Decatur Democrat, Volume 52, Number 41, Decatur, Adams County, 14 October 1909 — Page 4

THE nrunraAT eHHßtaßaßßMmUHeSimaiMßetaMtaßataß tvanimMT »r LBW < RilHfoMr. ...... m mTMiai wua. ■stored at the postoffice at Decatur. I*4, «8 second class mail matter. «—MW——*———*■■■■• f»F?WAL fafer of abamb ca WE JOIN IN THE INVITATION The city election is less than a month off, but in this time every voter in the city can find time to visit and inspect the municipal plant—P. L. We join in this request and hope that it may be possible for every voter in Decatur to visit the water works and electric light plant between this'' time and election day. You will find there one of the best equipped and best managed plants in the country, and since the installation of the new boilers, the plant is fixed to dispose of all the business that for the present and for some IPtle time to come, may come their way. The water works and electric plants in this city are similar in char, acter and expedience to every other institution of its -kind— municipal or private. Take for Illustration the ■ career of the Citizens* Telephone company, and thby have torn out and enlarged their switchboards at least a dozen times since their organization, and every time they improved them they felt sure that they were large enough to take care of their business for years to come; This has been the experience of the municipal plant in this city. Their business outgrows their facilities, and they have to Improve and enlarge in order to keep pace with the great and growing business done. The boilers recently taken out were too small, and to keep them in service meant not only a loss in business, but it also meant endangering the entire plant The boilers were not ruined and worthless, but have al- * (ready been contracted and resold* Sold, of course at a loss, as com-

pared to their original cost, but sold ! and taken out in order to make morel perfect and complete the service of I these municipal plants. Is this bad! mar agemen Is this a symptom of I reckless extravagance or isn’t it I good business management, good | hard sense, and haven’t the present council acted with wisdom in making I the water works and electric light I plants grow and keep pace with the business done. An institution that | earns to,..exceed thirty thousand dol-| lars a year, and me too, that even • P. L. says might be worth one hundred and twenty-five thousand dol-1 lars, isn’t a bad piece of ‘‘junk’’ after all. The Democrat joins P. L. in his invitation to every Decatur cit’zen and especially if you have a vote at the coming election, to visit the plant and while there give it a close investigation and study. 's. Z V. J The city needs a change in management and the Introduction ,

of business methods in the management of her property.—P. L, Following the Republican administration previous to 1898, when ninety thousand dollars was added to the city debt, did P. L. think there ought to be a change? In 1905 another period following a Republican admin, istration of city affairs, and when the city debt had reached the appall-' ing sum of $124,584, did P. L. think there ought to be a change? Now it is different The Democrats are in and of course P. L. is certain that a change will cure the ills that do not exist The Democrat is honest in the belief that Decatur has had too many changes in its officers and in its management of municipal affairs, We believe that the present offldfrs in the next four years will make It plain that they are the sort of reformers that reform. They will reduce the city debt, cut down the interest charge, lessen the burden of taxation and at the same time will give the city a model administration. New men means new methods ail •round, new policies, and for their (adoption the taxpayer* pay the freight P. L. • gwttoaa macM, Hi the tajgayww *_■ ; ft

better Mep them in, for good BILLY IS ALWAYS RtffiHT In the editorial columns of yes* .torday's Democrat the period of "■ our greatest Indebtedness is * placed in the year 1895, and our ' 1 greatest Indebtedness at $124,J 584. Billy the official bookkeeper places the date at 1905. Who is | right?—P. L. < Billy is always right Thq time was actually 1905 closely following on the heels of a Republican administration of councilmanlc affairs, which left the city holding the sack > for $124,584. Besides that they did not leave a thing that was not spent including a tax rate of a dollar and r t twenty-six. And by the way P. L., * I ‘ i there are no kicks on those blooming (prosperous days, are there? Go out and look. Search the' I city over and see if you can find any evidence that Decatur has ’ I even had a council since they I took office.—P. L. i 5 1 I There is great logic in the above. Why not specialize yourself P. L. and not ask your readers to dig up that for which you are paid to supply. Why not tell them that the in- - tereet rate has been reduced to four II and one-half per cent, while hereii . tofore six and eight per cent was the amount of Interest paid by the city fathers. This reduction was made too, by the present wasteful land extravagant cbuncll who do not i I know much any way. This is but lone Item and before the campaign lends we will enumerate you one hunIdred thousand others that are equally las good or better. ; 1 ■ * i' * * i At last P. .L admits that there I i has been a reduction in the city debt, although the increase in the tax rate ( I * •; - Its said to amount to more than the i I actual reduction made. For the sake 1 lof argument we will let P. L. have 1 ■ his way. Isn't it a relief to have a * I council that will reduce instead of I increase the debt of the city, and do you not actually feel already as I

though we were getting ont of the ® hole, and that some day the old score 1 will be paid and that we will be free r from the terrors of owing and paying 5 interest for the privilege of 'owing. 1 I Any council who has business enough ’ |to lay the ground work, and who i thinks enough of himself and posterlity to pay up and stop the interest, < lis certainly neither wasteful or exI travagant. It smacks of something I better than that. In fact it is a safe I bet that a council that will reduce I I instead of increase the debt, that I they are real business men, and safe I for the city to 'tie to. Even P. L. lajdmits that this council has done I this, and having made an excellent I showing in the first four years, in I the next four they will do more. The I city debt at the end of another term {ought not to exceed fifty thousand {dollars, and at the same time the tax | rate can be reduced. There are many {reasons why this is possible, but the {most simple and logical reason in

the lot, is that the city has begun the payment of its Indebtedness, They have the affairs of the city in hand, they have its business systemitized, they pay their bills as they make them, and there is no reason now why they should not reduce the debt, and lower the tax levy every year. The members of the council say |hat they can do it, and their record in the past is sufficient evidence to us that they will do it, if commissioned by the voters of the city. Let’s give it -to them P ,L • * ' ■ i IT HAS BEEN I . ' . ft ( A BUSINESS COUNCIL Should they succeed tin- a reelection, it would encourage I them to further acts of aggrest slon and four years more of the I kind of management we have had » in the immediate past is certainly r more than the people of the city 1 can afford to have.—P. L. P. L. accompanies the above with I no specifications defining the acts of r aggression to which the present counz cU -is guilty. In fact the Democrat r their guilt We believe that 1W council that can take bo(d at the .6 tl < ‘

"bust Aril a ity ith fid b edneas of more than one hundred and twenty-four thousand dollars, with the city's credit tone, with an accumulation of bills staring them in the face, with court judgments hanging over their head and with ne eash that had not been spent in advance, and who can redeem the city'Sferehlt, reduce the city debt, phy their obligations, systemize the business of the city, are not after all a very bad lot of shylocks. The present council deserves credit for the real business features of their administration. If the present business methods prevail during the next four yean, the city debt can be reduced almost one-half, and it can be done too, upon a tax levy reduced some dvery year of the four. They have laid. the. ground work for the very reform for which they were elected. They have made good, and they should be re-elected in order that they can carry out real business reform—the first that has in reality existed in this city in the last quarter of a century. The waterworks plant was built in 1894 under a Republican adlnlnistration which controlled nearly every office in the city. This was a reform ' business council, yet they made this costly improvement without/paying a cent fot* it, and without leaving anv record showing its cost or how much was paid for it City bonds and stock company bonds were issued tn ' the sum of sixty odd thousand do!- 1 lars, yet there is nothing on record showing any details of the transactlon. The only statement of record Is the report of Godfrey Christen and J. Frank Mann, who in 1898 were employed as experts to go over the books and ascertain the financial condition of the city. Their report 1 showed the city debt to be $113,885.53, an increase of over ninety thousand 1 dollars during the four years previous to 1898. Now, we would like to see the color of the fellow’s hair that 1 ever heard P. L. utter one word of ■ f disapproval of the action of this Republican council. \. ■ ■ - ■■■ ■ ; ‘ ’ In 1895 another period following a :

Republican administration of. the ' business affairs of the city, the debt 1 reached the enormous sum of $124.584.00. Did any one ever hear of 1 P. L. being scandalized by the public ' waste of her Republican officers? NOT AN EMBLEM OF BAD BUSINESS MANAGEMENT So says the mouthpiece of their administration. —P. L. Isn’t that an awful thing to call a fellow. You’re another. They overlook the fact that Its construction was at ithe command of the taxpayers of the city expressed tnrough the ballot box—P. L. We would like to know P. L.jlf It was written on the ballot that the plant should be built without sup* plying "the taxpayers who commanded them** with some statement showing Its cost. Were they not considered gerous and the steam pressure. on them limited by lawful authority. If they were good why should this ’ have been done.*—' * * .L* Now, why, P. L. If the business had not grown to exceed the capacity of the boilers, new ones would not have been needed. It is very simple. Try to reason |t. Boilers are like anything else, they can do , their share and no more. When the load exceeds the capacity of the boilers it means either larger boilers, or a curtailment of the business, Isn’t that plain. You are awfully dull, P. L. That there were no funds available for the purpose makes no difference. The people knew this when they voted for the plant and were aware of the fact that ft maent a debt—P. L. Oh, P, L. go shake yourself. That i Is no excuse for the building of the f waterworks plant without giving an - accurate account of the cost. Peot pie do not spend thousands of dolt lars, or any other eunuzwithoctkeefie lag an account of ft Tou wouM aM . -■■■■ ■■ " H

excuse that looks better any way. , 7-. • Gross earnings form no basis upon which to estimate value — P. L. • Gross earnings are a mighty handy thing to hand.and w« : ,wjl$ > bet thfit F. L. .has seen the ti me in the business when he equid hard used the gross earning feature to a good advantage. 1—Wherein he finds a similarity between the municipal plaht and this private corporation is hard to see—P.- L. - The similarity, as you term it,was made plain at the time the illustration was offered. (The telephone company discarded a dozen switch boards before they had one large enough for their enormous business. The city has had to enlarge their municipal plant in the same way. It isjaot an emblem of bad business management to have more business than can be cared for. Failures seldom come from such a cause, and we will bet that P. L. never heard of even one. »l IW! HE DONE A CRUSTY JOB P. L. done a crusty job of figuring in order to decrease the reductions made in the city debt, the work of the present council. It was a crude job* and all the way through showed a studied effort to make things in the financial world of our city, appear* different than they really are. It took about a column and some sweat—to show that the reductions were not very much after all, but the reader cannot help but sympathise with P. L. in the extra nerve force it took to make the figures look half way plausible. Os course if the council , had built a city building and spent the money otherwise they would not have made the showing they have toward reducing the debt and pulling the city out of a hole. But the showing is made and they are entitled land should be given credit for that which they do.- For Instance, this council keeps their tax draw Intact and do not spend it until the money is in the hands of the treasurer. Previous to the present conn'd! this condition never existed. The tax draw was always mortgaged and spent before they got it, and in addition they’ paid the banks interest in no small sums in paying out their good money for orders which the council issued with little or no thought of their payment. This is all changed and the council do business in a business way, arid that is the reason they tore able to make a good showing and at the same tide reduce their tax levy thirty cents. There is no holding orders waiting for something to happen before a person is able to get the cash for it. Why, we know a person under the old system as practiced in the good old' days, where a workman with a eity' order was Compelled to seek ass&tance of the township trustee for aid for his family. Atjhe same time he had a city order upon which be could not get the money to buy that which would sustain life. This happened under one of those prosperous business Republican administrations, which you so cunningly defend, P. L. The taxpayers and i the voters of the city want no more of It, but instead want to see the I city debt reduced, and they alto want the city to pay its orders and not even borrow the money to do it. I ,T. -TV'' ■ ' , P. L. is long in chastising the , present council because they are progressive, and believe in improve l ments. P. L. wants none of that in , his. But how about the workmen ic the city Who are employed both bj the city and on contracts for the city If P. L. has his way there will be nc improvements, no progress and the fellow who works for a living will have to look elsewhere for something to employ himfelf. The “noth Ing doing” sign will be out and 11 t will 'be » good tight town. Doei B this suit you Mr. Workman. Would u n’t you like it better If work for th< - city was plentiful, and If there wai - lota of life and hustle for everybody -{And ~IM. *<»• ’ to fogec W mmb a pretteffi

VI UA nJ U V VAW VU I ley down to Fort Wayne to whop. You know the rest The workmen spend their money at home, and they usually Spend all they make' k good liye busy city is the one that suits both tlte merchant and the working man. you 'are 'too' tight/ ''' c ' HE STILL WANTS - < THOSE GOOD OVD DAYS P. U stilMnslsts that Decatur must be a dead one. No improvements, no work for the laboring man and that means a curtailment of credit from the business man. It is a program of city management that will not cause the merchant or the laborer to swell up tn pride. In fact if is a program that is not calculated to make any of us proud of ourselves, and it is one too, that should not be countenanced by the progressive spirit that is now so manifest in our city. The writer heard one of the best business men in the city say the other night that Decatur was now and had been during the past four years the best governed city in the state, and he proved the point by the accomplishments of the present council. Ij is an easy point to prove. They hafe been business men who have dpne things, and the greatest of their accomplishments has been the placing of the affairs of the city on a business basis, the payment of their bills and the reduction of the city debt Now comes P. L. and suggests a return to those good old daya,., Jhoee days when city orders went beggingTthey getting not even a pleasant look, let alone the good hard cash in lieu thereof. He wants to get back to the time when the city debt instead of being paid was permitted to accumulate and grow larger. P. L. stands

31 a class all by himself. Every one else wants to pay as we go, reduce the debt and cut down the interest charge, which Is heavy enough now. Deliver us from the days when we were going further and further in the soup, and when interest was being paid at the rate of six and eight per eent If the present business features are continued it will not be many years before Decatur will be free from debt free from outrageous •< ri interest charges, and free to manage her own affairs in her own free way. The present council has made this possible, and they should be elected to carry out the plans of the on>y business council Decatur has had in 'years. There is not a member of the present council who have a personal or selfish motive in the transaction of the affairs of the city. They may have their faults but when it comes to business they have no friend* to reward or enemies to punish. If Is business, as it should be business with every voter on election day. Every voter should vote for the nearest route for relief from the tangling alliances of debt and interest. It has been announced that the report of the first year of the municipal light plant at Fort Wayne will show that the city Is the gainer. The ultimate cost of the plant is put at $200,00© and the saving ly the cost of >he city’s street lights., alone represents S per cent on tbe investment The receipts also have exceeded the running expenses by more than $2,000 a month. With a plant of /that kind with, honest management the city of Fort Wayne 'ought to be able to demonstrate the worth ’of municipal ownership of public utilities.—Columbia City Post. DOPE ON THE SERIES. The contest between the Tigers and Pirates Is causing more interest over . the country than any event In the history of sporting circles. There is no game like base ball It is the only ' fair and square sport In the land. This 1 year the winners of the two leagues, i American and National, are putting up the greatest battles ever witnessed in a post series. At present It looks as though the entire -series of seven ’ games would be necessary. Up to 1 today they stood even up, two games • each. The receipts have already exs ceeded all previous records. Hereto* , fore the largest total of money taken In was $104,000 when the Chicago Cuba and White 8« battled. With- » At4£M£F*s receipts the totolsv®* . .

>2.000. The playors only gte a share in tie first four gabies Which have already been played*and they get btft seventy-five per' cent - that, teh per cent going to the commMbton aid, ' fifteen per cent to the owners. From t now <m the receipts go to the owners excepting ten per cent to the commission. It is figured that if seven games are played the owners of the winning team will receive enough profit to pay the salaries (or the entire year. The total attendance up to last evening was 95,641. * • She Was Pleasantly Surprised Miss H. E. Bell, Wausau, Wls., writes: “Before I commenced to take Foley's Kidney Pills I had severe palps in my back, could not sleep, aiM fjwaa greatly troubled with headache. The first few doses of Foley's Kidney Pills gave me relief, and two bottles cured me. The quick results surprised me, and I can honestly recommend them." HOLTHOUSE DRUG dO. V' Wi.w ;«!,!■ \ MONROE REPUBLICANS MMT-. Monroe, Indiana, October 13.— (Special to Dally Democrat)—The Republicans of this place met last' night in mass convention for the purpose of selecting a ticket for the November election. Os Andrews acted as chairman of the meeting and Sylvester Johnson was made permanent secretary. Without any very serious straps, the following ticket was named: For clerk and treasurer, D. 6sterman; for marshal, Ferd Tabler; for councilman of first ward, O. o.* Hocker; councilman second wajfd. Will-Newton; councilman third wartl,’ Dennis Brandyberry. |.... i 'o- J!" 1 ■'* ■“ ■ Hoarseness in a child subject to croup is a sure indication of the aprpoach of the .disease. It Chamberlain’s Cough Remedy is given at once or even after the croupy cough has appeared. It will prevent the attack. Contains no poison. Sold by all dealers. •v ■' ■■ ■" i" There was no session of the Adame circuit court today, Judge Merryman being the special judge at Bluffton forn day or two. 4

,v'-‘ Tb?_ jury has been discharged until Monday, October 25th, when they will report for the purpose of hearing th* Gladleux and other Allen county saloon,cases before Special Judge R« Peterson. The case of Mary A, Davis et al vs. Adeline Rumple et al* seppatru*$ eppatru* thpvw will of Daniel Rumple, is set for trial ~ here on Friday of this week. z The only transfer recorded today was that of Cora Werllng to John Brelner, lots one and two, Preble, H.3W. . Various attorneys and other interested parties and witnesses went to Bluffton this morning where the case of D. E. Scott vs. L. A. Graham, for an accounting, is set for trial Graham & Scott were formerly partners in the insurance business, but dissolved and this case is for an adjustment of their affairs. Mr. Scott is now 1* the insurance business at Lafayette. . . —. r -— -. ♦ ?■ Foley’s Honey apd tar cleats the air passages, stops the Irritation in , the throat, soothes the inflamed membranes, and the most obstinate cough disappears. Sore and inflamed lungs are healed and strengthened and the Hold is expelled from the system- - Refuse any but the genuine in the yellow package. v- v HOLTHOUSE DRUG C& ' . —■ e I-.- 1 ... . The Washington township teachers will hold an institute in the office of Samuel Butler, the trustee, next Saturday. This is the first institute and it promises to be interesting and to* * stnidtlve to the teachers. There #Ol be a general discussion of the school work and best methods of instructing the pmpUs, etc. The teachers -arw Mines Mary Shilling, Etta Brandyberry, Josephine Krick, Mary Moran. 1 Melvin Mallonee, John Walters, Will Faurot, Mr. Smith. , Chamberlain’s Cough Remedy hah ' become famous for its cures of I coughs, colds, croup and Influenza. Try it when In need. It contains no ■ harmful substance and always gives prompt relief. Sold by all dealers. o— —• It seemed rather strange for Mont--1 peller people when Saturday afcerr noon three . German families from the - neighborhood of Newville, the Amish settlement near Bluffton, came to r Montpelier, and the men and women i alike made a visit to the Lobby sai, loon, and all had several , rounds of 5 their "hops.” They were very quiet 1 about It, but at the same time the b women showed no more embarras- - a than had at a soda a fountain.— Montpelier Herald. s ■ 1 ■—— 0 ■ ;* Mrs. Tom Haefling will , leave to? *. morrow morning for Flint, Michigan, n whprr she will from- now on make o her future borne.. Mr. Haefling has a new house ajl arranged and. ,wW move , rJ ■