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Myron
B. Williams
1848
First
Wisconsin Legislature convened from June 5, 1848 to August 21, 1848 in regular
session. Members of the Assembly and Senate were elected after an election on
February 1, 1848 that ratified the proposed state constitution. Myron B. Williams
member of Senate from Jefferson County.
pre 1849
pre 1849, Myron Williams,
Watertown Justice of Peace, weddings [D/JCGS 929.3-Jeff-W75m]
1859
1859, Williams
& Leonard, Attorneys at Law
1859, School Board,
vote of confidence
1861
Mayor’s Address
May 13, 1861
Watertown Democrat,
05 23 1861
Sections:
Common Council not
extravagant
City Attorney, Elimination
of office
Fire Proof Safe for city
money
Civil War Mentioned as
Possible
The edict of the sovereign electors of
the City of Watertown, as proclaimed through the ballot box at the recent city
election, has committed to our care the important trust of the administration
of the government of the city for the current year. The evidence of public confidence thus
manifested, should furnish a strong motive to each of our minds, to bring to
the performance of the work before us, an honest purpose and a fixed
determination to demonstrate by a prompt, efficient and faithful discharge of
every duty, that such confidence has not been injudiciously reposed.
By
voluntary [voluntarily] accepting, and entering upon the duties of our
respective offices, we virtually contract on our part, that the interests of
the city shall be carefully guarded by us, and its government judiciously,
economically and faithfully administered.
We can exonerate ourselves from the just imputation of infidelity to our
voluntary binding obligations, only by a punctual attendance upon the stated
meetings of the Common Council, and an early, careful, judicious dispatch of
the various matters which may engage its attention, or be referred to its
business committees.
Let
personal prejudices and private animosities be forgotten, and self interest be
merged in a controlling desire to promote the general good.
The
fact that I had the honor fill the office to which I have been recently
re-elected, during the past year, and that at the commencement of my last term
I communicated to the Council an elaborate exposition of my views upon those
subjects of general interest which must at all times claim the attention of
this body, will, I trust, relieve me from entering upon a detailed examination
of many of those questions at the
present time — for in doing so I could only repeat much that I then
expressed. I hope,
therefore, that I shall be excused for inviting the careful attention of the
Common Council to the measures then suggested, and the course of policy therein
urged in relation to the grading and improvement of streets, the building and
repairing of bridges, the city gas lights, and provisions for and encouragement of the
fire department. These are all
subjects of great importance and interest to the city and should receive their
full share of your attention. But in
your deliberations upon these and all other subjects, not only the propriety
but the absolute necessity of practicing the most rigid economy in all our city
expenditures will force itself upon your consideration.
The law providing for the levy and collection of taxes
requires that a new assessment shall be made of the entire property of the
city, personal and real, during the current year. The certainty of a prompt and complete
collection of the taxes levied for various purposes within the city, depends
upon the manner in which the assessors perform their important duties. The assessment rolls should present a perfect
list of all the property within the city boundaries—no piece of property should
be doubly assessed—and each description should be brief, definite and complete.
If
this is done, the desire to provide against the accumulation of valid tax
titles upon the real estate of the city will prove an effectual remedy against
the return of large delinquent tax lists.
A
matter of such vital importance to the interests of the city cannot escape the
careful consideration of the Common Council, whose province it will be to
originate and mature some measure for the proper and definite description upon
the assessment rolls of all the real estate within the city. The necessity of such a measure is
demonstrated by applications, heretofore made to this body by purchasers at tax
sales, asking to be relieved from tax certificates and tax deeds which were
void on account of the uncertain and indefinite description of the lands
intended to be conveyed, as well as by the accumulation of tax certificates in
the Treasury in cases were real estate owners have neglected to pay their taxes
for the reason that their lands were so imperfectly described upon the
assessment rolls, that tax-titles issued thereon would be void for
uncertainty. It is hereby respectfully
recommended that such action be taken by the Common Council as will authorize
the assessors to call to their aid the services of the Surveyor to assist in
making a complete description of such real estate as they would otherwise be
unable to describe definitely.
Our
City Charter was so amended, during the last session of the Legislature, that
hereafter the real estate in the city upon which the taxes are not paid, shall
be returned by the City Treasurer to the Treasurers of the counties in which
the same are located, and by them sold, tax certificates issued, and tax deeds
finally executed in accordance with the law regulating the return and sale of
lands for taxes in the several towns in the state. It is believed that this amendment will prove
a salutary aid in the prompt collection of our city and ward taxes.
In
connection with the above amendment to our city charter, it
is proper to notice, that requiring the vote for all appropriations of money by
the Common Council to be taken by ayes and noes and
entered upon the journal, and that abolishing
the office of police justice of the city.
Since
my last annual communication to the Common Council, the $7,000.00 in city
improvement bonds which were deposited in the Jefferson County Bank, as
collateral security for the payment of a loan of money obtained from said bank,
have been released by the payment of said loan, and cancelled by order of, and
in presence of this body. Of the
original issue of improvement bonds, amounting to $50,000.00, there is now only
$20,000.00 outstanding and uncancelled.
The
Legislature of the state, at its recent session enacted a special law empowering the city to compound its large railroad bonded
debt by such a compromise as we might be able to effect with the bondholders,
to issue new five percent city bonds for such an amount as may be agreed upon
between the city and the bond holders, not exceeding a maximum thereon fixed,
payable twenty years from date, and exchange the same for our present
outstanding railroad bonds.
No
argument is necessary to prove that this is a subject of paramount importance to
the city. Experience has taught us this,
and there is a manifest desire on the part of our citizens to make any
sacrifice within the limit of their ability to satisfactorily arrange these
bonds.
It
is true that the city has never received any value for these bonds, that the
railroad companies, by fraudulently obtaining and negotiating them, and then
violating their plighted faith to save the city from loss or liability thereon,
have practiced upon the city a system of
espionage and plunder which releases us from all just and moral obligations to
provide for their payment.
But
it is also true that present holders
have paid real value for them, and doubtless in many instances a larger
figure than we can now possibly offer for them. They, too, were not parties to
the original fraud of which we complain, and ought not, in justice, to lose
their entire investment. If, then, a
willingness to accomplish an amicable adjustment of this indebtedness is
manifested upon both sides, the city paying a part of that for which she has
never received any value, and the bond holders sacrificing a part of the amount
which they have paid for these securities ; it is hoped and believed, that both
parties may, by the aid of this law, be relived from present embarrassment.
The
financial policy pursued by the Common Council during the last year is entitled
to your careful consideration, and is worthy of your constant imitation.
I
cannot speak in too favorable terms of the uniform desire manifested by the
members of that body, to carry into successful operation the recommendations
which I had the honor to submit in my last annual message. In the present condition of our city treasury
the most extravagant results then anticipated are
fully realized.
At
the commencement of the last fiscal year, although the state school money to
which the city was entitled as its distributive share of the income of the
school fund had been paid over to our city treasurer, and no part of the
outstanding indebtedness of the city had been paid during the preceding year,
except the interest for one year thereon; yet the whole amount of money then in
the city treasury belonging to all funds was only $707.95.
As
a plain proposition it will be apparent that had the public school money been
received from the state before the first day of April last, as it was the
proceeding year, and had no part of the outstanding city indebtedness been paid
from the city treasury during the last year, except one year's interest
thereon, the current, expenses of the city would have been limited by its
resources, if there was remaining in the city treasury at the commencement of
the present fiscal year, the said sum of $707.95.
The city taxes for the last year were a trifle less than
they were the year before, and the Common Council could not have been charged
with extravagance in the administration of the city government if they left as
much money in the city treasury at the close of the year as they found in it at
the commencement.
But
the report of the committee appointed to settle with the late city treasurer
shows that the public money from the state had not found its way into the city
treasury at the commencement of the present fiscal year, which, by a recent
amendment made to the law will not be distributed by the state superintendent
until near the close of the present month; the late city treasurer, Henry Bertram, paid during the year a note held by the
Jefferson County Bank, given by the city improvement commissioners, amounting,
principal and interest, to the sum of $4,146.99; also the salary of city
officers for their services during the preceeding
year, the sum of $450.00; costs and attorney's fees which accrued during the preceeding year, the sum of $179.80; for gas bills which
remained unpaid at the commencement of
the year, the sum of $481.50; and there remained in the city treasury on the
first day of April, A. D. 1861, the sum of $3,000.65.
It
is estimated that the school money, when received from the State, will amount
to the sum of $1,500.00. If we add that
together with the several sums above enumerated and paid during the year, to
the amount remaining in the City Treasury at the end of the year, and deduct
from such amount the interest on the note of the Jefferson County Bank for one
year, as paid the preceding year, and the balance on the salary of City
officers for last year, remaining unpaid on the 1st of April, A. D., 1861, and
the sum of $707.95, the sum remaining in the treasury April 1st, 1860, in the
aggregate amounting to the sum of $1,327.40, it will be seen that our city
treasury, for the year ending April 1st, 1861, yielded the sum of $8,531.54,
or, in other words, that by a judicious, prudent, and economical administration
of the city government for the last year, the city treasury produced the sum of
$8,531.54, which is more than it did the preceding
year.
This
improved condition of the city finances has been accomplished by exchanging the
large amount of tax certificates in the city treasury into money, and by
practicing the most rigid economy in all our city expenditures.
On
the 1st day of April, 1860, the tax certificates which had accumulated in the
city treasury during the preceding four years, amounted to the sum of
$8,015.59; the tax sales of 1861, which took place in the month of March last,
made a large addition to this amount; the necessity of converting these tax
certificates into money became so apparent to the Common Council that a
resolution was adopted authorizing the City Treasurer to sell them to resident
purchasers for their face, exclusive of the accumulated interest. By this stroke of policy, the total amount of
certificates remaining in the city treasury on the 1st day of April, 1861, was
reduced to the sum of $4.432.54 and about $5,500.00 added to the general and
ward funds.
The
whole amount of city orders issued during the year last past, upon the general
and ward funds, is $5,578.57; deduct from this amount the sum of $481.60,
issued for gas bills for the preceding year; the sum of $450.00 issued to city
officers, the balance due upon their salaries for the preceding year; the sum
of $179.80 issued for costs of litigation and fees of attorneys, which had
accrued during the preceding year; and the sum of $2,089.85, issued to the
Jefferson County Bank, in part payment of a note held by said bank against the
city, all of which sums are included in the above amount; and then add thereto
the sum of $235.05, the balance due officers of the city upon their salaries
for the last year, which had not been fully paid on the 1st of April, 1861; and
the sum $340.40, the amount of interest paid to the Jefferson County Bank, as
interest during the preceding year; and we have the sum of $3,048.67 as the
amount of orders issued for the total ordinary expenses of the city government
for the year ending April 1st, 1861, against the sum of $4,595.03, city orders
issued for the same purposes during the preceding year—a balance of $1,646.41,
in favor of the last fiscal year, thus demonstrating the correctness of the
opinion expressed in my last annual message, that the sum of one thousand
dollars could be saved from the ordinary expenses of the preceding year,
without endangering the privileges or safety of our citizens, or impairing the
efficiency of our city government.
As
we enter upon the discharge of the public duties we have voluntarily assumed as
members of the present Common Council, we find the finances of the city
restored to a healthy condition, its credit established upon a sound basis,
with a sufficient amount of money in the city treasury belonging to each of the
separate funds, except the license fund, to meet the public exigencies. If we can direct the management of the city
government the present year as successfully and economically as it was managed
during the last year, we shall entirely dispense with the credit system, and
leave to our successors in office a treasury prepared to honor promptly and at
par all drafts made upon it for ordinary purposes, until the next periodical
collection of our city taxes.
The fund derived from our city licenses has, during the
past year, been found entirely inadequate to meet the objects for which it has
been set apart, that of paying the interest upon our outstanding City
Improvement bonds. This fund is now
overdrawn, and deficient to the amount of $1187.74, which deficiency has
necessarily been supplied by drafts upon the city general fund.
It
is hereby respectfully recommended that the committee on licenses immediately
ascertain and report the names of those whose licenses have expired; and that
they adopt such measures as will secure the prompt application for new
licenses, and the early payment into the city treasury of the amount charged therefor, by those who come within the provision of our
license law.
I
would also submit for your careful consideration, the propriety of either
increasing the rates to be paid for licenses within the city, so as to make
that fund equal to the drafts that will necessarily be made upon it, or that
the fund be dispensed with altogether, and all licenses be paid into, and the
interest upon our City Improvement bonds be paid out of, the city general
fund. This plan would lessen the number
of funds in the treasury, and with the early disappearance, under the present
law, of the tax certificate account, would render the duties of the City
Treasurer less complicated and difficult.
The
condition of the City School fund is much more satisfactory than at the commencement
of the last fiscal year. On the 1st day
of April last, there was unexpended in that fund the sum of $679.45, which is
sufficient to pay 30 percent of the expenses of the long school term that has
just closed. The public school money
from the State, as soon as received, will cover the balance of the expenses of
said term, and leave a sufficient amount in the treasury to meet nearly all the
expenses of the approaching summer term, and before the fall term closes, the
taxes levied upon the assessment rolls of the present year will be so far
collected as meet all the demands upon the fund.
Too
much credit cannot be awarded to the late School Board for the prompt and
efficient manner in which they have cooperated with the Common Council in their
efforts to relieve the city treasury of its financial embarrassments.
The
combined efforts of the Common Council and the Board of Education, and all
other city officers, an effect an economical and prudent administration of the
various departments of the city government, would be of little consequence were
it not for the promptness, loyalty and cheerfulness which are exhibited by the
great body of our taxpayers in responding to the demands made upon them to
contribute to the expenses of the government.
A large class of our citizens are unfortunately in very limited
pecuniary circumstances, but they display the characteristics of true noblemen,
by courageously contending with the reverses of fortune, and from the proceeds
of their constant toil, patriotically dedicating their just proportion to the
support of the government. The
government furnishes protection to the persons and property of its citizens,
and as a small return demands that the citizens shall regularly contribute to
its maintenance and support. Most nobly
do our citizens respond to this demand, and he who, after enjoying the
protection afforded by a well regulated government, refuses to bear a hand in
its maintenance, forfeits all claims to confidence and respect, and is justly
regarded a burden to the state.
Although
much good has been accomplished by our predecessors, yet there are further
reforms left of us in carrying forward the work which they have so successfully
commenced. No action was taken during
the past year to examine and adjust the accounts of the old board of city
improvement commissioners; this subject has been delayed and should engage your
early attention.
The
interests of this city as well as justice to the improvement commissioners
require that a just and final settlement of their accounts and transactions
should be made and laid before the public and placed on file in the office of
the city clerk. In my communication to
the Common Council at the commencement of my last term, I had the honor to
direct their attention to this important subject and beg leave at this time to
ask your careful consideration of the views then expressed.
At the last meeting of the Common Council account was
presented and allowed appropriating the sum of $42.00 to inspectors and clerks
of the recent elections held in the several wards of this city, from which it
appeared that twenty-eight of the thirty five members of the boards of election
in the several wards of the city were selected from the by-standers, as
provided by law in case of the absence, of aldermen and supervisors of the
wards. The aldermen of the different
wards are ex-officio inspectors of election in respective wards, and unless,
something specially prevents they should be as punctual in the performance of
this as of any other official duty.
These
small items of expenditure, each of which in itself appears unimportant,
contribute largely to swell the aggregate amount of our annual city
expenses. It is hoped that this simple
suggestion will be sufficient to prevent a similar neglect of duty on the part
of the aldermen of the city in the future.
No
provision is made by the law providing for the organization of election boards
for the payment of such members of the board, as are selected from the
by-standers, and it becomes a question of importance whether the Common Council
possesses the power to appropriate money for that purpose. Is it asking too touch that those electors of
the city who are selected to fill the place of an alderman for a single day
should render that service for the same compensation which the aldermen
receive? If you and I devote our time
and give our service a whole year without expense to the city, ought not any
citizen, equally interested in the welfare of the city with ourselves, devote his
time and give his services for one day only, upon the same terms? I am clearly of the opinion that the law does
not contemplate an appropriation for this purpose, and I trust that a little
reflection will convince every good citizen that justice and propriety render
such expenditures inexpedient.
The salaries of the officers of the city
are reduced perhaps to the lowest practicable figure, consonant with
efficiency, capacity and fidelity in the officer, and the only opportunity for
retrenchment in this department of the city finances left to us is to inquire whether
some of our officers cannot safely be dispensed with. For two years last past the Common Council has exercised the
power conferred by our city charter, by electing a city attorney. Most of the litigation in which the city is
particularly interested involves matters of great importance to the city, in
which cases it has been our uniform practice to provide for the employment of
particular council, and their fees for services rendered have been allowed and
paid out of the city treasury without any reference to the salary of the city
attorney. Even the litigation which
occurred between the superintendent of schools and the Common Council two years
ago the coming summer and fall was not entrusted to the management of our city
attorney. An account of $50, in favor of
Messrs. Smith & Keyes of Madison, was paid but recently for services in
that case. An appropriation to Messers. Enos & Hall of this city for legal services rendered
the city, was also made during the last year; at the same time we have had a city attorney doing little or nothing for the city,
at salary of one hundred and fifty dollars per year.
It
must be apparent to all that this office is a mere sinecure in which there are
no equivalent services rendered for the salary paid, and that all the ordinary
petty litigation in which the city may become involved can be properly
conducted by attorneys employed for the purpose, for a tithe of the city
attorney’s salary.
I
therefore recommend-that the office of City Attorney remain vacant during the
present year and to prevent the possibility of the question arising of the right
of the present incumbent to hold over in case a new election is not held, I
suggest the propriety of the adoption of a resolution by the Common Council
declaring its express will on this subject.
In
the recent settlement with the late City Treasurer, my attention was
necessarily directed to the importance of furnishing a safe and convenient
receptacle for keeping the valuable papers in that office. A large amount of money passes through the
City Treasurer's hands and must necessarily remain for a longer or shorter time
in his office; all city orders paid by him are retained until the same can be
cancelled; and the tax certificates belonging to the city remain in the
Treasury, as well as all assessment rolls and many other valuable papers. All
these have heretofore been kept in a small open case, constructed entirely of
wood, and in case of accidental fire, must necessarily be destroyed. As a judicious and economical investment, and
as an act of justice to the Treasurer himself, it is suggested that a fire proof safe of moderate
size and limited cost by purchased by the city for the office of the City
Treasurer.
It
cannot be expected that the Mayor, in his annual communication to the Common
Council, will direct your attention to every subject that demands your
consideration. I have endeavored to
notice those important matters which occur to me as the greatest practical
utility, and have imparted such information and made such recommendations in
relation thereto as was contemplated by the City Charter, trusting that in all
your transactions and appropriations you will be directed by an abiding sense
that you are acting as the trustees of a
sacred fund, collected from the hard earnings of your constituents, and
that you are strictly accountable to them for the fruitful expenditure of every
dollar.
New objects of the
appropriation of money are pressing upon our consideration, consequently the
obligation resting upon us to adopt the most rigid system of prudence and economy
in our city finances are daily becoming more imposing. The sum of $250.00 has already been
appropriated from the city treasury for
the patriotic purpose of supporting those who may here enlist to vindicate
their country’s honor and fight her battles, before they shall be mustered
into service. More than one half of that
sum has already been expended. If may
erelong [soon] be necessary to add to that appropriation. However willing and anxious we may be to
contribute in a public manner to this heroic object, it can only safely be done
by carefully reforming the other abuses which have heretofore existed in the
administration of our city government.
The present
critical juncture in our national history, when domestic enemies, animated by a
spirit of treason, are attempting to strike down our free institutions and take
away our liberties, by stimulating a 
desire to aid in defending the right, is
inducing patriots all over the land to provide themselves the means for this
purpose, at the sacrifice of ease and comfort.
The luxuries and superfluities of life are cheerfully dispensed with,
and the solid, substantial, but plain and less costly necessaries are being
substituted in their stead. Every other
interest, public and private, is rendered conducive to the defense of the
state. Let us imbibe largely of the spirit
which every where animates the public mind, and not only in our private transactions
but in our public acts, carefully guard against every expenditure from the city
treasury unless demanded by the most imperative necessity. Though we may not be able to buckle on the
soldiers armor and go forth to fight the battles of the country, yet we may, by
our contributions, nerve his arm and animate his heart for the conflict.
Every dollar
saved by us hereby reducing the amount of taxes
necessary to be collected to replenish the city treasury, is left at the
disposal of our own patriotic citizens, and will enable them more efficiently to cooperate with the National
Government to resist rebellion and punish treason.
The
strongest motives are presented on very hand, urging us to a prudent and
judicious administration of the city government. Let us, by constant care and watchfulness, so
manage its finances that the smallest possible amount of taxes necessary to
secure an efficient administration of the city government will be imposed on
our citizens, and we be able at the close of the present year to transmit to
our successors in office a solvent treasury, stored with funds sufficient to
defray all necessary current expenses.
Myron
B. Williams
Watertown,
May 13th
