Evening journal., 1912-05-04
BONDING THE CITY
NEVER NECESSARY

tultor or The EVENING JOURNAL.
Sir: Sec 8. c. Of the proposed
charter gives officials power to bond
the city up to ten percentum Of its
assessed valuation. The light that
is flooding the world in this day Of
progress in civic righteousness re-
veals that this provision, so common
in the past, lies at the fountain head
of graft, fraud. and extortion, which
so abound. When the history of this
day is written ana read in the lime
light of promised progress, no words
will be adequate to express tho
amazement felt for the patience with
which the people of today are fieeced,
and their stolid indifference to pos
sibilities in civic improvement.
The provision here referred to is
objected to, not because it is not in
the proposed charter, but because it is
there, and ought not to be. We de-
sired a new charter to obtain an efi-
cient, economical. business-like ad-
ministration of civic affairs. There IS
not in said charter a single trace OF
one of these most desirable things.
The entire charter provides for the
utmost possible and extravagant ex-
penditures, and this clause is a link
in an endless chain of extortion.
which VIII be necessary when a body
of men get into their hands the un-
restricted and bridled powers that
the charter confers.
Why put it ten percentum? Because
that is as high as bonds can safely
float, considering hard times, big fires
and the like. That is about the limit
OF safe exploitation. DO you realize
what bonds up to ten per cent meang
They mean that every piece of prop
erty in the city has a mortgage on
it of ten per cent of it's valuation,
and that the owner or renter pays
the interest on that mortgage, and
eventually must pay the mortgage.
We object to the charter because no
such provision is necessary In a city
where there is an honest and econo-
mical administration. If such pro-
vision were necessary, five percentum
would be eXtravagant. II is not to a
city's advantage to carry a mortgage.
We are now heavily bonded, our au-
nual interest being over $160000 Sup
pose we had this interest money 20
put on our streets, schools, and
parks? To whom does this money gog
To the banks, the bondholders, the
holders of franchises who want to re-
invest their extortionate earnings for
the purpose of further extortion. Far
sighted banks are not in favor of
bonding their cities. 1t makes the
town poor and the money raised for
the most part goes out o. town.
But further. The direct commits
sion form of government is proving
that in many cities less than fifty
per cent. of the money raised for
public improvements ever got into
the real improvement They are
showing that there is no need Of is
suing bonds. They are demOnstrat-
ing that people are paying over
twice as much tax ON their homes rs
is really needed. They are coming
at the regulation of expenditures
from another direction. They are
passing laws making il illegal 10
levy tax above a fixed amount. in
some cases as low as one per cent.
and still public improvements go on
] better than ever before
Ohio limits taxes as follows The
! aggregate taxes that may be levied
by a county for county purposes shall
not exceed in any one year three
mills; the aggregate for municipal
purposes shall not exceed five mills.
and for township purposes not over
two mills. This limits taxes for the
three purposes to one dollar per hun
| dred. or one percentum. General
Code Of Ohio. Sec 5649-3a, 81 We I'm
Wilmington pay two dollars and fif-
teen cents per hundred.
Under proper charter We can stop
this perpetual cry for more money for
municipal purposes stop issuing new
bonds. cut down our taxes. and give
the city improvement the like OF
which they have never seel. We OBJ
ject to the proposed charter because
the clause here referred TO. lays the
basis for needless costs. incalculable
waste. and unbusiness-like manage
ment
The business way to raise money
for improvements is. to levy the tax
and get the money at once. Do not
: load down the future or the city with
bonds and interest
Next 1 will take up Section 5, and
p.
Respectfully,
George Henry Dole.
Wilmington. Del Nav g. 1912