362 Meyer—Early Railroad Legislation in Wisconsin. 
mortgages, in 1874, amounted to about one percent, of the total 
valuation, 1 making in the aggregate about three per cent, of 
the total valuation (by the State Board) in 1875. The Mil¬ 
waukee Sentinel 2 places the estimate much higher. “Accord¬ 
ing to the assessment of 1871, the extent of the total railroad 
debt in the state might be $16,475,180.00, and in the county of 
Milwaukee $2,546,255.00. ” .... “Municipal indebted¬ 
ness is a very serious matter in several of our Wisconsin cities. 
We have no doubt there will be almost a unanimous vote for 
this amendment (restricting such indebtedness) in the cities of 
Watertown, Racine, Kenosha, and Beloit, where they know by 
experience the effects of this kind of obligation. When not in¬ 
curred beyond a reasonable prospect of payment, such aid is 
legitimate and proper, in the encouragement of improvements 
for the purpose of communication between central markets and 
the regions of production. . . . But experience teaches 
that the people are inclined, sometimes, to run recklessly into 
debt, when pay-day is put off twenty years.” Watertown illus¬ 
trates this. That city, with a population of 7,553, had gone 
into debt to the amount of $750,000.00, or about $100.00 per 
capita. Some of these debts were compromised. For others 
the city was sued and judgments were pronounced against it re¬ 
peatedly. The district court issued a writ of mandamus, but 
the city council refused to levy a tax to pay the debt, and re¬ 
signed before the writ could be served, so that the court was 
powerless to execute its decrees. At an election to fill the va¬ 
cancies caused by resignation, only three votes were cast, and 
the members thus elected immediately resigned. The creditors 
then demanded that the court order the United States marshal 
to sell property of citizens to satisfy the judgment against the 
city, on the plea that such property was a trust fund held for 
creditors of the city. This claim was based upon a similar 
case in Iowa. But the United States Supreme Court held that 
in Iowa the United States marshal could levy and collect such 
a tax because it had been expressly provided for by an act of the 
1 Calculations made on basis of figures in the reports of the Railroad 
Commissioner and of the Secretary of State. 
2 March 8, 1872. 
