Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 January 1916 — Can Not Succeed In Effort to Distort Statement. [ARTICLE]

Can Not Succeed In Effort to Distort Statement.

The Democrat, following its long practice of trying to favor with individuals because The Republican fbr the community good has had the courage to take a firm stand in any matter, s£eks to force us into a statement libeling County Superintendent Lamson and R. L. Budd, the man who wants to compel -the erection/ of a township high school in that ship. The Republican has' not charged either with any evil intention and does not intend to do soTheir motives may be as pure as were those of Editor Babcock when ho circulated a. petition for the postoffice and argued that if N. Littlefield got the postoffice he was going to move it from the K. of P. building to some point in the block east, when as a matter of fact Mr. Littlefield had no such thought as has been proven since he became postmaster. Superintendent Lamson does hope to build one or two township school buildings during his term of office. He wants to build them without regard to the number of patrons and taxpayers who are residents of the township and in this respect we do no t think he is right. Mr. Budd came from Chicago a few years ago and has worked industriously to try to develop his farm and has met misfortunes because of the bad seasons the past two years. He has young children. None will be of high school age for some time. There are many persons in that township vastly more interested in the higher education of their children .at this time Than he is and if a high school building was needed and desired by any considerable portion. of the population there are men who should be relied upon to bring the matter to the attention of the proper officials. Trustee H-am merlon is himself a school man and he says that if he thought the school was needed and that the taxpayers wanted it he would build it, but he does not think so and he proposes to fight the construction unless he finds that the construction will meet the approval of the people nf his township. New school houses are needed in Parr and Fair ' Oaks and he will be doing a great good if - he will see that the proper facilities are provided in those towns, and this he intends to do. The Jasper County Democrat in criticising the acts of the democratic legislature said that the laws passed • were filled with graft possibilities and he roasted the lawmakers and tore into Charles J. Murphy, the democratic district chairman, .who had nothing at all to do with the legislature. There was probably no law passed that so ignored the interests -of the people of any commonwealth as the law that provided for high schools buildings in townships anck

none that made graft so possible. The superintendent of ;the schools of-the county has the final say in the location of a high school and it is possible for some community of farmers to make up a nice “pot”, for the superintendent. This is one of the acts that Babcock mentioned as “graft” and caused his pronunciamento never to “bend the knee” to the democratic bosses, but now for the purpose of currying cheap personal favor he becomes suddenly blind. Persons who know Superintendent Lamson and R. have confidence that they would not take any advantage of the “graft” possibility. The Republican has not insinuated that they would. It has pointed out that their effort to build a high school in Union township does not have the endorsement of the people of the township and has simply suggested what might happen if the men who are trying to build the school house were not men of unquestioned honor.

The Republican has no regrets, no apologies and no retractions to make about the effort made last year to remove Mr. Lamson from office. ,We believe there are some Jasper county boys and girls teaching school in this county this year who would not have been teaching if it had not been £or that agitation. We have not changed our minds about the things voiced at that time. But we gave a tentative assurance to a few trustees who thought just as we did that Mr. Lamson was not the man for the job ,but who believed as we do that during the school year it was better not to have any serious argument affecting him. The Democrat does not state a truth when it says that we “hate” Mr. Lamson. We do not <|f hate any person. We feel sorry for him, bat our sorrow was greater for the boys and girls whose ambitions to teach we considered thwarted, and we feel that the schools need a man of different make-up. The Republican hopes not to have to reopen this discussion. After the schools are closed in April we may have something more to say. In the meantime we expect the people of Union township to quite thoroughly impress on Superintendent Lamson and Mr. Budd that their action is representative of a small minority in that township.