Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 April 1916 — ONE MORE CHANCE. [ARTICLE]

ONE MORE CHANCE.

Nelson, the hat man, only expected to stay here one or two weeks. He didn’t know how many hats there are in Jasper county. His advertising has brought them in to be cleaned and reblocked and now he is going to remain another week and devote especial attention to ladies’ and men’s Panamas. - They look like new when he does the. work. See him at McKay's Laundry.

superintendent shall be elected from the eligible candidates in the county in which he is to serve. If there was only one candidate who was eligible the trustees would be compelled to employ him even though there was not a single one of them wanted him. That is the law. Now Purdue cstablihses a regulation that even though every trustee in the county and every citizen as well wanted to hire a county agent from the county they could not do so because he was a “home product.” The ruling is too silly to have its origin at Purdue university; it is worse than silly, it is corrupt.

It seems that an appeal might well be made to the attorney general and if need ibe to the courts to see if Purdue has a right to make a ruling that is discriminating against citizens of the county in this manner. And then the next legislature might well amend tfie law to limit the authority of Purdue and to provide that where there is an applicant from the home county that he shall be given a preference instead of being barred by such a shameful “policy” as has been adopted by some blunderbus clothed with authority 'he does not know how to exercise.

The trustees very becomingly or perhaps submissively decided to await the action of Purdue. The spirit of justice should have demanded that they take issue and see whether there was left in the constitutional aim of home government any rights or whether these had been withdrawn and our institutions were to be managed entirely by a few very human sort of fanatics who adopt “policies” and “regulations” to make it appear as though they were earning their salaries. Some stress was laid on the care taken by JPurdue to recommend only good men to the jobs as county agents. Several trustees indulged in a little snicker when the name of Mr. Barrett, the last recommendation, was mentioned. Mr. Lamson admitted himself that Mr. Barrett had not proven altogether a success. Yet Mr. Coleman, who is now so solicitous about our welfare that he don’t want us to have a graduate of the institution he represents and who has the unanimous endorsement of our trustees, was the same man who recom-. mended Barrett and said he was a man of extensive and successful experience and had in his farm management paid out a mortgaged farm. It may be recalled that Mr. Barrett went froip here to Noble county, where he again made a failure, according to Mr. Coleman and it is wondered who recommended him 1 there. Did. Mr. Coleman have the nerve to do it? It is all a lot of sham and bunk that is being worked off on Jasper county and if there is much of the red blood of True Hbosier independence left m our trustees they should make Purdue show its hand in this matter. Since about 76 per cent of the people of Jasper county don’t want a county agent any way, it would be a very good tiling to, hold the matter open until the right at least was exercised to have the man who is wanted.