Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 61, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 March 1911 — Misrepresentation A Delight Of Jasper County Democrat. [ARTICLE]

Misrepresentation A Delight Of Jasper County Democrat.

The following paragraph appeared lasj'week in the Jasper County Democrat:” “Editor Hearly of The Rensselaer Republican went before the county commissioners Monday, we are told, and wanted them to fix the limit for saloons at one to each 500 population —-the lowest limit allowed under the Proctor liquor regulation law —but th 3 board ignored his request and fixed it at the maximum, one to the one thousand.” The text of the paragraph is absolutely false. The editor of The Republican did not want the commissioners to fix the limit of saloons at one for each 500 population. The editor of the Democrat says with his contemptible lack of responsibility and disregard of truth, “We are told,’ and thereby saves himself a direct lie because he is so anxious Jo hear things that are false and maligning that he is apt to be told almost anything.

The editor of The Republican went before the board of commissioners to see what action had been taken on this matter, in order that the news might be printed. Auditor Leatherman was in the room and the commissioners said that they had not yet taken action on the matter but expected to that afternoon. The'matter was discussedr briefly and informally and the editor of The Republican said that so far as Jasper county was concerned regulation was probably uiw necessary, but that it would be best, no doubt, to take action if a limit was desired, because this was the last crack they would have at it. In a friendly discussion the writer stated that inasmuch as the Proctor law provided for the reinstatement of saloons there probably would be Tittle advantage in limiting the number, and that if saloons were to come to Rensselaer at all, we might as well have two or three as only one. We also stated that the Proctor law, in placing the limit to the number, offered a fine chance for graft on the part of commissioners, and created A monopoly of the saloon business. Auditor Leal'nerman expressed a view that the best thing from the temperance standpoint would be to go as far as possible to limit the saloons in number and the writer stated that other counties were largely adopting that basis and that Jasper county should probably do the same thing. The discussion was friendly and infr rmal and no effort was made and no thought occurred of influencing the action of the commissioners. If the democratic legislature had provided a law by which the limit of saloons was placed at one for every million people it would have met our approval and the owner of a joint of this kind would have starved to death if he depended upon his livelihood of men who follow the total abstlnance plan of the yriter. But be would wax rich if a Certain democratic editor drank as much over the bar ai he keeps in the basement.