
Bigtimber has now been incorpora-
ted a little more than one year. When
the question of incorporation was sub
mitted to the people there was but lit
tie opposition, as the promoters of the
proposition, had painted glowing and
convincing pictures of the great ad-
vantages to be gained under a town
government.
1t was loudly maintained that we
would have better police protection,
better streets, cleaner alleys, better
health, better fire protection, a system
of public water works and greater re-
spect for law and order under a town
government, while the increased ex-
pense would amount to nothing, or
next to nothing.
Owing to the fact that the town Of
ficials have recently denied the public
the usual privilege of inspecting the
records, it is Impossible for me to give
you an absolutely exact statement of
the town finances, but from figures
taken from the records before they
were closed to the public am able to
give you a statement that is approx
imately correct.
During the first IA months of our
town government the town officials
collected in taxes, licenses, and
''fines" unlawfully levied upon pros
titutes and gamblers approximately
IS, 2S5. About S3, 900 of this was ex-
pended during the same time and most
of the remainder has been paid out
since that time. Of the tolal amount
paid out during the first IA months
81, ,4SO was for salaries of town officers,
S154.15 to the town printer and only
streets and alleys. The balance for
'incidenta1 expenses. About 81, 500
has just been invested in two chemical
fire extinguishers and hook and lad
der outfit.
The IS. .285 is already practically ex-
pended and the town council has al
ready appropriated S4,5OO to defray
the expenses of our town government
for the year commencing the 50th of
this month. This pretty thoroughly
disposes of the statement just pub
lished in the Forsyth Times that in
Bigtimber ''the cost of incorporation is
approximately s., 600 year to rnn the
city,
The only benefits the people of Big
timber have derived in return for the
SIS, ,2S5 contributed to the town govern
ment are four street lights and a fire
fighting apparatus just mentioned.
The streets are in worse condition
than they were before the town was i'm
corporated, the alleys have not been
cleaned, there is less respect for the
law and public decency than there
was before and there is no prospect
of securing a much-needed system of
water works for years to come.
People generally are completely dis
appointed with the results of incorpor-
alton. During the past month there
has been a sharp controversy over the
question, and so far as my observa-
tions have gone, the only persons who
have even a favorable word for incor-
poration are the town officials and
those who have shared in the S., 285
collected from the people.
Youry very respectfully,
w. ]. HANNAH.
The above letter is to the point, self
explanatory and effectually rebutts the
argument of the letter published by
our contemporary perporting to have
come from Bigtimber, and shows con-
clusively that the writer of said letter
was one of the favored few who re-
ceived their portion IN the distribu-
tion of the S5,285.
While it is not universally known,
it is nevertheless d fact that the writ
ers of all of the letters published in the
Times are office holders in the towns
from which the letters come and their
job depends entirely upon the city gov
ernmenr which they represent. Should
they decry or even report the stern
facts concerning their city government,