, G3Q3 The following is a copy of the Veto which the Mai/or of Georgetoiun sent to the Councils on Friday last and which has not been disposed of hy them : Mayor's Office, Georgetown, D. C, May 2\st, 18G4. Gentlemen: Oil the 21st of February, 1863, a resolution was approved by which I was instructed " to advertise for proposals for putting a new roof upon the Market House." On the 27th day of the next month, I called the attention of the Corporation to the subject of that resolution and recommended, that, instead of repairing the old house, you would take measures to remove that unsightly old fabric, and replace it with a structure which would have some resemblance to the approved architecture of modern times. I was then informed by an architect of great ability and experience that a house of approved style, to ex- tend from Bridge street to the Canal, with a cellar and two stories its whole length, to be constructed of good materials, and of the best workmanship, could be built for the sum of twenty-two thousands dollars. I, then, had no hesitation to recommend to the Councils, that a new Market House should be erected without delay. But, from that day to this, the project has been beset with obstructions and difficulties until they have reached a magnitude, which, in my judgment, demands the most mature deliberation of those to whom the people of this town have committed the custody of their municipal affairs, and which forbids, as I think, the further prosecution of that work at this critical time. This conclusion is strengthened by the fact that the very gentlemen who are loudest in their demands for the immediate erection of a Market House, are at variance in almost the whole of their ideas as to the particular plan upon which it should be built. They not only differ as to the plan, but still more widely disagree as to the sum which it should cost the town. But, in the absence of all unanimity upon these two important points, you have reluctantly and finally com- promised upon the proposition to build a house which pleases no body, and which will, eventually, cost the town more than $50,000. In the midst of a great national disturbance and in the present state of the finances of the Coi*poration, such an undertaking as the one now proposed is well calculated to excite the gravest apprehensions of a peo- ple who are already ground do\vn by tax upon tax, and Gift. W. i_i. baoemaker from which there is no prospect of relief for years to come. The immense sum which the building is to cost in- vohes a most serious consideration, and upon that point 1 beg leave to make a few brief suggestions. Since the Holland debt was taken off of our hands by Congress, at no time have we been so much in debt as now ; at no time, within the last forty years, has it been so hard a matter for our people to support their families, no matter how hard they may work and to what extent they may subject themselves to the most rigid demands of economy and self-denial — at no time within the last fifty years would the erection of a Mar- ket House cost as heavy a sum as it would now. These stern facts are all staring us in the face, and admon- ish us that the day for prudence and frugality in the . administration of our finances has fully arrived. Before we create a new debt of $50,000, it would be well enough for us to look at the financial condi- tion of the Corporation, and what are to be the probable demands upon the pockets of our people, in the way of taxation, for the time to come. The Clerk, in his report of the 31st of December last, estimated our expenditures during the present year at $45,015 80; since that time we have contracted an additional debt of $20,000, which will add $1,200 more to our yearly burdens. We are soon to have another draft upon us to fill the ranks of our armies which will involve another debt of some twenty or thirty thousand dollars with a consequent increase of interest. Then we are to have the tax upon incomes, as well as the regular direct tax, which will add many thousands to the expenses of the people. Our police others are to cost us, for the time to come, not less than $5,000 a year under the most favorable legislation that we can obtain from Congress, and it will be a great deal more than that if some of the propositions before that body should be adopted. This is a 7iew item of experv- diture. I am aware of the fact that there exists in the minds of some gentlemen the delusive idea that the building of a Market House will involve no real bur- den upon the people, because, as they assume, the rev- enues from it will not only pay the interest on its cost but that said revenues will, also, eventually extinguish the debt itself. This theory is at war with the plainest teaching of experience and is refuted by the suggestions of com- mon sense. The Market House, if built, must be paid for, if paid for at all, with money fresh from the pockets of our citizens. Its cost, whatever that may be, in prin- cipal and interest, will, eventually, be just so much tax upon the people in whatever form, direct or indirect, it may be imposed upon them. Whether it be a direct tax, a capitation tax, or the more unseen and delusive one of selling the stalls, benches, and stands, and then reaping an annual rent from them afterwards, the u])- shot will be the same, and that will be that about seventy thousand dollars will have been taken m\t of the pockets of the people for a new Market House. — Arithmetic and the English language can work out and state no other conclusion than that. It is quite easy to indulge in refined theories and fanciful speculations, and however amusing they may all be in the abstract yet they will all be smashed up by the hard and irre- sistible logic of a tax-gather of some kind. Should the proposed building involve a debt of $50,000, and it will, under the proposed contract, cost you more than that, no plan can be devised for its extinguishment that will prevent an additional cost of $20,000 for interest. And I here only assume tliat the average time, when the interest wdll be running upon the whole debt, will not exceed six years. I presume that no prudent or experienced person would allow himself to anticipate an earlier extinguishment than that. Then your Market House will have cost you $70,000. Now the question is this — do you think, gentlemen, that the people of this town would consent to have a direct tax imposed upon them for six years to build a :Market House to cost $ 7(),()()0 — do you think that tliey would submit to it, for a single moment 1 Yet that is substantially and truly the identical measure to which I now, after mature deliberation, most respect- fully decline to give my approval. If you* take ^70,- 000 out of the peoples pockets in the course of six years to build a Market House, the hardship and burden will be the same, dollar for dollar, whether you take it from them directly or indirectly. If that be not so, cause and effect have ceased to have any rela- tion to each other, and there will be no such thing as a financial blunder in the conduct of your affairs for the time to come. A thousand dollars judiciously spent in repairing the old Market House, will make it just as serviceable and commodious as it has been for the last sixty years. Certainly we can use it for another year or two until the prices of building will be reduced at least fifty per cent. I have not heard that a solitary citizen has petitioned you to erect a new Market House. It will seem to you a very singular thing that the whole people of the town, who see that house all the time, not one of them have asked you to spend a dollar in the way you propose. If there were a pressure of public sentiment bearing heavily upon you in favor of that measure, it might seem that you had to yield to it. But so far from that being the case not even a verbal whisper has gone up to the Councils in favor of the measure. It is an unpleasant task for me to perform to veto a measure of a body of gentlemen whose judgment and ^general character entitle them to so much respect, but, after the most careful consideration of the whole sub- ject, so far as I have been able to understand it, 1 am constrained by an imperious sense of duty to return to you, without my approval, your resolution entitled " A resolution approving the Contract to build a Mar- ket House." Very respectfully, HENRY ADDISON, Mayor. Hon. Board of Aldermen AND Board of Common Council. 014 366 301 % \ \ Coofcrvation Resources LIg-Fre<^ Type I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 366 301 2