USA > Iowa > O'Brien County > Past and present of O'Brien and Osceola counties, Iowa, Vol. I > Part 8
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O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.
and would be poor except for the advance in the price of their farms. These sages should be told that the toil of those farmers has made the farms in- crease in prices ; made those improvements, planted orchards and fruit gar- dens, made roads and bridges, converted a wild country into a land of beauty. and made it the happy abode of intelligent men. All this had to be done to make these farms advance in price, and those who have done this, and raised and educated their families, have done well: and if the advance in the price of their farms has given them a competence, it is what they antic- ipated, and nothing but the most persevering industry and frugality would have accomplished it.
In addition to the labor and a multitude of cares that beset the new- comer, he had it all to accomplish under disadvantages and in the face of dangers that of themselves were sufficient to discourage men not of stern resolve. Traveling unworked roads and crossing streams without bridges was often a perilous adventure. Crossing the wide prairie at night, with not cven the stars to guide, was both uncertain and dangerous, and often the wayfarer traveled until exhausted and had to camp until the morning light should guide him on his way. In warm weather, although an unpleasant exposure. this was not a dangerous one; and, although the sensation of being lost is an irksome one and the lonely silence in the middle of the prairie, broken only by the howl of wolves, is more unpleasant than one inexper- ienced would imagine, with perhaps hunger added to the discomfort, yet all this would pass with the night and a brighter view and happier feelings would come with the dawn of the morning. But crossing the trackless prairie when covered with a dreary expanse of snow, with the fierce, un- broken wintry blast sweeping over its glistening surface, penetrating to the very marrow, was sometimes a fearful and dangerous experience. No con- dition could inspire a more perfect idea of lonely desolation, of entire dis- comfort, of helplessness, and of dismal forebodings, than to find one's self lost on the snow-covered prairie, with no object in sight in any direction but the cold undulating snow wreaths, and a dark and tempestuous winter night closing fast around his chilled and exhausted frame. His sagacious horse, by spasmodic efforts and continuous neighing, shows that, with his inaster, he appreciates the dangers and shares his fearful anticipations. With what longing the lost one reflects on the cozy fireside of his warm shanty. surrounded by his family, which he fears he may never see, and when the dark shadow of night is closed around and has shut in the landscape, and chance alone can bring relief, a joyous neigh and powerful spring from his noble horse calls his eye in the direction he has taken; he sees over the bleak
1
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O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.
expanse a faint light in the distance, toward which his horse is bounding with accelerated speed, equally with his master cheered and exhilarated by the beacon light which the hand of affection has placed at the window to lead the lost one home. Nearly every early settler can remember such an experience, while some never found the home they sought, but, chilled to a painless slumber. they found the sleep that knows no waking. Crossing the uncultivated prairie on a cloudy night, or on a snowy or foggy day, was very liable to have an uncertain outcome. In a clear night the stars were a very reliable guide, and, like the Eastern Magi on the desert, the settlers came to have a close acquaintance with the constellations. A steady wind was also a very reliable guide : the traveler would get his bearing, then notice how the wind struck his horse, right or left ear, etc., and then keep that same direction, regardless of any other guide, and he would generally come out right. But if the wind changed, of course he went with it. Without these guides, it would be a mere accident if a person succeeded in a still atmos- phere, on a cloudy night, or snowy or foggy day, in crossing a prairie of any extent. The yearly burning of the heavy annual growth of grass on the prairie, which had occurred from time immemorial, either from natural cause or from being set by human hands, was continued after the white settlers came in, and was a source of much annoyance, apprehension and. frequently. of severe loss. From the time the grass would burn, which was soon after the first frost, usually about the first of October, till the surround- ing prairie was all burned over, or if not all burnt, till the green grass in the spring had grown sufficiently to prevent the rapid progress of the fire, the settlers were continually on the watch, and, as they usually expressed the idea. "sleeping with one eye open." When the ground was covered with snow, or during rainy weather, the apprehension was quieted and both eyes could be safely closed.
A statute law forbade setting the prairie on fire, and one doing so was subject to a penalty and liable to an action of trespass for the damages ac- cruing. But men did not like to prosecute their neighbors and convictions were seldom effected, though fires were often set. Fires set to the leeward side of an improvement, while very dangerous to improvements to the lee- ward, were not so to the windward, as fire progressing against the wind is easily extinguished.
Imagine the feeling of the man who, alone in a strange land, after build- ing a very modest homestead shanty or home; has raised his corn, wheat and oats, and fodder for stock, and has his premises surrounded by a sea of standing grass, dry as tinder, stretching away for miles in every
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O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.
direction, over which the wild prairie wind howls a dismal requiem, and knowing that a spark or match applied in all that distance will send a sea of fire wherever the wind may waft it; and conscious of the fact that there are men who would embrace the first opportunity to send the fire from outside their own fields, regardless of whom it might consume, only so it protects their own. Various means was resorted to for protection. A common one was to plow several furrows around a strip several rods wide, outside the improvements, and then burn out the strip; or wait till the prairie was on fire and then set fire outside, reserving the strip for a late burn, that is, till the following summer, and in July burn both old grass and new.
But all this took time and labor, and the crowd of business on the hands of a new settler, of which a novice has no conception, would prevent him doing what would now seem a small matter; and all such efforts were often futile. A prairie fire, driven by a high wind, would often leap all barriers and seem to put human efforts at defiance. When a fire had passed through the prairie, leaving the long lines of side fires, like two armies facing each other, the sight at night was grand; if one's premises were securely pro- tected, he could enjoy such a fine exhibition hugely, but if the property was exposed, the sublimity of the scene was lost in the apprehension of danger.
In the year 1881 a colony of French people settled in Grant township, with several scattering families in other townships. A few of them came direct from France, but in the main they came from in and around Cliffton, Iroquois county, Illinois, a part of Illinois where many French settled long ago. The very name of that county in Illinois denotes French. Henry C. Colby had settled in Hartley several years prior in the land and banking business, and in fact was one of the most enterprising men in the county in inducing people to come to O'Brien county, and was a very successful man. It was Mr. Colby who induced these people to come to O'Brien and estab- lish this colony, and sold many of them their lands. He was not a French- man himself, but his judgment as to the future of the county was accepted by them. The following families are among the number: Theodore Rich- ard, Anton Guyett, Eli Frankers, Frankie Frankers, Samuel DeMars, Napo- leon Renville, Calvin Mayhew, Louis Guyett, Edward Morrow, Fred Cota, Pearly Morrow, Albert Mayhew, Oliver Marcotte, Thomas Marcotte, Isaac DeTour and John DeTour and others. A few other families settled in Clay county, just across the line.
The following table gives the number of people, by nations, in O'Brien county where both parents are foreigners :
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O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.
Austria
25
Ireland
256
French Canadians
8
Norway
220
Canadians
73
Russia
7
Denmark
35
Scotland
7I
England
142
Sweden
I41
France
4
Switzerland
IO
Germany
2,419
Wales
18
Holland
452
Other foreigners
229
POPULATION OF THE COUNTY.
1860
8
1885
8,389
1863
40
1890
I3,060
1865
30
1895
15,609
1870
715
I 900
_ 16,985
1875
2,349
1905
-16,710
1880
4,155
1910
1
1
I
I
1
1
1
17,262
I
I
I
1
I
CHAPTER IV.
UPBUILDING.
TAXPAYERS' ASSOCIATION.
Inasmuch as this association as an organization lasted front 1877 until 1881, a full statement of its work in the county will be given.
CONSTITUTIONAL LIMITATION.
The Constitution of the state of Iowa, in very plain language, says that any debt contracted by a county in excess of five per cent. on its valuation is absolutely void. The people in O'Brien county by this time ( 1877) were in quite large numbers, about two thousand seven hundred, and this, in fact. was about the time the county should have been organized. The people when once awakened became very indignant.
To the indignant and taxed voter this five per cent. limitation seemed clear and that the remedy must be sure. And truly it was a fit subject for public wrath. Many good citizens felt that there was no moral obligation to pay the unjust portion, and some legal decisions of high import seemed to in- dicate a fair prospect of defeating it. and its defeat was naturally agitated. The main discussion centered around section three of article eleven of the state Constitution, though lesser questions were incidental to it.
ORGANIZATION OF THE ASSOCIATION.
A well organized Taxpayers' Association was the result. It grew rap- idly and at one time included a good majority of the people of the whole county. The debt question was practically settled January 4, 1881, yet the association continued its activities until about 1890. While the writer did not coincide with this effort to defeat the debt, he has always recognized that this association did a good work in the county, in assisting in and insisting that the bad work commenced in 1860 should not continue. The writer, in 1879, was asked by the members of the Taxpayers' Association to run for county auditor
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O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, 10WA.
on that ticket. He, disagreeing with them on that subject, it placed him on the other side, and he was elected in 1879 to that office on the side of payment of the old debt. This organization was formed for the express purpose of defeating this old debt in whole or in part, to agitate inquiry into the matter, and to enlist, not only citizens, but nonresident land owners, to contribute in money, on the argument that if the debt were defeated taxes would be les- sened. There is no doubt that the county would have been a unit on this ques- tion had there not been in the opinion of many still higher questions that they thought should control, namely :
I. The injury to the credit of the county and its later results on the county.
2. In the judgment of many, impracticable.
3. The still more serious question that the county had had its day in court, or res adjudicata, with due service of notice on the proper county officials, and this these sharpers, many of whom were good lawyers, had looked after. In other words, that the United States courts do not render serious judgments for nothing or as a pastime. By this time, 1877, about two-thirds of the whole debt had been thus rendered into judgment, and that portion that had not been put into judgment had been intermingled with the judgments and put into bonds, until it was, as was thought by many, im- practicable to separate them.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS IN LIMBO.
One humorous event happened. On one large judgment rendered a mandamus was issued, commanding the board of supervisors to make a levy of taxes to pay it. They delayed and did not act. They (in 1875) were cited to appear before the United States court at Des Moines to show why they should not be punished for contempt of court. The board, by its chair- man, asked by what authority their action or nonaction could be interfered with. Judge Love replied that "It was by the authority of the United States court, and that the United States court did not act trivially." In result, the court's writ said in plain English, to the board, to make the levy or go to jail, and so the court informed them. The board made the levy. Put into common language, the decisions of the courts held that this five per cent. limitation was a defense that the county could have made, but, failing to interpose when judgment was rendered, its day in court had been had and the county closed out.
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O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.
This effort to defeat the debt (or Taxpayers' Association) was the out- growth of a righteous indignation, and taxpayers' popular meetings were held all over the county. Attorneys were employed. The records were thoroughly searched, in which both sides of the question were discussed. It was discussed in school house lyceums. All citizens were bent on a full search to find out the situation. An injunction was issued in an equity suit in the district court of the county, entitled, "A. P. Powers and One Hundred and Ninety-nine Others, Plaintiffs vs. O'Brien County and its Officers, De- fendants," to enjoin the payment of all bonds and judgments until the ques- tion of the validity of the bonds and indebtedness could be investigated.
TAXPAYERS' ASSOCIATION PICNIC.
It is not every picnic which could be dignified to a place as an historic item, even county wide. This was, however, one of the most important pub- lic gatherings ever held in the county. The writer attended. There were about four hundred people there, mainly from the eastern part. The meet- ing was serious. Grasshoppers had eaten everything up. It was held in July, 1878, on Waterman creek in Grant township. Taxes were high. Many were refusing to pay taxes, and had done so for four years. It was indeed a righteous wrath. The question was discussed quite a portion of the day, and very earnestly. The writer was then a very young man, and was somewhat loth to be too positive, though he had looked it up and came to the conclusion, for reasons stated above, that defeat of the debt was out of the question, as had also decided many others who were there. The writer was called upon, and stated that he did not come to interfere with the meeting, but had come to the aforesaid conclusion, and sat down without discussion. Later it was insisted that he go into the question. Colonel Hepburn was expected to speak. He had delivered the Fourth of July speech there that year, and, as a sentimental question, gave a very fervid opinion that it should be beaten. He later on looked it up and came to the same conclusion that it was not practical. Many took part, each speaking at length, Messrs. Schee. J. L. E. Peck and Harley Day in favor of payment and Messrs. Huse Woods, Ralph Dodge, Thomas Steele and others in favor of defeating it in the courts. It is too long to enter into the discussions of the day. One item will suffice to show the fervidness of the meeting. As stated, many had not paid taxes for several years. Mr. Steele jumped up and said, "that the farmers of O'Brien county would camp out on their farms, and would not pay a cent of taxes, and that they would hang to the
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O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.
nearest wagon tongue the first county officer who would attempt to collect a cent of tax for the purpose." This expression came from an honest heart and was in essence a righteous condemnation of a great moral wrong that had been done. On moral lines and as applied to Bosler, Cofer & Com- pany it was unanswerable. But the argument on the side of payment pre- vailed, namely, that, whether right or wrong, the county had been in court and judgments rendered; that they were closed out ; that it was impracticable ; that in the future judgment of O'Brien county and its future citizens that they would feel a higher sense of honor in having paid even an unjust debt, even a fraudulent debt, which it was, than to have a prolonged fight for years, and that the future people would be the better satisfied. At that meet- ing Mr. Steele's statement was cheered to the echo. Still the day's discussion drew the lines sharply throughout the county. The people began to see that there were two sides to the question, and articles were written in the papers. and discussed in many ways. Mr. Steele's statement voiced public indigna- tion.
THE TWO SIDES.
The leaders and prime movers in this Taxpayers' Association were A. P. Powers, W. H. Woods ("Huse"). Thomas J. Steele and hundreds of others, and including E. Kindig, Ralph Dodge and Joseph Rowland, members of the board. On the other side were Thomas Holmes, Ezra M. Brady, Jacob Wolf and William Oliver, members of the board, and a solid delegation of the then county officials, George W. Schee, then county auditor, and J. L. E. Peck following him in the office, T. J. Alexander, treasurer, Hubert Sprague, recorder, Harley Day and David Algyer, county superintendents, and William N. Strong and Frank N. Derby, each clerks and later treasurers. These men each threw their weight on the side of payment, as did many others in the county. But the majority sentiment of the county finally settled to this policy, as the only way out of the dilemma. It is a curious fact that this main suit brought by A. P. Powers was never tried in court, as a court trial. In all reality it was tried by the court of public opinion and discussion. The Taxpayers' Association served its purpose and a useful mission. Its agitation aided in bringing order out of chaos. Many meetings were held in various parts of the county.
This important and far-reaching suit was brought in the district court of O'Brien county, as stated, by A. P. Powers and one hundred and ninety- nine others as plaintiffs and landowners to stop and enjoin the county treas- urer by injunction from paying these bonds or county debt. It was taken
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O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.
to the supreme court of the state. The question was raised that each plain- tiff must bring his own suit. Two hundred resident and nonresident land- owners had united in the suit on the belief that they could thus join. The supreme court decided on October 6. 1880, in effect that they could not so join. (See case of A. P. Powers and One Hundred and Ninety-nine Others vs. O'Brien County, in 54 Iowa Supreme Court Reports, page 501, for the decision.) This decision also held that it would not enjoin that part of the (lebt or those parts of the debt given for actual necessities. These bondhold- ers had mixed these parts of the debt for necessities, the good with the bad. until it was seen that an endless chain of litigation was to follow. This decision practically paralyzed further proceedings. The board had refused to bring the suit. The United States court had held that the board only could bring it in that court. Add to this the further outlook that even after such an injunction was fought through and even sustained, that the bond- holders, not yet made parties, could go into conrt each separately and test out these several rights and questions, and the still further fact that it was tying up the county business-all contributed to its final dismissal. Both sides agreed that the debt as such was unjust. It was simply a question whether to fight it was practical. The court's decisions thus far seemed to sustain the contention of the side 'advocating payment as the best road out of the bad matter. The meshes of the law seemed too intricate to practically contest out such complications. A. P. Powers, "Huse" Woods and many other leaders in this large movement spent much time in this earnest effort to defeat this unjust debt. Three months after this, on January 4, 1881. the county, by its board of supervisors, rebonded the whole debt, as shown elsewhere, and followed up with the policy of payment of the debt, and the last bond was paid off in 1908. The Taxpayers' Association employed the legal firm of Miller & Godfrey, of Des Moines, the chief members being Judge William E. Miller. prior chief justice of the supreme court of Iowa. The firm of Joy & Wright, of Sioux City, represented the other side of the question.
RESUMPTION OF CASH PAYMENTS.
During these years it also occurred that thousands of dollars of worthy county warrants were issued for necessities and supplies, and presented and marked "Not paid for want of funds." Up to 1876 not even a list of the items of debt or list of bonds or judgments had been prepared. The specula- tors, however, had looked to it in each set of bonds issued that a resolution ordering this and that bond was drawn up in legal shape and recorded in
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O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.
the supervisors' record. George W. Schee was elected in 1875 to qualify January 1, 1876, on the conditions that these debts and judgments and bonds must be looked into, made of record and the public informed of the results. Mr. Schee made the first tabulated list of the indebtedness; indeed it was an exhaustive search of every possible debt, bond and judgment, rendered in the various courts, and tabulated them in a record purchased by the board expressly for that purpose. Therein Mr. Schee rendered the county a very great service in putting matters into shape where the people were informed of the real condition and what the county was up against. The more the search, the deeper and more deplorable it was found. The debt as finally summed up (and his tabulation stood the test of the later years of examina- tion), showed a total debt of two hundred and forty thousand dollars in 1876 and two hundred and thirty thousand dollars in 1880. All that had been bonded bore ten per cent. The annual interest, therefore, reached above twenty thousand dollars. As this was not being paid, it was simply adding itself to the unfortunate situation.
ANOTHER NOTABLE MEETING.
It was perhaps ten days after the above taxpayers' picnic in Grant town- ship that a meeting, not of the mass, but of perhaps fifteen men, met in the hardware store of Ezra M. Brady, including, as nearly as the writer can from memory give them: Mr. Brady, George W. Schee, J. L. E. Peck, William W. Johnson, Isaac W. Daggett, Harley Day, George Hakeman, Hubert Sprague, C. Longshore, Thomas Holmes and perhaps others. They all agreed that something had to be done. It was not a called meeting, but the discussion brought them together. The one theme was to see what could be done to put the county on a cash basis where it could resume cash pay- ments of its outside obligations. At that meeting it seemed to be conceded that the policy proposed by the Taxpayers' Association was impracticable, and that something more substantial must be the final policy of the county. In addition to the twenty-three thousand dollar interest on the public debt. there was the regular annual running expenses, which required three dollars in county warrants for each dollar needed. It was insisted that the public finances could not stand up under such a strain, that the county must be put on a cash basis. The tax lists were carefully examined and the amount that was likely to be collected from taxes determined. Then it was urged that for a trial year that the expenses of the county must be kept within the sum.
(6)
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O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.
It was further decided that the board of supervisors be asked to pass a resolu- tion, in effect, discarding for the time being all back debts. so far as any present effort to pay same. This resolution was finally adopted to apply to the year 1879, the resolution reading that all county warrants for that year should have endorsed thereon in red ink the words: "Issued on the levies of 1879." which meant that all expenses of that year should be paid out of the taxes collected for that year. When once a man could get one hundred cents on the dollar for his warrant, it became at once worth one hundred cents. The plan worked immediately, and for all time thereafter. The total expenses on the county fund for this last year of the term of George W. Schee as auditor was just a little over five thousand dollars, and for 1880, the first year of J. L. E. Peck as auditor, about six thousand dollars. Later on, when the county got a surplus of funds, the older and then discarded warrants outstanding were paid in full, and O'Brien county established on a cash basis. It was hardly a case of resumption, as the county had never been on a cash basis since its organization. It was rather a case of establish- ment of that condition. The real credit for the originating of this plan must largely be given to George W. Schee, Ezra M. Brady and Thomas Holmes, and to its fulfillment, to the board, then composed of Thomas Holmes. Ralph Dodge, J. H. Wolf, Ezra M. Brady, William Oliver, Emanuel Kindig and Joseph Rowland, who were among the members of the board during the following two years. It was not simply in the policy thus adopted, but the principle was carried out in the details of public expenses. For instance, the board insisted that the auditors, George W. Schee and J. L. E. Peck, should serve for seven hundred dollars per annum salary, this being later on enlarged to eight hundred and twenty-five dollars. All other officials and expenses were put on a similar basis.
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