The Forrest City times., 1905-10-06
The Quorum Court.

house last Monday, Judge T. c. Folbre presiding; and T. c. Merwin, clerk. and with the following magistrates present: W. B. McLaren, B. F. San- ders, c. T. Moore, E. D. Ables, c. M. Kelly, H. c. Smith, W. T. Holwell, J. II. Cayanaugh, J. J. Wood, Hugh Coffey, +. NJ. Pipkin, w. S. Heustiss, VI. S. Thomas, J. w. Hall, and J. B. Sanders; total l5.
 Judge Folbre called the meeting to order. and his annual message was read. It was in words and figures as follows, to-wit:
 To the Honorable Justices of the
 Quorum Court of St, Francis County:
 The undersigned, in obedience to the requirements of section 1499 of Kirby's Digest of the Statutes, submits the following report:
 As will appear from the reports of the clerk of this court, and the sheriff and the treasurer of the county, you will see that our finances have greatly improved in the past year. We have sufficient funds now on hand, if care fully administered, and no unusual or extraordinary expense is incurred, to carry us through the fiscal year, and pay everything as it is due, thus say ing in the price of materials and ser vices by paying cash.
 have, since the settlement in July, purchased another of our outstanding 5000 bonds, thereby reducing the debt to e25,OOO, which was S3O, ,OOO three years ago.
 And out of the fund for court house have built substantial stone or concrete wall around the court house and jail, with good and sufficient bond to guarantee it will stand. Our old wood and wire fence having routed down so that it could not be repaired, l deemed it best to put something more substantial and more in keeping with our handsome public buildings Our court house needs some little re- pairs, such as painting the wood work of the windows and doors, and the water pipes and valleys on the roof, but none of it will be expensive.
 renewed the contract with J. P. Mcdonald for keeping the county paupers, and we have not used the ap- propriation set dside by you for that purpose. He has now seven in his charge, and they are we'll cared for.
 AS to our bridges; will say that I have built 20.bridges, and have kept within the appropriation, though I have used nearly all of it, and now have contracts outstanding for new bridges, which will be completed within short time.
 Our road matters are not in satis- factory condition, owing to great extent, think, to the fact that the road districts are too large. In fact, where we have whole civil township in one road district, it Is physical impossibility for road overseer to do justice to all the roads under his charge, and l suggest that you de- wise some means for cutting them down, and have more overseerS, or re- quire that your overseers appoint a sufficient number of deputy or assist ant overseers to do the work more thoroughly.
 It will appear from the report of the clerk that the estimated revenue Of the county for the ensuing year is s20,0OO, and I recommend that we levy taxes as follows:
 County general tax, 5 mills.
 County bond interest tax, mill.
 County..sinking fund tax, mill.
 Road and bridge tax, mills.
 There is an idea prevailing that now that we are on a cash basis we should reduce the rate of taxation, but l as- sure you it would be fatal mistake to doso this year, as 1t is the first year in the memory of any of us in which there has been sufficient funds on hand to pay expenses during the en- suing fiscal year, and to cut down our income prematurely would destroy confidence and likely depreciate our warrants.
 In this connection again refer to the clerks report, showing expense of circuit court for July term, 1905, s26OO, while in 1904 1t was only s86. This extraordinary expense was caused by the trial so far, of the per sons accused of the murder of Walter Gray, and we are not done with that case yet, as 1t will likely cost another amount equal to what we have al- ready paid.
 In closing, 1 wish to thank you, gentlemen, for your kind considera tion heretofore, and hope our delib- erations and conclusions will be as