Image provided by: Crook County Historical Society/Bowman Museum; Prineville, OR
About Crook County journal. (Prineville, Or.) 189?-1921 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 1914)
Crook County Joureai COUNTY OFFICIAL PAPER FOR CROOK COUNTY VOL. XVIII $1.50 YEAR PRINEVILLE, CROOK COUNTY, OREGON, THURSDAY, OCT. 29, 1914. Vote 77 and 79 X NO and Save Increased Taxes Ten Reasons Why Crook County Should Not Now Be Divided First It is too costly. We cannot afford it at the present time. Second It would tend to lower the present high stand ard of our schools. Third It would force the taxpayers of the present coun ty to sustain three county and circuit courts, three sets of county buildings and three sets of county officials instead of one. F ourth The present county seat is located in the geo graphical and business center of the county. In none of the proposed counties would the county seat be so centrally located. Fifth It would be a positive injustice to the remaining portion of Crook county, forcing the taxpayers of that division of the county to assume the entire indebtedness of the three new counties, when nearly all of the indebtedness has been incurred in the development of the two proposed counties on the west side. Sixth We are forced to LOWER taxation. We will never do it by such a revolutionary proceeding. It can only be done by creating LESS not MORE expenses. Seventh A large majority of the heavy taxpayers in the whole county are against it . - -.V i Eighth Apparently in an effort to fool somebody, a lot of half-baked estimates of setting up and operating new counties have beentindustriously circulated by the diviaionists. Any cause that resorts to such methods is UNSAFE and should be let alone. Ninth Crook county as it now stands is of more conse quence when state matters are under consideration than if it were cut into small, inconsequential muntcipalities. Tenth The present proposed lines were drawn arbi trarily and behind closed doors. The public was not in any manner consulted. Evidently the . welfare of Madras and Bend only as county seats were considered. No man knows where the business centers on the south and west side will be in a few years. Extravagence in County Management The charge of extravagance in county affairs is freely made and loudly proclaimed by the county divisionists. The little new Crook county is blamed for it all when not a dollar of it can be traced to the citizens of the new Crook county as proposed by the divisionists. NOT A DOLLAR OF IT and the reason is plain. The county court audits all bills as every body knows. Since 1908 not a single member of the county court has come from the proposed little Crook county. Every one of them has come from the proposed Jefferson and Deschutes counties. Note this Mr. Divisionist, and answer it if you can. The question is: What kind of philosophy is it that would permit the other fellow to do the dancing and at the same time require us to pay for the fiddler? Artemus "Ward would call it damphool philosophy. There may, and no doubt will, come a time when Crook county should be divided. When that time does come all interests in all sections of the county as nearly as may be should be consulted. Such an important movement should not be sprung upon the people suddenly among the compli cations attending ablate and county election. Abstract of Registration PRECINCTS Rut Pnncvllla Wett PrtDvlU North Bend South Dead . Sluteri Haytck.. McKay. Hay Creek. Willow Creek.. Croai Keyi A ill wood. ItaachutM johnion Creek.. Mill Creek Howard Hnmmit Bear Creek Camp Creek.. White Kutte. Heaver Creek-.. Maurey .. Neweorn.. Kutcher Kreee Powell Butte Warm Hnrins Tetlierow. LaldU Lemon t . Lvle GaD Madraa Lava. Redmond Hillman Clioe Fall! Uat Rock Fife Black Butte. Centralo Millican.. Opal City Aiialfa Lower Bridge Montgomery Metoliut Imperial If land Total... Beware of the Fate Taxes Increase 282 Per Cent After Division. After hearing so much about how cheaply the proposed new counties can theoretically be run and what srreat economy will assuredly result from division into three small coun ties, it is interesting to note just what it actually costs the taxpayers in Hood River county to operate their county the last county to be formed in Oregon and the smallest in size. County divisionists will tell you the millage has been decreased in Hood River county. But while millage was being reduced the amount actually paid for taxes in creased. It does not matter to you as a taxpayer whether the millage is high and valuations low or vice versa. It is the amount in dollar. and cents you have to pay that affects you. From complete certified copies of tax rolls of Hood River county in the possession of Crook County Lower Tax League, we find that tax payers of Hood River county are now paying on an average $3.82 in taxes where they had paid onlv $L00 before county division on the same identical properties. Now, Mr. Taxpayer, if there ever was a small county that could be operated cheaply, it is Hood River. The values are high, property highly developed and population concen trated in a very small district. The area of Hood River county is 543 squire miles, with only about 216 square miles, or about six town ships outside the forest reserve. The assessor estimates that 90 per cent of the assessed valuation and popu lation of the county are within ten miles of the county seat. He says there are as high as 100 property owners on one section of land in some districts. This concentration of population makes necessary the maintainence of but comparatively few schools. Hood River county has but 16 of Crook County Electors TTTTiTT? i I S r I I II f If I 1 II I ? 818 197 100 6 4 3 7 206 132 117 3 6 1 6 278 124 118 13 4 10 11 830 186 1 16 10 6 4 10 187 3 64 8 21 5 6 174 78 05 17 11 5 106 68 33 8 3 77 66 16 . 6 M 83 21 .. 6 4 88 83 2 .. 8 . 113 67 81 1 10 .... 8 824 158 124 18 3 11 10 83 61 32 4 2 4 45 11 29 2 3 17 11 13 6 6 . . l 86 42 33 1 1 3 2 127 70 8tf 1 6 6 6 34 20 14 .... W 47 44 1 2 3 24 7 16 1 66 29 36 .... 201 105 62 6 10 7 11 14 11 8 . . . 67 38 19 8 3 2 2 42 25 11 1 1 l lft 78 49 28 1 2 1 275 141 79 9 14 14 18 112 68 37 3 3 11 121 7 19 9 4 4 9 177 95 66 9 9 8 1" 6 10 .. 1 i 231 131 68 19 4 4 6 144 61 37 21 10 6 9 84 29 28 4 6 2 15 68 84 27 3 1 1 20 11 7 .. 1 1 81 28 36 8 3 3 8 73 35 19 5 6 4 4 95 46 26 4 7 9 8 85 41 28 1 11 4 83 40 25 1 10 7 48 20 17 4 2 1 4 63 23 21 1 6 1 2 168 88 63 8 13 2 9 223 102 72 10 16 13 10 92 43 27 .... j 3 19 6614 2875 llOOo" 229 244 129 237 of Hood River- school 'districts and over 8.000 popu lation. In crook county we have 100 school districts and about 12.000 population. Concentration of popu lation also necessitates less road construction. If in Hood River county, the richest area of its size in the state, so admirably situated for econom ical administration and with an as sessed valuation in 1913 of $12,000, 000, if under these ideal conditions county division has almost quad rupled the tax burden, who can es timate the burden of the tax payers of this county will have to pay to support separate county govern ments in the proposed Deschutes county, with an assessed valuation of about $5,000,000, in the proposed Jefferson county, with $3500,000 valuation, and old Crook county with only $3,150,000 and $100,000 in debt. . Also note this carefully, Mr. Taxpayer, in the proposed new counties. No courthouse has been built in Hood River no great sums of money spent for office furniture and equipment. Why? Taxes have been so high since division that no one has cared to urge upon the overburdened taxpayers this addi tional expense. But would the pro moters of Deschutes and Jefferson counties be so thoughtful about the wishes of the taxpayers? The ctty of Hood River is the only city in Hood River county. There is no danger of any other town springing up and demanding the county seat. But how different here.' In the proposed Deschutes county at the present reported rate of immigra tion from Bend, Redmond,. Sisters, Deschutes. LaPine, Imperial or Laidlaw might in the course of a years outstrip Bend and claim the county seat if the Bend boosters would delay the construction of an f Continued on page eight. A Thought or Consumption Some few people in eastern Crook pretend to favor the proposed county division. They are growing fewer but now and then one remains. What few are left, like Napoleons old guard, "die, but never surrender." One more attempt to reason with them and then we are done. ME Are you sure you have thought it over, gendemen? Where are you going to get your money to pay the indebted ness of all three of these new counties ? The law says you must pay it Where are you going to get the one hundred thousand dollars, gendemen? You know what the parrot said about the kind of a time he had with the monkey. Don't you think you would have about the same kind of a time with that hundred thousand dollars? Think it oven once more, gendemen. " Then, there is our county high school Every mother's son of us is proud of it What are you going to do with it when we are reduced to less than one-third our present size? Keep on building it up ? Yes, you will not. Then, if division goes, we, of little new Crook, will fall heir to coonty buildings too large for our needs and several other things quite costly for a small community to maintain. Will you continue to maintain them creditably and build them upor down ? You see, there are several things to think over. It's like a bread and butter proposition. It will bear very regular attention. Then again, a great many of us want lower taxation. Most of us want it The fact is, ALL of us are pro testing against such high taxes. How on earth are you going to lower taxes and carry all this load carry the burden that the whole county is carrying now ?, . You know you cannot do it Even the boosters of Madras and Bend know that At least they are making their campaign for new counties and using as their chief argument that the law will force what remains of Crook county, after they are through with it to pay all the indebted ness of the whole of the present county. And you are going to bite at it are you ? What are you thinking about anyway K You see, according to these east side division boys, they are tired of a big, fine Crook county. They want a little Crook county. Jusr a small fraction of the present county is enough for them. The present county is too big too un wieldly for them. They want something small something about their size something they can handle. Now, boys, honor bright, isn't that about the truth ? Something that wjll be easy for you to handle. This is too big. It has gotten away from you. Isn't that about right ? During the past six years, Crook county' has expended $394,000 on public highways. Two-thirds of this money has been spent within the proposed Jefferson and Deschutes counties. During the past six years $217,740 of county money has been spent for public schools in Crook county. Three-fourths of this money has been spent within the proposed Jefferson and Deschutes counties. These are facts. Such being the case, why should the proposed Crook county, which is less than one-third of the present county, shoulder the entire county indebtedness? Is it right? Two for Home