CHAPTER XXIV
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 may be 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 hoped 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 than 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
-264-
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 time the amount of 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 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 1/2 pounds for $1.00;
blackberries, 7 1/2 pounds for $1.00; peaches,
10 pounds for $1.00; Standard "A"
sugar, 7 1/2 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:
-269-
| Wheat, No. 1, _ bush |
75@86
|
| Corn, _ bush |
40
|
| Oats, _ bush |
25
|
| Barley, _ bush |
35@40
|
| Flour, _ hundred lbs |
3.25
|
| Corn meal, _ hundred lbs. |
1,90
|
| Beans, _ bush |
1.50
|
| Pork, _ lb. |
12
|
| Hams, _ lb |
18
|
| Potatoes |
30
|
| Shoulders, _ LB |
12
|
| Lard, _ LB |
17
|
| Butter, _ LB |
30
|
| Cheese, _ LB |
20
|
| Eggs, _ doz |
15
|
| Dried apples, _ LB |
12 1/2
|
| Tea, _ LB |
72@1.80
|
| Coffee, _ LB |
29@34
|
| Sugars, _ LB |
12 1/2@17
|
| Syrups, _ gal |
1.00
|
| Molasses, _ gal |
80
|
| Kerosene, _ gal |
40
|
| Lumber, _ M |
18.00@37.00
|
| Nails, _ LB |
7 @10
|
| Shingles, _ M |
3.00@5.00
|
| [Note: _
was a symbol that I have no idea how to
reproduce or what it means. ]
|
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 Sibley write-up is:
A. W. HARRIS
& CO.
This firm
is 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 townsite, and still owns it except
what lots have been sold. They put up the
first building on the Harris townsite, 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.
CONCLUDING
CHAPTER
The condition
of Osceola County in this year of our Lord,
1892, is one of general prosperity. Pauperism
does not exist, and opportunities for labor,
for securing homes, and for establishing business
are on every hand. There has been an abundant
harvest, and each year is an advancement in
farming interests and in all classes of business.
The last assessed valuation
of the county was $1,726,582. The indebtedness
of the county has been, at it highest, about
$90,000. Its present indebtedness in $60,500.
The amount of school money now loaned out,
and under contract for loan by the county
on farm land, is $96,500.75. The amount paid
out for school purposes in 1891 was $29,040.
This came from taxation except $611, which
was derived from the permanent school fund
interest. The running expenses of the county
in 1891 required $18,568. The income to the
county from taxation for 1891 was $61,375.
The county has a substantial
court house and every school district has
the required buildings for school purposes.
The people are thrifty,
intelligent and law-abiding, and as a class
are comparable with those of any county in
the state.
The County has changed
in its inhabitants since the first settlement,
some coming and going, some remaining yet,
and others with the fate that must follow
all of us are lying in the cemetery. Western
people are given to changing their business
locations more than the people of the East;
here, if anywhere, is the spirit of unrest,
implanted seemingly in our very nature on
the first move, and with many it becomes a
fixed feeling and irresistible. Osceola County
has had its share of this tidal change, this
flowing in and out of population, and of the
original settlers, those who came here in
1871, '72 and '73, there are not a great many
left.
[Note:Click on thumbnail to view larger image.]
We close
this book with a poem that has fallen under
our observation without knowing to whom credit
is due.
COMING TO
OSCEOLA COUNTY
They are coming
from the deserts of the dim and dusky East,
Where to raise a stunted turnip is the prospect
of a feast,
Where the farms are made of gravel and they
plow with dynamite,
Where the festive chattel mortgage sings it
dirges day and night,
They are coming in their wagons, they are
coming on the train,
They are coming from the regions where they
struggled long in vain;
They are coming from the cabin, they are coming
from the hall,
They are coming to Osceola County where there's
plenty for them all.
They are coming
from the South-land, they are coming from
the North
From the valleys and the mountains they in
droves are coming forth;
They are coming with their husbands, they
are coming with their wives,
They are coming with their hammers, with their
axes and their knives,
With their harrows, with their rakes, with
their seeders and their guns,
They are coming with their fathers and their
mothers and their sons,
They are coming stout and slender, they are
coming short and tall,
They are coming to Osceola County, where there's
plenty for them all.
Where the savage
used to wander searching for a crop of hair,
The farmer takes his porkers to the nearest
county fair,
And the corn is daily growing where the greasy
wigwams stood,
Where he burned the wailing captive, now the
poultry scratch for food;
And the people who are coming to this pleasantest
of climes,
Show a happy knack of keeping with the progress
of the times;
They will find a country beaming from the
spring-time to the fall,
If they land here in Osceola County, where
there's plenty for them all.
