The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-07-19
GARBLING THE RECORDS

discharge the debts passed on to us by
our forbears. To this the Pioneer Press
replies with the following showing, al
legged to he taken from the cemptrol-
ler's records:
Outstanding Debt
Jan 1. 1892. Jan. 1. 1903.
General bonds ..s6,O41,965 s5,492, 100
Certificates of in
debtedneSS ], 169,530 ..........
Water bonds 49,. 2,460, 900 1856, 900
debtedness ..ss,671,4s5 s7.s12,s42
Less sinking fund. ..... 699, no
Net funded debt. s9,671, 4s5 s7,21s, or
Unrecorded
tracts, judgments,
etc. lSl,40
Net indebtedness SO, $4,000 s7,21s,O72
Total reduction in debts. s2,64s,s
With smooth assumption of fair
ness calculated to deceive those unae-
quainted with the facts, the Pioneer
Press continues as follows:
In explanation of this account it may
be said, for those who have forgotten, that
the certificates of Indebtedness referred
" dIt. ICC tdA levy CSEtluCdlSS Jul Ger
tificates issued to take UP floating debt
of odds and ends that had been accumu-
lating for some years before the Bell
charter went into effect. The tax levy
certificates are omitted because while in
one sense they constitute an Indebtedness
they are essentially revolving fund and
as such are part of the machinery for
current disbursements.
In view of the doubtful propriety Of
including in this Indebtedness the water
boards transactions. since it is self,
that after eliminating the reduction Of
900 in the water department debt and
the water boards sinking fund amount
ing to, $664,o4o the net reduction in the
general city Indebtedness between Jan. 1,
1892, and Jan. /, 1903, was $1,911, 1885, or
an average of almost $175,000 a year for
the eleven years.
The whole table Of figures given is
SO at variance with the actual reports
of the city comptroller that it would be
useless to speculate where the Pioneer
Press obtained it's figures, or to an
ticular they are so glaringly and dar-
ingly garbIed that the fact must be
noted.
When the people came to their senses
in 1891 after the financial debauch Of
the boom year, they had to bring or
der out of chaos. They found them
selves saddled with some 100000 of
floating debt for various purposes, rep
resented by various liens, among them
the Certificates of indebtedness" in
Guided in the above table. They could
neither pay this off at once by taxa
ton nor refund it in lump by adding
1t to the bonded debt. They COM
promised. For three years, as we re-
the tax levy to pay part of the float
ing debt The balance was taken care
of by instituting the system. of tax
levy certificates.
By this we anticipate the tax levy
and spend it in advance. The ex-
penses of 1903 are met by borrowing
on the security of taxes to be paid in
1904, and so on indefinitely. When
the city changed from the cash system
to the tax levy certificate system, it
anticipated a years revenue, which
was applied to the reduction of the
floating debt. Thus, for purposes of
comparison, the outstanding GER
tificates of today are lineal descend
ants of those of 1892, although they
do not bear the same name. One is
exactly as much a part of the debt as
the other. A man is in debt $500 when
he has overdrawn his bank account
that much just the same as when he
has given a promissory note for the
sum.
These tax levy certificates have been
continued ever since, being issued an
| nually to take up and cancel those of
the year preceding. On June Is. 1904.
there were issued s1,445,3O0 of them.
Ihey read that the city promises to
pay that amount to the holders ON
June Is, 1905. The question whether
or not these are legally part of the
funded debt is too puerile for dis
cussion. They represent money bor-
roWed, money owed, money to be paid.
They are ashert time liability Just as
a bond is long time liability. They
belong, of course, in the debt column
Tor 1908, just as the old certificates of
Indebtedness belong in the debt coll
umn for 1892. This million and a half
OF existing unpaid debt the Pioneer
Press coolly annihilates by striking it
Off the account. If cities could really
deal with their debts this way. all tax-
alton might cease.
Without going further into details
because its figures are nearly all
wrong, let us accept the reckoning If
the Pioneer. Press and apply the prom
er correction to its general conclusion
that "the net reduction In the general
city Indebtedness between Jan. /. 1899
and JAM 1. 1903. was s1,s11, 7ss." Sub
tract from this the s1,445,soo of far
levy certificates now outstanding as a
1--we liability, and we have s4es 4ss
Quite difference! stss
OF course, the figure we have reached