June 101 1904 THE FALLS CITY TRIBUNE
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, . Drainage Ma.tters by
) R. E. . Grinstead
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'fl e object of my letter this
week ' , is to recount two historical
-t' - . , transactions occurring in this
' . .county within thc last thirty
, . , years , each contradictory of the
. " \ other in facts and places of occur-
, encc ; each one very interesting
because of the fact that the firs\
one I shall recount is fiction , pure
. and . unadulterated , without any
truth whatever , and never occur-
' red , except in the midst of two or
three individuals and that very
, .
reccn tty. The same purports to
recall events which transpired
I twcl1ty-fh'c years ago and runs
_ . , follows to-wit
' . " . I as - :
: / Once upon a time , in the long
'I'\ " ago , Falls City precinct issued
and sold her own bonds to aid in
the construction of a county court
housc. Subsequently the legisla-
. f - ture of Nebraska enacted a law ,
" providing that Richardson county
.1" should , assume payment of these
bonds , and that Henry Moritz ,
who was then comity commissioner -
er , voted at a meeting of thc
county board to aid in the con-
sumation of this scheme and that
the county was thereby compelled -
cd to pay a debt , originally con-
tractcd by Falls City prccinct.
Now this is the first story , being -
ing circulated by the few who ares
s opposed to the drainage proposi-
tion and who arc using the
M
same in support of their oppo-
si tion. This story is ill every
particular the exact converse of a
true , or thc second story , which I
will now relate , which actually
. i . did occur and arc facts of record.
a In 1873 thc legislature of Ne-
braska enacted a law , providing
. { that Falls City precinct may issue
and sell bonds , to aid in thc construction -
e struction of a.county court house
in pursuance of which Falls City
, precinct did issue and sell such
bonds to Sl. Joseph investors the
proceeds of which were used in
I , thc construction . of such court
. . . . house , and also levied a tax up-
,
on thc citizens of said precinct ,
, , with which to pay thc interest
, . and principal of such dcbt.
, hereupon one Elmer Dundya
j taxpayer in said precinct , claimed
that these proceedings were illegal -
4 legal and that thc legislature
could not , in harmony with thc
1. ,
1 ' , , constitution. make such a law
He therefore cr.joincd the county
'I tf 4 authorities , whose duty it was to
. , , ; f cause thc collection of said tales
I
- l' ' . / J ; from such collcction.
ii\f' \ t Dt11Jdy won the suit in the district -
. . \I\ \ . . trict court. Judge A. J. Weaver
.
- presiding , whereupon an appeal
/ to thc supreme court with thc
' same rcsult. See volume 8 , page
508 supreme court rcport. Arti-
,
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" " " . . . , . .
' . .
, 'i -
c'c 4 of Syllabuf : " 'rhe act approved -
proved li'eb. 4th , 1873 to author-
ize Falls City prccint to issue
bonds to aid in the construction
of a court house for Richardson
county , is in conflict with Sec. 1 ,
Art. 8 of the constitution of 1867"
Article 5 , "Counties and pre-
cincts have no authority to issue
bonds unless authorized to do so
by express statuh "
The facts are , that instead of
thc first story being true , thc
bond iJoldcrs paid for thc court
house and were never reimbursed
for the same ; thc disgraceful part
of which is that Richardson comity -
ty permitted it to be done. So
thc original court house never
cost thc taxpayers of thc county ,
nor Falls City precinct , one cent ,
not even an attorncy's fee.
Furthermore , there never was a
proposition bef on . Henry Moritz
for his consideration of the char-
acter mcntioncd.
These two narratives , taken together -
gcthcr , serve a good purpose ; the
first one shows that an imaginative -
tive fertile brain , when properly
trained , has a possibility of crea-
tivc power. It is also illustrative
of the fact that it is not always
thc case that fiction is ncccssarily
thc attendant of evil , but may of-
ten be used to point a moral or
adorn a talc. In this case it is
used most potently to cxcmplf
thc truth , that thc supreme court
of this state has already , in the
case quoted forever inhibited the
possibility of a state or counties
assuming thc debts of minor municipalities -
icipalities within its own tcrri-
tory.
I have previously called attention -
tion to this same well known fact
more than once , in former arti-
cle , upon this last named point of
the sUbject which applies equally
to thc drainage qnestiol1. It is
to bc hoped that it will bc unnec-
essary to refer to these facts
again to satisfy the public , that
only the owners of wet lands can
bc taxed , for the expense of reclaiming -
claiming the same. All citizens ,
however , will share in the com-
mon benefits to be derived from
the same , among which arc : the
enhanced value of land , as it will
appear upon thc asscssor's rolls
for taxation. The improvement
of county roads across thc bot-
toms , but the lowering of the
water line from G to 8 feet at the
expense of the owners of wet
land only , instead of the more
doubtful method of raising the
grade line , with thc expense of
proper waterways through the
same to the same height above
the present water line , which
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, Your Attention ! I
I would respectfully call the attention of the !
, house owners of Falls City to the fact that I j
have recently stocked a full line of - - - - - -
; i
Heath X82 Miliisan's Guaranteed
!
w Paints and Colors.
i.r\ \
1 am also showing to the : public 'a new' and a !
very complete line , embracing the latest in - -
L
.J4 WALL PAPER i + :
; Ranging from the Cheapest to 'the Best I
. . ff
. I shall aim to carry a first class line including ! .
the best grade of goods ill thc way of
.
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Paints , _ Oils , Varnishes I
and Brushes I
: : Please caB and get prices , which will always i
bc right. Thanking my friends for many fav-
ill ors in past years , I hope for a continuance.
W. Ho KERR , I
Dealer in E'erythin.l ! that Can be Found
ill V
. . . '
Jt in a First Cla.s.s Pharmacy IJ
. j.
some are \ thinking of doing , at
the expense of the general county
road fund , the latter as I believe
being absolutely impractical and
almost impossiblc to (10.
In addition to the advantages
enumerated in thc practical mcth-
od suggested , I would call attention -
tion to the fact that in the future
many of the county bridges to bc
built may bc much shorter and
expense of repairs to all bridges
would be greatly diminished.
Your truly ,
R. E. Grinstcad.
Missouri Pacific Railway
Time Table , Falls City , Neb.
NORTH
No. 51 Omaha and Lincoln
Express . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A 2:25 : a nl
No. 90maha and Lincoln. ' . .g:35 : a 111
No. 57 Omaha and Lincoln
passenger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A 2:48 : p 111
No. 233 Local Freight , Au-
burn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A 1:10 p nl
SOUTH
No. 52 Kansas City and St.
Louis and Denver . . . . . . . .A 3:47 : a 111
No. 58 Kansas City and St.
Louis and Denver . . . . . . . .A 2:48 : p 111
No.50 Worlds l < 'airspeciaL. 8:45 : p 111
No. 232 Local , Atchison. . . 10:30 a 111
No. 220 Stock Freight , Hi-
awatha. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J\ 9:52 : p In
A. Daily. n. Daily except Sunda ) ' .
J. n. VAHNmn , Agcnt.
Money to loan.
Private funds ; annual interest ; .
optional paymcnts ; good rates.
On a few choice loans can get
Special Rates. If you wish to
get a loan , have an old one com-
ing due , or one that you can
change , be sure and call or write ,
Henry C. Smith ,
24 Falls City , Neb. ' .
.
"vVe carry a. . . .
COMPLETE LINE
OF
Building Material
And all kinds of
COAL
WE SOLICIT YOUR PATRONAGE + }
Chicago
Lumber f Coal Co.
If
TELEPHONE 58. i' '
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