The Twenty-Dollar Warrant That Put Okanogan County’s Credit on Trial

OKANOGAN, May 3.—Special.—Service has been made upon the prosecuting attorney of Okanogan County by the Guarantee Loan & Trust Company, of Seattle, on a warrant issued in 1894 for $20, with interest due and unpaid. A demurrer has been filed in answer, “no grounds for action.” This is supposed to be a test case, the outcome of a request made some time since by some of the largest holders of county scrip, asking for a small payment on each warrant issued prior to 1895 to avoid any question of the warrants being outlawed by the six years’ statutory limitation on notes. The case will be heard before Judge Mount at the May term of court. In the meantime all purchasers of general fund warrants have sent word to their agents to stop buying for the present. The market price of general fund scrip has been absurdly low, and this low figure has a hardship on the future of the county; for instance, the county treasurer is contracted for at a low monthly rate, while the same contract could be let on a cash basis for at least $135, and probably for more. And this is only one of numerous cases. The salary fund warrants are very much behind, and the commissioners are hoping to run on a cash basis on that fund July 1.