amended," said the editorial, "so that . . . nothing is clear. No use to get 'het up,' but we do need some sensible approach to the real problem-what's fair?"
And the next day a front-page news story that "Budgeteers Eye Road Tax Mixup." The article described the county budget committee's discussion of the "tangled situation as it affects the cities of Eugene, Cottage Grove, and Springfield."
After two front-page news items, one speaking of the optimism of the state committee on the postwar era in Oregon and the other telling of the appointment of public-spirited Fred G. Stickels as head of a community council to organize plans for postwar construction, and after an editorial urging early construction of the municipal swimming pool and suggesting that the "toughest chore" on this job would be "to get those priorities loosed from Washington, D.C., despite the tentative promises," came an editorial (May 18) on the text "Plan the Future with Cash." Here it is:
In the last 20 years, the taxpayers of the city of Eugene, the Eugene school district, and the general taxpayers of Lane county (not counting smaller cities and school districts) have paid out nearly $2,000,000 for interest on general bonds.
Our computations are not complete, but it is safe to say that if the interest paid by all school districts, cities and other sub divisions were added in the total would come more than half way to the $5,000,000 now proposed for that "Stockpile of Post-war Jobs and Projects."
Here are some of the preliminary computations:
- Lane county (on $1,743,000 in road bonds since 1921) ... 940,825.00
- Eugene school district (on bonds only since 1921) ... 317,103.75
- City of Eugene (just since 1929 on general bonds only) ... 671,955.70
- TOTAL ... 1,929,882.64
.....
Thanks to frugal management these last years, our city, county, and school district are nearly debt free, and this community is one of the few in the United States which will be able to face post-war needs without new debt headaches.
Some day, if we ever get around to such useless things as "monuments" we owe some to those "penny pinchers" who held down spending till debts were cleaned up.
This editorial was followed two days later with an editorial arguing for congressional permission to responsible lumber operators to set up substantial reserves for reforestation and replenishment after the war.
