Chapter XXIVp>
Early in the seventies there was much discussion as to
the depreciation of county warrants, which were down then to
fifty cents on the dollar. Some writer in the local press, in
January, 1874, has the following:
"Northwestern Iowa needs assistance, and such assistance can
only be granted by the State Legislature. The munificence of
individuals can relieve the wants of individuals, but it takes
legislation to relieve the embarrassments of counties.
"In no part of the state is there more fertile soil, more
healthful climate, larger yearly improvements, or more rapid
increase in population, than in Northwestern Iowa. In a few years
the counties will be as independent as any in the state. But
circumstances, over which the county had no control, for the very
reason that they were, themselves, controlled by designing men,
brought the credit of many of them into great disrepute, owing to
the issuing of warrants for no valid consideration, so that after
affairs began to be economically managed the warrants were worth,
in the market, but half their face.
"It maybe safely said that the New Code of Iowa went into
operation finding the administration of our northwestern counties
in as good hands as other portions of the state, but just as the
New Code took force the bonding law expired by statute
limitation, thereby taking away that which had caused warrants to
be, at least in some degree, in demand, as offering an investment
which yielded a fair rate of interest.
"By economical management it was hopped that warrants would
not depreciate very much, but when the Supreme Court's decision
was announced there was no longer a market, something, of course,
must be done. The counties cannot remedy the matter; it rests
with the Legislature.
"Our assessment is $612,000. At four mills the revenue
amounts to $2,448; this, with the present amount of property, is
all that can be raised for county purposes.
"Now, see what county expenses are to be paid out of this
sum: Section 3844 of the Code provides that "The Board of
Supervisors shall furnish the Clerk of District and Circuit
Courts, Sheriff, Recorder, Treasurer, Auditor and County
Superintendent with offices at the county-seat, together with
fuel, lights, blanks, books and stationery necessary and proper
to enable them to discharge the duties of their respective
offices."
"The compensation of the officers is fixed by the board, and
paid out of the county fund, except such as paid in the shape of
fees. The sum total of fees received in the different offices is
no more than sufficient to afford one officer a reasonable and
fair compensation, leaving four or five officers to be paid out
of the county fund. The sum total of fees and expenses, fixed by
law, and that cannot be reduced, amounted, for the last year, to
$4,625.94; add to this amount compensation for officers and the
amount necessary to pay the interest on bonds drawing ten per
cent, payable semi-annually, and you have, at the least
calculation, a sum three or four times the amount of the revenue.
At present it would take just about a twenty mill tax to keep up
all the drafts on the county fund.
"In view of the above condition of affairs, we appeal to the
Legislature to provide for a revenue. We submit that it is an
outrage on the Board of Supervisors, to the people of the county,
to the name of legislator or legislation, that a body of men,
chosen to legislate for the interests of the whole state, should
compel Boards of Supervisors to provide for the payment of bills
of expenses and provide for only one-fourth the necessary
revenue.
"We must have the bonding law revived, a higher levy, and
direct taxes voted by the people. We need one, or more, or all
these means of relief. There is no reason why, if sufficient
revenue is provided, the paper of a county cannot be just as good
as the paper money of the government."
PRICES IN 1873
In 1873, prices in Sibley ranged about as follows:
Sixteen and one-half pounds of dried apples for $1.00; prunes 7
½ pounds for $1.00; blackberries, 7 ½ pounds for $1.00;
peaches, 10 pounds for $1.00; Standard "A" sugar, 7 ½
pounds for $1.00; brown sugar, 10 pounds for $1.00; bacon, 12
cents per pound; shoulders 7 cents per pound; hams, 16 cents per
pound; oil, 35 cents per pound.
The above was from a local dealer advertising his goods. The
market report in a June, 1873, number of the Gazette,
was as follows:
75@86 |
Wheat, No. 1, per bush. | |
40 |
Corn, per bush. | |
25 |
Oat, per bush. | |
35@40 |
Barley, per bush. | |
3.25 |
Flour, per hundred lbs. | |
1.90 |
Corn meal, per hundred lbs. | |
1.50 |
Beans, per bush. | |
12 |
Pork, per lb. | |
18 |
Hams, per lb. | |
30 |
Potatoes | |
12 |
Shoulders, per lb. | |
17 |
Lard, per lb. | |
30 |
Butter, per lb. | |
20 |
Cheese, per lb. | |
15 |
Eggs, per doz. | |
12 1/2 |
Dried apples, per lb. | |
12 1/2 |
Dried peaches, per lb. | |
72@1.80 |
Tea, per lb. | |
29@34 |
Coffee, per lb. | |
121/2@17 |
Sugars, per lb. | |
1.00 |
Syrups, per gal. | |
80 |
Molasses, per gal. | |
40 |
Kerosene, per gal. | |
18.00@37.00 |
Lumber, per M. | |
7@10 |
Nails, per lb. | |
3.00@5.00 |
Shingles, per M. |
Hard coal was then selling at $25 per
ton, and soft coal correspondingly.
Whatever the farmer raises in Osceola County he finds a good
market for in either of the towns, and a prominent business house
in Sibley, Ocheyedan and Harris, inadvertently omitted from the
Sibley write-up, is
A. W. HARRIS & CO.
This firm has a large grain and coal
business in Sibley, also in the towns of Harris and Ocheyedan.
The town of Harris was named after the head of this firm, who
laid out the town site, and still owns it except what lots have
been sold. They put up the first building on the Harris town site,
and at present are the only grain buyers there. This firm located
in Sibley in 1887, and are very prominent in their line of
business in Osceola County.