Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1911-05-14

thereon for period of thirty years
will amount ID $1y500,000, which il
the amount you have been misled tt
believe will be First Cost of tn,
bridge without interest.
Now let us see what your tax TO-
this account will be. (And this il
not taking into consideration thu
revenue that we will derive from
contracts made with railroads ant
interu.ban lines). The assessed val.
ne of real estate at present in this
county is $S,000,000; an assessment
of one half of one per cent thereon
will bring revenue of $40,000 per
annum and in thirty years Will ag-
gregate $1,2O0,000 Add to that sum
an increase of valuation over the
present amount of one-foulth (and
surely this is "a conservative esu-
mate) and that will bring in an ad-
ditional 100000 and thus the bonds
will be provided for.
Now let us see where that awful
burden is? Where that double tax
alton stands? Let us assume, MI
Taxpayer that you a1e now paying
taxes on a valuation of $4,000, that
would make you pay just SOC per
year more than you are NOW paying
It would be IA pessimistic mind in
deed that will not concede that the
building of this bridge and the i'm
provements accruing therefrom would
not increase our present assessed
valuation Within few years, one
hundred per cent, and in that event
Mr.. Taxpayers the increase in your
taxes for this great benefit would be
just Csc per $4,000 of assessed valu-
alton.
In the above figures we have not
taken into consideration the cost OF
maintainance You have been advised
that this would be TWENTY THOU
SAND DOLLARS PER ANNUM. Our
information contained in a letter
from the County Judge at Little
Rock is that this cost has not eX-
ceeded an average of $4,000 per an
mum. (The first five years there
was no cost at all for msintainance
This one item alone shows how
reckless some Of the statements sen.
out to you have been. We are pre-
pared to say to you THAT 1T WILL
NOT COST THE TAXPAYERS ONE
CENT FOR THIS PURPOSE FOX
THE REASON THAT IT is NOT
OUR PURPOSE TO BUILD SAID
BRIDGE UNTIL WE HAVE A CON-
TRACT FROM ONE OR MORE
RAILROADS TO CROSS IT, WHICH
SHALL EITHER PLACE THE BUR-
DEN OF MAINTAINING THE
BRIDGE IN TERMS UPON THE
RAILROADS OR REQUIRE 'rHHM
TO PAY TOLLS in A SUM MORE
THAN SUFFICIENT FOR THAT
PURPOSE.
The Gust 3mary toll that is charged
railroads for the use of such bridges
is $500 per car. Any trunk line
roads would carly at least 10000
cars across said bridge each year
thus assuring US a revenue OF $751;
100000 per annum, to say nothing OF
any interurban railway which is an
assured fact if the bridge is con-
structed.
Now friends what ale s2me OF the
benefits? We do not have to s;
outside of the borders of our OWE
state to note them. Take Llt'le
Rock and Argents3 for ILLUSTRATION
Twenty years ago when that bridge
was built Little Rock was town 81
not more than 10000 people with al
assessed valuation of six or elgn
million dollars, while Argenta was
village of $500 people with an as
sessed valuation of about one million
dollars. Argenta and the people OF
the north side of the river from Lit
tie Rock set UP the same cry ina
our misguided friends in this section
are now doing. Yet to-day, Argents
is almost as large as Pine Bluff, nav
ing population of more than l2,oo'
people and an assessed valuadion 0
several million, and that TOD. while
she sits right in the mouth OF on
capital city, which has grown to
city of $4,000 population and an as
sessed valuation of more than $50,
OO0,OO0.00. The townships adjoining
on both sides of the river have grow
cerrespondingly. So to have tn
smaller towns adjacent to those cit
les, such as England, Lonoke and Car
Isle and many others like them.
Before the erection of the Littl
Rock bridge plantations along the riv
er within five Or six miles OF Littl
Rock would not bring $4,000 per acre
while today We cannot buy these sam
land for S1S0 90 an core