Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-06-05
WILL VOTE ION
TWO BALLOTS
Judges of Circuit Court Will Be
Elected and County Tax
Decided.
AT THE POLLS MONDAY
Special Levy Proposition This Time
Calls for Period of Six Years
Third Time Up.

Monday the voters of the Four
teenth district will select the judges
to preside in the circuit courts of
Rock Island, nenry, Whiteside and
Mercer counties for the next six
years, and the voters of Rock Island
county will determine whether spe-
cial tax levy of so cents on each 500
valuation shall be made for county
purposes, for term of six years.
The candidates for the bench are
William X. Moore of Moline and
Charles C. Mcmahon of Fulton, on
the democratic ticket the three pres
ent judges, f. d. Ramsay of Morri-
son, Emery C. Graves of Geneseo,
and w. II. Gest of this city, on the
republican ticket, and Alfred Coyne
and w. a. Wills on the socialist tic
ket.
- The County Tax.
The tax proposition is submitted
on a ballot separate from that for
the election of the judges, and the
vote on this proposition itself will
determine the result. If the majority
vote is in favor of the tax, it will be
PUT in operation, and if the larger
vote is against the proposition, it
will be lost, regardless of the proper
tion of the vote on the tax to the
vote for the judges.
The proposition is worded as fol-
lows: proposition to assess 4 rate
of taxation of so cents on each $100|
valuation on all taxable property in
Rock Island county as assessed and
equalized for county purposes. in adj
dition to the constitutional limit of
taxation for county purposes to be
levied each year for the next sue
ceeding six years in conformity with
a resolution adopted by the county
board at the special May session, A.
ID. 1909"
Is Third Time Up.
This is the third time the tax prop
osition has been up since the expira-
ton of the last levy for county pur-
poses. The tax was defeated in No
vember, 1906, and was defeated
again last fall, but in both these
cases the proposition called for spe-
cial levy for a period of 10 years.
this election calls for levy for six
years only. tr'-
The board of supervisors, when it
was decided to submit the PROPOSE
ton. took action to bind the super
visors to apply half of the tax, if vot-
ed, to the payment of the county
debt, the other half to go toward the
current expenses. Figures submitted
by the finance committee place the
floating debt at about S135, eco, the
annual expense of operating the
county at 100000, and the revenue
FROM taxes at about $4,000. The
special tax levy will bring in about
$4,000 additional revenue yearly, if
the proposition carries. 1t is figured
that the half of this sum, applied
yearly to the debt, will pay off the
slate at the end of the six years, and
the other half will cover the deficit
on the current expense account.
Fer Voters TO Say.
It,is again UP to the voters to say
whether they wish to relieve the
conhty's financial predicament by
means Of a 5 mill tax. There is no
doubt that the county needs money.
though whether more is asked for than
istnecessary is a question over which
opinions differ.
The fact remains that the county
board, despite possible good inten-
tions. has not made much Roadway in
learning how the county's business
is conducted and therefore has not