Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 14 October 1926 — Page 3
NOW THE BILLY (lOontinued From Page One) help keep the system alive. Merritt Heath, for eight years trustee of Centre township, and now candidate for county recorder, is now basing his claim for support in certain sections on the fact that persons he has favored in these particulars will now get out and work their heads off for him to pay him back for pecuniary services rendered. Candidates of the republican machine do not seek election on merit. “We scratched your back, now you scratch ours,” is the slogan of the machine. The township assessors and deputy assessors controlled by the machine, are also under orders to perform political service first and do their assessing afterward, if they have any time left for such trivial
work.
The office of George Pfeiffer, assessor of Centre township, is a marvel of efficiency in the matter of political control. Beyond that little can be said for it. Pfeiffer has served as township assessor for eight years, two fouryear terms, die is now seeking his third term. If elected he will have spent twelve years at the pie counter. When he took office his salary was $125 a month. It was promptly raised to $250. Several months each year he employs a large army of deputy assessors. His own wife has a steady job. Nina Sample is always one of the favored ones and the wife of Lee Baird, a sister of Billy Williams, never fails to connect with Pfeiffer’s payroll. When Pfeiffer's deputy assessors are sent^out to assess personal property in campaign years, they are always instructed to do political work as they make their
rounds.
Last spring the thirty-five deputy assessors who roamed over Muncie at salaries of four dollars a day devoted ninety percent of their time to the service of George Pfeiffer and other republican machine candidates. # Under this system which makes assessing a purely political job the real work is done in a slipshod and unscientific manner at a cost of three or four times what it really ought to be. The deputy assessor In Cientre township who can show best results as a vote getter and poll taker for the machine, is sure of steady employment. Those deputies who take their jobs seriously and neglect their political duties are sure to lose their jobs when deputies are selected again. Everybody remembers how, in the city primary campaign in the spring of 1925, a small army of deputies out of the office -of Assessor Pfeiffer went from house to boosting John Hampton and handing out cards promoting the candidacy of other machine aspirants. The idea of service, efficiency, decency and honesty in governmental affairs does not enter into the calculations of the republican machine in Delaware county. Selfishness, graft and inordinate desire for political ascendancy has corrupted the administration of public affairs in Muncie and Delaware county and has increased taxes until the people groan in despair and wonder if the system will ever be changed. Last January, wnen Hampton became mayor the city of Muncie was included in the assets of the political machine which has devastated and bankrupted Delaware county. The same system which was used so successfully in the county at once became the plan of action in the city of Muncie. The plan of exploitation has now become standardized, with a perfect coordination between the county and city departments, all under the supreme control of a county supergovernment which has for its purpose the extraction from the public treasury of the city and county of every dollar possible. During the city campaign last year the Post-Democrat repeatedly warned the voters that the hungry pack which had wrecked the county was howling at the gates of the city. The wolves got in and the feast began. The first step of the new city administration was to place in key positions in the various city departments, men who could be relied upon to obey orders without ques-
tion.
‘Harry Hoffman, whose nauseous record requires no extended mention, was placed at the head of the
board of works.
An obscure individual named Harry Retz, was made the rubber stamp president of the so-called board of safety, and Arthur Jones, notoriously unfit as a police officer,
was made chief of police.
Frank Sample, husband of Nina, the she politician, was made street superintendent, and J’ohn Atwood, who had been removed for ineffi-
public letting of contracts last spring, inaugurated a policy of ignoring the bids of contractors who were not included in the pool. No matter how low the independent contractors bid, the awards always went to the high bidders. After persistent efforts to break in, the independent bidders were finally forced to withdraw from the field with the result that the trust has things its own way and the cost of public improvements has mounted to a hitherto unknown fig-
ure.
Property owners who are compelled to pay for the new streets, alleys, sidewalks, curb and gutters and sewers, are being unmercifully robbed, but they have no recourse. All complaints made to the board of works have been met by derisive taunts. Mervyn Collins, a member of the police force, who objected with other property owners to an improvement on South Madison street, lost his job on account of
his action.
The Billy Williams machine, which is running roughshod over Muncie and Delaware county, has but one formula, and that is to punish its enemies and reward its friends. Beneficiaries of the machine, who are rewarded by jobs and chances to graft on public contracts must never swerve from their allegiance to the hand that takes the money from the public till and hands it to them. Those who refuse to obey orders to the
last hair are discarded.
In order to keep the proper balance and to serve notice on all and sundry that danger threatens those who dare to step in front of the machine and wave a red flag, those who have the courage to oppose and attack their rotten system must be punished swiftly and re-
morselessly.
And that is where subservient courts, prosecuting agencies and obedient arresting officers come into play, and where business boycott become effective. The PostDemocrat has been through the mill and knows whereof it speaks. Reward, the hope of reward and fear of punishment are the three things which the Billy Williams cabal counts upon to carry its candidates through in the coining elec-
tion.
'Chiefest of its assets In times of political travail, the machine places aloft on its lawless pedestal the vote of the so-called underworld. The law breaker has no politics. In this respect he is like Jim Watson, who is wet at a brewers’ convention and dry at an antisaloon league meeting, a klansman when the nightshirts gather and an Irishman on St. Patrick’s day— but always and all the time for Jim
Watson.
Have you been reading recently in the Muncie daily newspapers of this or that notorious bootlegger having his case dismissed by some court controlled by the machine^ That is reward for faithful service in the past and services to be rendered two weeks from next
Tuesday.
Have you observed that numbers of the regulars who have been selling booze here for years are having sentences suspended? Verily the faithful are rewarded. And then have you noticed that other cases have been set over until some time after the election? The wobbly and uncertain of the underworld must be kept on probation. If they perform well they are told by the machine that they will be “taken care of.” That is fear of punishment. Right now Muncie is full of bootleggers, gamblers and prostitutes, who are either under suspension of sentences or who have been ordered to leave the city and every mother's son and daughter of them are violating the law openly and flagrantly, with the full knowledge of every judge, and peace officer in the city of Muncie. There never was in the city of Muncie a time when more liquor was sold openly by protected bootleggers than at the present time. A harlot who was told personally by Judge Dearth that she riiust vacate her apartments on South Walnut street and leave the city at once, jauntily moved out and the rooms she occupied, are now the quarters of the biggest gambling establishment that ever disgraced the city—a place where thousands of dollars are extracted from the pockets of working men, a place destructive of the home and detrimental to the business interests of
the city.
And did the woman leave Muneie? She did not. She merely mov 1 - ed to a suite of rooms on the second floor of a business block on thcsouth side of the public square, where she can sit in her front window and gaze meditatively into the window of Judge Dearth’s private office in the court house, directly
opposite.
And what, may we ask, became of Judge Dearth’s announced determination to rid the city of lawlessness? The people he threatened
clfency by the last administration ] ai ' e a 'l st'H here, doing business at from his position as park superin-! the old stand. Apparently his ardor
NUTS OF ALL KINDS PLENTIFUL THIS YEAR
The small boy is in the tieighth of his glory this fall, *s nuts of all kinds are more plentiful than they have been Dr years. It is a common sight 10 see a crowd of small boys joining into town loaded down yith bags of nuts. Hickory and walnut trees are oaded this season, and, except n only a few localities the luts are free from worms. Another unusual thing this fear is that beech trees are ull of nuts of good size and lavor. This is the first season n a long time that beech trees lave borne nuts in such prousion. Old weather prophets say tk 6 tnsual crop of nuts indicate a ong and hard winter.
BIMBO, GYPSY KING. OWNER OF WORLD EMPIRE
Ruler Is a Seventh Son of Seventh Son, Born With a Caul.
Sauerkraut Diet Annoys Italian NEW YORK—Humbert Cerami is Italian and likes ravioli and spaghetti. Mrs. Hilda W. Cerami is German and prefers sauerkraut and knackwurst. The result of their divergent preferences is that Cerami is suing his wife in the Supreme court for a separation. Counsel for Cerami told Justice Churchill, yesterday, during argument on Mrs. Cerami’s motion for dismissal, that she refused to cook except in a way suitable to herself. They were married on April 15, and according to his lawyer, ICeram>i has been compelled to eat in restaurants since July 1.
o
United States Senator James E. Watson was in an automobile accident about 9:30 Sunday morning at a point about two and one-half miles north of Westfield, a town twenty miles north of Indianapolis. He buffered a scalp wound, bruises on the face and body, a sprained wrist and ankle. The automobile in which he was riding took to the ditch in order to avoid a crash with another car. It required ten stitches in closing the scalp wound and after treatment at Westfield the Senator was taken to the Methodist hospital at Indianapolis.
A summary of the damage suffered at the navy’s pioneer air station, at Pensacola, Fla., during the recent destructive hurricane, shows that forty-seven planes at the station were destroyed eight buildings wrecked beyond repair and railway tracks and piers badly
damaged.
FANS CELEBRATE FIRST TRIUMPH FORTY
IN YEARS
St. Louis, Mo.. Oct. 11.—The pent-up feelings of a city which had waited forty years for a world’s baseball championship, broke out late yesterday in a wild demonstration when the Cardinals won the deciding game of the series in New York. The celebration lasted far into the night and surpassed the previous hectic demonstrations when Hornsby’s men clinched the National League pennant and when they came home to the greatest welcome since the world war veterans returned from France.
CHICAGO—Tini Bimbo, the king of the gypsies, is easily the greatest all the Bimbos. His empire is the earth—or that part of it where the tents may be spread—and the yokelry has sufficient confidence in its future to hazard cents on an audit. He was born with a caul, the seventh son of a seventh son, and so looks at the world with an all-seeing eye. He knows what will happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and frequently can remember what happened day before yesterday. And he is greatly reverenced by his people. Anna Timi, his niece, has inherited some of his powers of perception and, to that extent, has^cut in on the phophets of the tribe. But, as they came together in Judge Shulman’s court, there was a dim veil over the future and a bailiff at the door. “This modern life is what makes good magic so difficult,” said the King as he surveyed the assemblage of attendants. ‘‘When our people lived out in the fields and communed with nature it was easy to look into the minds of the customers and tell them just what was going on in their minds. Not So Patient. “Nowadays the keeness of our inner eyes is dulled by frequent rebuff. It was only yesterday that one of our principal forecasters broke his neck trying to read the mind of a flapper. And our people are no longer so patient as they were in the practice of the ancient charms, such as peering into the beyond and getting the gelt. “Take now the Princess Anna— the one between the brace of cops to the left on the bench. Is it possible that she is losing her grip? She was arrested three times yesterday. And in the old days, when the magic and palmistry were going good, a gypsy was never arrested. The men of Rome were set against such a thing. Tell me, Anna, my child, how did this occur?” “It was this gentile lout that did it, my uncle,” replied Anna, her dark eyes shining like stiletto points from the lee of her red headdress. “I told him that for $7 I would read his mind.” “From the look of him I would have put the job at $25,” commented the king with the air of an expert. , “He scoffed at me,” declared An-
na.
“The scoffers very seldom get you into jail,” commented the philosopher of the tribe. ’ It is the credulous ones who always set up a howl for the police.” “He came to scoff and remained as prey,” explained the prophetess. ‘‘I told him What I could do and he put up the $7 in escrow—that is I held it. And then 1 looked into his eyes and I told him what he was thinking of. " ‘You are thinking,’ I said, ‘that I am the most beautiful woman in the world.’ And, would you believe it, he said, “No!” “Well,” said King Bimbo judicially, well, under _jUje circumstances I think yoif had better get a continuance.” And over the protest of Hans
Zimmermaq, the donor pf the $17, the continuance was granted. “It’s the modern.'life that is ruining the arts,’ 'repeated the king as he led his lovely niece through aisles of his retinue, picturesquely garbed in the fashion of millionaire bootleggers, and down to the
waiting limousine.
lO.OOOTEXANS GET FREE OUTING “Oilionaire” Gives Picnic to Share Fortune With His
Fellow Citizens.
RULING, Tex.—Several large benefactions have been made by Edgar B. Davis, president of the United North and South Oil Company, who recently sold holdings of that company in the Ruling field to the Magnolia Petroleum Company for $12,500,000. Practically all this sum went to Davis as principal owner of the United North and South Oil Company. In making the sale he reserved for his company all oil that may be found below a depth of 3,000 feet. One of the first things Davis did after the sale was to give a barbecue to more than 'ten thousand persons, probably the biggest outdoor feast ever given in Texas. More than three hundred men were employed for several days getting things ready. Davis bought the corn crop on a 100-acre field to provide a parking place for automobiles. There were served 10,000 pounds of baby beef and mutton, 2.000 dressed chickens, 1,500 loaves of bread, S.OOfl bricks of ice cream, 6.000 pounds of cake, 20,000 cigarettes and 5,000 cigars. Everything was free. Davis also gave a barbecue on the same date to 3,000 Negroes. In Texas Three Years. Soon afterward Davis announced a gift of $1,000,000 as an endowment of the E. B. Davis Foundation for the equipment and operation of a model experiment farm and agricultural school and for the establishment of a home for destitute children. He donated a tract of 1,200 acres of land for this purpose. r, PROVES N. Y. LITTERS BEACH AT ASBURY
Only Ninety Seconds
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II requires only ninety seconds for a freight Irani of fifty cars to pass a crossing, and seven seconds tor a last passenger train to pass the saine point. Yet, according to statislics from the Interstate Gommerce Commission, 8,7()1 persons were killed or injured at highway crossings last year. This in spile of the fact that during the past ten railway accidents constantly have been decreasing 1 He number of passengers kille.l Infs .lecline.l I he number of deaHis among railway employes lias declined. Hut ULtidedts at highways, eighty-four percent ot winch in\ol\c automobiles, steadily are increasing. The danger of accidents at all points where the public highway crosses the railroad at grade will remain m spite of every precaution that the railroads can take. 1 he sense of responsibility in highway crossing accidents must be shared by the motorist, if such accidents are to decline. There are over 20,(KKMi(K) automobiles registered in the United States. 'Hus means at least 20,0(H),000 drivers ot automobiles. With the help of these drivers, the railroads could eliminate railway crossing accidents. The 8,7(U deaths and injuries which occurred at crossings last year could have been avoided if the drivers could have spared ninety seconds. A lifetime against ninety seconds is too big a risk.
I W. J. I1ARA1IAN, President, The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.
-■5TH
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R. Erskine, Millionaire Head of Studebaker Auto Co., Offers Financial Aid
ASBURY PARK, N. Y.—Further evidence of the littering of local beaches by refuse from New York city, was found when a bushel basket containing documents of the Surrogates’ court and the New York county clerk’s office in New York city was washed up on the beach here. It was found by a lifeguard. Edward Mitchel, lessee of the beach concession, took charge of tl •; documents and said he would -tuilmit them as proof for life complaint of local officials. o~j Louis Mazer goes on trial next month in Canton, Ohio, for the murder of Don R. Mellett, Canton publisher.
State of Indiana, County of Delaware, SS: . Before me, a notary public in and for the State and County aforesaid, personally appealed George R. Dale, who, having been duly sworn according to law, deposes and says that he is the Publisher of the Post-Democrat and that the following is, to the best of his knowledge and belief, a true statement of the ownership, management (and if a daily paper, the circulation), etc., of the aforesaid pulication tor the
date shown in the above caption, required by the Act of August 24, 1912, embodied in section 411, Postal Laws and Regulations, printed on the reverse of this form, to-wit: 1. That the names and addresses of the publisher, editor, managing editor and business managers are: Publisher, Geo. R. Dale, Muncie, Ind. Editor, same. Managing Editor, same. Business Manager, same 2. That the owner is Geo. R.
Dale, Muncie, v Jnd. 3. That the known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 per cent or more of total amount jOf bonds, mortgages, or other securities are: (If there are one, so state.) T None. GEORGE R. DALE. Sworn to and subscribed before me ibis 11th day of October, 1926. MARGARET HARRISON. My commission expires May'27, 1927,
NOTICE OF SALE OF DRAINAGE BONDS.
tondent, was reinstated and placed in charge, of the parks after the removal of Mr. Hanks, who had prov-
ed himself highly efficient.
The board of works, under the direction of Harry Hoffman, immediately organized a contractors’ trust and a concern known as the (Magic City Coal & Supply company, with a brother of Harry Hoffman in charge, supplies most of the sand, gravel, cement, asphalt, tarvia, sewer pipe, etc., that is used in the construction and maintenance of all public work done by the city. All who are favored by this arrangement are making money hand over fist. Now that the campaign is on, the favored contractors and supply concerns are expected to make huge campaign contributions and to coerce their employes and \vl\eedle their friends and relations into supporting the republican can-
didates for public office.
In order to cinch tilings for tho administration contractors’ trust, the board of works, at its very first
has cooled, the . same as it did in
the McAuley case.
The machine allows no mere private to dictate its policy. Judge Dearth is not a leader in Billy William’s machine. He is merely a private in the ranks. The machine has determined to harvest the votes of the bootleggers, the gamblers and the women of the underworld and those who meddle with the cogs and piston rods of the machine will be broken at the wheel. Facing an indignant and outraged public, the gangsters have cast all pretense of decency, honesty and honor to the winds and is defiantly mobilizing its motley army of office holders, contract grafters, privilege seekers and law breakers. The machine is making its last stand. It has openly stripped off the mask and stands ugly and un-
ashamed.
Surely no good citizen of Delaware county will allow himself to be seen wearing the livery of this? Hessian army! .
South Bend., Ind„ Oct. 12.—Albert Russell Erskine, millionaire president of the Studebaker corporation of this city, will head the financial committee that will back Thomas H. Adams of Vincennes in pushing his investigation into Indiana politics, Mr. Erskine volunteered his services Saturday and his aid was immediately accepted by Adams and his associates. The financial aid that Erskine is able to give will enable the committee to go clear through the investigation. In an interview here Saturday night Mr. £ Erskine said: jl “The startling statements and disclosures that £ have been made in the press the last ten days by T. H. | Adams of Vincennes, concerning the political activities Y of the notorious D. C. Stephenson have centered the at- | tention of the nation upon the state of Indiana, to the | mortification of all decent citizens. | Termed Public Service. | “It seems to me that the citizens of the state * should rally to the support of Mr. Adams and his com- % mittee and override the politicians in high office who % apparently are- using their powers to thwart the int vestigation of the Stephenson charges by preventing * anybody from having conversation with Stephenson. % Mr. Adams is doing a public service which must, from % its very nature, be distasteful to him, and yet he carj ries on with commendable determination. ? "“Without passing upon the truth or falsity of the ? Stephenson charges, it seems manifest that they must * be made public in detail and sifted to the bottom. It X is my hope and belief that Mr. Gilliom, the attorney 5 general, will co-operate with Mr. Adams and his com- * mittee in bring about full disclosures. I have today % sent him a telegram urging him to do this and I have % also wired Mr. Adams a message of encouragement and X t support. If Mr. Adams accepts my offef to head a t ? coihmittee to raise funds to help defray expenses of Jj f his committee, I shall welcome the opportunity. Any- * X way, Mhink he would appreciate messages of encour- ^ J agoment from the citizens of this section of the state.” X
«yi
Notice is hereby given that sealed bids will be received in the Office of the County Treasurer of Blackford County, Indiana, at the Court House, in the City of Hartford City, Blackford County, Indiana, up to the hour of 2 o’clock P. M. on the 5th day of November, 1926, for the purchase of $9,587.&5 of the Drainage Bonds of Blackford County, Indiana, issued on account of the Irvin M. Bantz, et al. Dr^iu, Said bonds will be twenty (20) in number, bearing date of June 1st, 1926. and for the sum of $500.00 each, except the first bond, or bond No. 1, which will he for $87.85, and all bearing interest at the rate of 6 .per cent per annum from date, payable semi-annually on the first days of June and December of each year. Said bonds mature severally and are due and payable as follows, to-
wit:
Bonds numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4, June 1, 1927. Bonds numbered 5, 6, 7 and 8, June 1, 1928. Bonds numbered 9, 10, 11 and 12, June 1, 1929. Bonds numbered 13, 14, 15 and 16. June 1, 1930. Bonds nunfbered 17, 18, 19 and 20, June 1, 1931. Said bonds shall be due and paya‘ble at the Office of the Treasurer, of Blackford County, Indiana, at Hartford City, Indiana. Said bonds have been issued in strict compliance with the laws of the State of Indiana, and with an order duly entered upon the records of the Board of Commissioners of Blackford County, Indiana, authorizing the issuance and sale of said bonds for the purpose of providing funds for the payment of and costs and expenses apportioned to certain lands situate in the Counties of Delaware, Blackford and Jay, in the State of Indiana, for the location and construction of the Irvin M. Bantz, et. al. Drain, established and ordered constructed by the Blackford 'Circuit Court, of Blackford Counter" Indiana, in Ciuse Numbered 7222 of the files oi said Court. Said bonds will be sold according to law to the highest and best bidder and for not less than the par value thereof and the right is here* by reserved to reject any or all
bids.
Dated this 13th day of October,
1926.
SEAL RUTH WERBER, Auditor Blackford County, Indiana. — o STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, CIRCULATION, ETC.. REQUIRED BY THE ACT OF CONFESS OF AUGUST 24, 1912. crai RitbUshstl weekly -tLOiiifwyb Of the Post-Democrat published weekly at Muncie, Iffd.,. for October, 1926.
Open Letter to The Voters of Delaware County From ‘THE MUSIC MAN 20 Years In Muncie.
Dear Neighbor: Knowing that it will be impossible for me to see and have a personal talk with all my neighbors and friends of Delaware county and Muncie, I am taking this means through the press to call your attention to the fact that I was selected to be the Democratic Candidate for County Auditor. Like every other county in the State of Indiana, Delaware County needed a straight-forward, busi-ness-like management of its affairs, and l feel sure 1 can measure up to these requirements.
ALBERT L. HUBER
Therefore, I do not hesitate to put before y ou my claim as a candidate for the position of County Auditor, for which office an election is to be held on November 2nd, next. Briefly, I was born in the little town of Ga Ron, Indiana, Delaware County, 48 years ago. I attended the local grade school, incidental ly working for my father in the flouring mill. In 1901, I attended the Indiana Business C ollege. I graduated with honors in the book-
keeping course. The ness exp'erience, with Delaware County in a
bookkeeping system lear ned there has been followed by me in my busisuch results that I am c onfident of being able to handle the affairs of business-like manner.
In 1904, 1 accepted a position with the Star r Piano Company in Hartford City. 1 had charge of the store for about two years. Lat er, in 1906, I was transferred to Muncie, where I have followed the music business up to the p resent time. I am now proprietor of the Edison Shop, which operates under -the name of the Huber Music Company. I may have ground a bushel o f corn for you, or I may have sold you a musical instrument during the past twenty years. If tiiisj be true, 1 feel that I do not have to offer any further proof as to my personal hones ty and integrity. However, should* there be any points that you would like personally to discuss with me, I shall be very glad to have you call at my store, 109 West Jackson street, for a com plete and frank talk. I am not a politician. I am not seeking office merely for the purpose of being on the public payroll. I am asking your support because I believe that you want competent men to handle the affairs of the county. I feel that l can mea sure nip to your requirements. Therefore, I do not hesitate to ask you to support me at the N ovember 2nd election, and 1 can assure you that all of my efforts, when elected, will lie directe d, will be directed towards the proper administration of the affairs of Delaware County. You have the privilege of voting for the m an whom you select as the most competent for the job in prospect. 1 believe I will measure u p to all of your wants. My desire is to make myself useful as well as beneficial to my fellow citizens. Thanking you in advance for your consideration, I am
Faithfully
yours, ALBERT. L.
HUBER.
Vote for
ALBERT L. HUBER Democratic Candidate for Count y Auditor.