Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1909-11-11
THE MASS MEETlNG-OUR
CITY GOVERNMENT.

lad a more timely meeting than
hat called at the Cour; House
asst Monday night. This call
sas for the purpose Of raising
money to pay the teachers Of the
public schools Of the town and
many 81 the representative citi-
tens II the town responded to I
he call. Every citizen Of The /
.cwn is anxious q see the schools
prosper and the t-acha-s paid
according - their contracts. The
fact that oxford is mainly an
educational cente- means that
al necessary mo1ay fer the full
and complete support Of it,
schools j. imperative; however,
tae entire citizenship has for
soue years been in ertire dark
ness as t. JUS. how t4e schools
and the other affairs u the city
government have been maintain
q. The meeting % Monday
nigh; gave a general idea Of what
has been done along this line.
Twas shown that for about eleven
years the board Of Mayor and
Aldermen had been borrowing
from the general fund and pay
ing To the school fund several
hundred dollars per year, Until
now it seems that the town il be-
hind with its school fund the
large sum Of about $4,000. This
l. rather a sad state Of affairs.
jus, why the officials Of the town
have seen 1T to let this matter 90
so long has never been explain
cd; certainly it has been very
poor business management
say the least OF it.
Toward raising this fund it was
decided that Mr. r. o. David
son be appointed to consult the
leading citizens Of The town at
once and to solicit their taxes IN
advance in order to meet this
deficit at once. many Of the citi-
zens IN the meeting proposing to
pay their tase= now and thus
meet this much needed money
Another mo:e of Importance Wa.
the motion to have the chairman
appoint a committee from eacf
ward to ascertain the wish Of H.,
taxpayers relative 10 a raise II q
two mill tax 10 make up this def
cit, the consent OF the voters be-
ing necessary before the Board
Of Mayor and Aldermen have tn,
power or have any right to Assess
and collect this additional tax.
But before all this is done, il
seemed to be the sense Of the en-
tire meeting, as shown by The
passing OF the resolution u Col
i. ". T. Falkner, tina; a commit.
tee be appointed to see jds; VIVA
has been done by the Mayor ana
Aldermen aud all employees con
necicd with the city government
with the money for the pas; ter
years. In other words it wa
very evident that the citizen,
~erc very anxious to know jus
where the large '.msunt Of taxei
they have been paying for thes,
many years have gone. Whii,
there has been No specific men.
ton ri wrong doing upon tn,
par, Of any OF the town ufGcials
yet there has been for severa
years feeling that the affairs @
the city government had beer
badly managed, there was a sar
lack Of business methods in th,
affairs 81 the government. While
it has been said upon the street.
by many that there was Yer,
grave doubt about the legality o
certain bond issues and more es
Pc. tally that the Board Of Mayo
and Aldermen had made severa
illegal contracts, especially con
tracts for work with some Of thei
own members, yet the genera
con -ensus seems To be that thi
Vas largely through ignoranc,
on the par; 81 these officials
however that maxim .-ignoranc,
OF the law excuses no one" Ger.
tainly ought to apply to the of.
ileials, ii said charge be true
These men have had able coun.
sci all these years and there ar,
psnty Of good lawyers in tn,
city and it does look like the,
might have kept on the safe track
The truth of the whole matte,
. that Oxford has been exceed
inSly careless in the selection Of
her city officials: many of then
have been men OF business sbIli.
e.