The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1920-01-30
ERADICATINC AN
INCUBUS.

nouncement that the last AZ the "Ser-
les b Warrants" have been called in
| by the county treasurer and will be
paid and cancelled when presented. A
bunch OF these old warrants should be
framed and hung In the county court
house as a relic Of frenzied financeer-
ing and as warning to alI future ad-
ministratiOns to steer c{ear OF the
shoals of extravaganza. However, this
is no time to intimate that the COM
missioners in power at the time these
warrants were issued were unduly
|extravagant. They faced condition
for which they were not responsible
and over which they had no control,
although at the time the warrants
were hawked about In search of buy
ers an impression prevailed that some
of the county officers were reckless
In their expenditure of public funds.
but that can be looked upon as a too
! common weakness among those who
! are in a position to handle public
funds or have voice in tseir distri-
button.
The fact is that when these war;
rants were issued the county was very
sparsely settled, valuation of property
was very low and the county had only
meagre source Of income. There was
not sufficient money coming5n to meet
current expenses, and as at that tim D
Okanogan county extended as far
south as the Wenatchee river it COW
cred an enormous territorys The only
means of conveyance was by stage or
horseback and every department of
the administration natuallys cost ex-
cessively. The administration Of JUS
tice was an especially costly item in
the annual expenditure, the mileage
of jurors and witnesses running up to
large sums. But what made the cost
Of running the county greater than
under ordinary circumstances was the
practice Of every man having bill
against the county to add from 25 to
so per cent to his bill in order to get
anything like what was really due him
from the deprecated warrants. This
system of bill initiation was winked at
by the county officials, and hence the
county paid far more than ruling
prices for everything it bought in
the market, whether labor or material.
That system looked like :ssabberys
but what were people to do when
drawing pay from the county? The
man who received warrant and
could not afford to hold it (and how
few could have afforded to hold them
to this day., had to sell at the ruling
price, and the ruling price was dis
count of the face value of from 33 1-3
to rs per cent. AS the warrants drew,
or were alleged to draw, from to 10
per cent they were an attractive in
vestment, even if the chance of REDEEM
ption was remote. The last of these
warrants now called and to be re-
deemed have SO accumulated interest
that they are worth three times their
face value.
In past years numerous efforts were
made to devise ways and means to
eradicate this old Indebtedness, that
has been an incubus on the county for
so long a time, but the people could
come to no agreement. 1t was propos-
ed to bond the county to pay the war
rants. but the proposition got no fur
ther than discussion, and 1t was not
until 1917 that definite plan was
adopted with the aim of taking up
these warrants, a plan that might
have been carried out long ago and
saved the county considerable ex-
pense. 1t is source of satisfaction to
know that Series B Warrants" are
now thing Of the past The 1ndepend-
ent announcing the call Of the last of
these warrants has the following in
formation upon the subject:
I when the county was first organiz-
| ed, it scenes that there were but two
kinds of warrants issued-salary war
rants and these Series B warrants.
Salary warrants went for salaries OF
county officials only, and were paid
first; Series B warrants paid all 9TH
er bills and apparently little atten-
ton was given the matter of ultimate
ly taking them up. For many years no
levy was made for taking care Of them.
The first of them drew 10 per cent in
terest. Later, this interest was reduc-
ed to per cent.
"In 1900 the board Of commission
ers placed a small levy on the tax
rolls, about enough to take care OF
the interest on Series B warrants. But
it was not utnil 1917 that definite
policy was outlined intended to ulti-
mately retire the entire issue. Com
missioner VIM. Anderson of Winthrop
was chairman of the board and instru-
mental in putting the levy into effect
The levy was for five mills. Every
year since that time the board has fol
lowed that plan and in the remarkably
short time of three years this old in
Idebtedness has been wiped out. The
1919 levy cleaned the slate of abou
$4,000 of these warrants.
"It is claimed that at the time these
warrants were issued the cOunty's fl
lnances were so badly discredited tina
they were worth only about 25 cent
or 35 cents on the dollar. The ole
timers tell us that in the palmy days
of Ruby and Conconully any warran
was good for round of drinks, re
gardless of the amount of the warran
or the size of the crowd.
Treasurer Smith says it is surpris
ing how many of the original owner
of the warrants present them for pay
ment Only few weeks ago Franl
Samson of Oroville came in with SOM
| of tbac. uarro 70 thaf ha had roneivn,
for expenses when he was county sup
erintendent of schools more than
lquarter of century ago. Other oil