Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-12-14

why, the plain truth Of the matte
IL, that the town has so far outgrowl
Tour present system. and such a larg
proportion of our people are com
Ipelled to depend upon cess pools. thai
+, taken as a whole. the city actually ha
= no sewer system az an. and ever!
; consideration of public convenience
public health, and wen public decen
} cy. demands that a sewer system ade
quate. al least. TO the present demands
Of the town. be put In, and put in a.
once. This is a work that We are ac-
tually up against" right now; We
have got 10 do It. and do 1t al once.
because II can not be put off any
longer.
This fact Of itself ought to he suffi-
Client Ia convince any reasoning man
Of the s%oundness Of MI. Stamm's prop
o%sitlon. because IL we have TO do this
work by direct taxation II Will impose
a ynstly greater burden upou the peo-
| pie Of the town than would he put
upon them by the entire bond issue
that has been proposed. and worse
sim. II would throw the whole of the
almost insupportabIe load upon those
who are AT present tax payers in the
town. while under the bonding plan
the burden would be distributed over
twenty. thirty or forty years. and
meantime the growth of the city, and
the increase OF It's taxable property
would make the burden so light by
comparison, that it would not be on
erous upon any one.
Following Is the communication re-
ferred to:
Editor Morning Journal: You are
surely correct In speaking of the bond
issue / proposed. in saying mat It Is
not an idle dream, but simply a mat
ter OF business.
E%ighty-flve per cent Of the business
Of the United states is lone upon
and to curtail this credit me-
third or one-half would mean an in
cataclysm for this great coun-
try Of ours. How foolish then to talk
Df a cash basis for business transact
ions In the main. and what better bn-
SIX for credit could be imagined. for
we need. han a city like Albu-
1uerdue. Let us use this credit in
IN intelligent manner and the thing Is
| am Informed hat the assess
nents for this city are about three
OF dollars; of course we all
inderstand that the real values are
much greater than that. This, then.
you'd mean an additional charge of
than seven dollars a year against
he man who has one thousand dol
ars' worth of city property, assessed
Il say, $4,000. A debt or fixed
.harge Is only a burden In accordance
With the ability OF the person to bear
I, consequently II would be no more
,urdensome to the man who had an
of many thousands. ,
The people OF this city have over
ooked a very valuable asset they have
lad In the shape of their credit and in
to build up the place have con f,
family gone upon the assumption that
only thing they could do was 10 in ,
4
.uce others to come here and use /
credit for our benefit, outsid-
rs will come here and use their credit F,
II right. when they find that we have Z
aith enough In our own proposition y
D use some OF our own credit first. !
What would you think of a man who e
to start a business and had 5
lenty of credit Of his own. but would :
.ot use II, and at the same time ex- q
.ected to get outsiders to use their y
for his benefit? |
Since this question arose | have been 4
to explain more fully some of I
ne details OF my proposition. 1t y
not be wise to use any portion T.
{ this money for paving purposes as u
IS recognized everywhere that prop
rty abutting streets that need Ia be
should bear that burden. espe-
tally when Il Is well known that Il '
'ould be one OF the best investments
hat the property owner could make.
Next to our sewer system, what our
ity especially needs Is a modern and
lore extensive street car system. We
ave a good one as far a. 1t goes. and =
\ good A. could be expected under I
ownership, but IA growth of
his city will be constantly held back
this self-same private ownership Of
mr. street car lines. A fatal mistake
frequently made Ia the comparing
Z individuals and communities. IL
il not do 10 say, for Instance. that q
.os Angeles has one Of the finest sys-
inns Of street car lines la the United q
tates ana as 10 Is under private own ;
rship. why. therefore. private owner y
hip must be- the thing for an cities. a
o%nditlons are different. let as bear .
hat in mind. and iuaugurate % little r.,
of our own. s.,
Here. however. is the vital point 5
my public utility that We would in Y
ugurate with "a portion ~ this million o..
ollars could be made To pay az least al
perating expenses from IA, start. and
s the city grew and as the number oil
of the public utilities Increased. y.
1eN would soon become "a source or J