Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 November 1898 — Page 4

f flaw sun mm. I f. t maw, timw mi muatt. TERMS 07 SUBSCRIPTION! PPM YEAR *IOO T SOC MONTHS.. SOc PNRBE MONTHS 25c. I * Payable ia Advance. |Mwrtlil«r rate* made known on application Impute* on Van Hanaaalaar Straot, { North of Bills A Murray's Storo.

f‘ Vote early. i Tbe proof of high taxes in Jasnpar county is in the paying thereof. | Remember the slogan in Jasper pnounty this campaign is “The Peoplpio vs the Ringsters.” | A vote for the democratic nomisees for county office means a vote yhr an honest and economical government.

It is high time for the people to know what sort of book-keeping and auditing is going on in the county court house. Elect honest George Stembel auditor of Jasper county and we’ll guarantee that the statements to to the taxpayers and those to the state officers will tally. Let every taxpayer in Jasper county come to the polls next Tuesday and vote as his conscience tells him he should vote and ring rule in the county will be a thing of the past * Just think of it, the cost to the taxpayers for commissioners’ court in Jasper county jumps from $325 for the year 1890 to $1,074.43 in 1894, and from $1,074.43 in 1894 to $2,215.68 in 1898! The increase of four-legged wolves in Jasper county seems to have kept pace with that of the two* lagged ones. In 1890 the county paid but $162.50 for wolf scalps, while in 1898 she paid $197.50. The ordinary expenses of Jasper county have nearly doubled in six yean under continued republican ling control, and it would be interesting to know where all this money is going. Open the books.

Many a poor farmer who is l being bled to meet the extravagance of the county officers is now being approached and plead with to vote for a continuance of this wasteful and unlawful extravagance. A great many people in Jasper county are getting their eyes opened to the fact that they have a county government. They have, and it costs them about twice as much now as it did six or eight yews ago. Under the present regime Jasper county is paying fancy prioes for books and stationery. While the business of the oounty has not grown to any great extent, the book and stationery bill has grown to almost four times what it was only eight yean ago. The big increase in the cost of county printing is attracting a great deal of comment and it ought to do so, but it should not be overlooked at the same time that there has been an increase of expenses all along the line that is very diffi- : cult to account for. It is time to open the books.

At jthe election next Tuesday the voter will cast three ballots, . one each for the state, county and township ticket. The state ballots will be printed on red, the county , ballots on white, the township ballots on yellow paper. Three ballot boxes will be provided, one for each ballot, and of the same color |Us the ticket it contains. ; A four thousand dollar warrant ||wued for a temporary loan was never mentioned in the two last peports of the county auditor. We HI no means of knowing how many other warrants have been issued of which the taxpayers have ;no knowledge. Vote for a change §|ft county management and these

A WORD TO TAXPAYERS. For some months The Democrat has been urging upon the taxpayers qf this county the importance of reducing public expenditures. County government has been costing too much. Taxes have been and are now too high. The Democrat has contended and now contends that too much money is being collected and expended in this county for public purposes. The Democrat contends that the taxpayers have not got value received for the money they have been compelled to pay into the county treasury. This matter can not go on indefinitely. It should go no further. Taxpayers in sheer self-defense must bring about this much needed reform. How can this be done? Can it be done by re-electing the present incumbents or the candidates nominated by the republican ring to fill their places? What reason have you to hope for any retrenchment from such men as A. Halleck or 8. A. Dowell? Halleck, the terror of tax-dodgem, yet the worst offender of the lot! Halleck, who when driven to put his telephone lines on the tax duplicate, after having owned and operated them for three yearn, “omitted" to place them on the duplicate or pay taxes on them for the first three or four yearn they were in use.

You, as taxpayers, have felt these grevious burdens and have borne them for yean. You are awan of the difficulty you have experienced year after year to meet these ever-growing demands on your purse. You are aware of the self-denial you have been compelled to practice to lift this grevious burden from your property. Yet all to what purpose? The appetites of these tax-eaten have all been sharpened. Their ability to consume your hard-earned substance incnased in the same ntio that this burden crushes you. You now have an opportunity to right some of these wrongs. What is gone can not be recovered, but the future can be made safe. County expenditures can be reduced enormously without harm to the public interests. The democratic candidates are pledged to do this. They an good, safe, energetic, cautious business men. As township trustees they wen economical, prudent and saving of publio money. No scandal ever attached to their conduct as public servants. The same can be said of all the candidates on the democratic oounty ticket. Elect them all and you will crush out —utterly annihilate—one of the most extravagant, and extortionate court house rings that has ever disgraced the face of the earth.

The salary of the auditor in Jasper county is $1,500 per year, and the fee and salary law says emphatically that this sum shall be his sole compensation. Yet in the face of this we are informed that over $2,600 per year is extracted from the office. The statistician (30 years in office) is onto all the “grafts,” and republican success next Tuesday means his continued retention and fattening at the public crib.* The Michigan City News, (Republican) gets off the following chunk of political wisdom which we commend to the voters of Jasper county: “It used to be that the voter who refused to vote for every candidate on his party ticket was called “weak kneed” and a man who would not uphold his party principles. But that is no longer necessarily the case. If a man was buying hogsior the market he would refuse all which had the scurvy, and scurvy runs deeper in some politicians than it does inhogs."^

Jasper county needs a new set of county officers very badly. Climb into the band-wagon, the PEOPLE are going to win next Tuesday. v; The printing of the county’s financial statement in Jasper county is a farce. It is unreliable, misleading, and an imposition on the taxpayers. According to the auditor’s report for the fiscal year ending May 31,1898, the total amount of fees collected by the county auditor and turned into the county treasury was only $642.76. If the county auditor omits one warrant from his report to the taxpayers, he may have omitted dozens of others. Let’s have a change in the auditorohip and find out just how matters stand, anyway.

m nil! te i earn Mints Receipts from County revenue 1890, ... .$23,387.14 “ “ “ “ 1896,.... 36,354.76 Gain in receipts over 1890,., f1a.967.A1 Expenditures from County revenue, 1890, $21,388.38 “ “ “ “ 1896, 38,711.40 Increase in expenditures over 1890,...... $17, 3a3.es Cost of Commissioners’ Court, 1890,..... $ 325.00 “ “ “ “ 1898 2,215.68 Increased cost over 1890,. $1,890.66 Cost of maintenance of Poor Farm, 1890,. $1,842.43 “ “ “ “ “ “ 1898,. 3,581.45 Increased cost over 1890, f*»7J9-®» Cost of Books and Stationery, 1890...... $ 863.68 “ “ “ “ “ 1898 2,882.08 Increased cost over 1890, f 3,019.44 Taxpayers, It lies wMi yeu to say whether this thing shall go oh aay longer.

You can’t fool all of the people all of the time. Jump into the band wagon and make the rebuke good and hard. Remember there are no better men in Jasper oounty than those appearing on the democratic ticket for county office. Each and every one of them will serve the people of the whole county truly and faithfully. The election of the republican county ticket means an endorsement of high taxes, mismanagement and extravagance in the administration of oounty affairs. The election of the democratic ticket means the reverse. Over in Benton county the republican commissioners have made an order to investigate the books of the oounty officers every two years. The oounty commissioners in this county don’t make any such orders. Oh, no. The thing they most fear is an investigation.

From January 1,1897, to January 1, 1898, Geo. E. Marshal received from the Jasper county treasury $399.65; Leslie Clark received $158.20. Is it any wonder that those able editors stand as apologists for all manner of prodigality of the court house ring? A prosperity that must be mauled into the recipients upon all occasions before they can realize it is not a prosperity that will swell the coffers of the people to any appreciable extent. Yet the McKinley brand of prosperity is such that no one would find it out but for the persistent howling of republican newspapers. “Honest Abe” Halleck has been telling the voters in the out townships how be caused some parties in Rensselaer to “cough up” on “omitted” property for taxation, but he does not mention the fact that his telephone lines have been in operation for three or four years, and for all this tim| he has collected toll for their use, but never a time did he “cough up” for taxation until exposed by The Democrat, and then only apart, and for one year, leaving the other years omitted.

The “extras" allowed republican officials have become so common that they ought to be called “regulars." ■ ! ' * The fee and salary law has become an iridescent dream with the republican officials of Jasper county. They know it but ignore it. Other counties have built equally as good court houses as Jasper oounty for about one-half the money ours cost, and by republican commissioners, too. The democratic candidates for county office, while not opposed to useful and needed improvements, are opposed to useless extravagance and are pledged to reduce county expenses and taxation. Don’t forget this when you go into your booth to vote next Tuesday.

Fall in line with the people and make it unanimous! Ring rule and public extravagance in Jasper county must cease. Listen not to political shysters who approach you with a pitiful appeal to vote for the ring candidates that they may continue to draw rations from the public crib. Remember the issue in Jasper county is the people vs. the ringsters. Don’t be bulldozed into voting against your sentiments next Tuesday. If you want a continuance of mismanagement, extravagance and high taxes, vote the ring ticket. If not, vote the democratic ticket You are free to do as you wish in the matter.

• • IF TOD WANT A ...HARBOR... VOTX FOB A. F. KNOTTS FOB REPRESENTATIVE • - . • The republican candidate for joint representative is circulating cards in Hammond with the above insoription. The republican ringsters will tellyou|that the reason for the doubling up in the ordinary county expenses within a period of a very few years is because Jasper county has made such tremendous strides in the way of civilisation. Still we find that for the year 1890 the county paid $162.50f0r wolf scalps, while in 1898 she paid $197.75. The increase in expenditures it seems applies to four-legged wolves as well as the two-legged ones. “If you want a harbor vote for A. F. Knotts.” A harbor for Roby out-throats, gamblers, thieves and thugs; a harbor for every slimy boodier, corruptionist, and lobbyist before the legislature at Indianapolis; a harbor for every thief around the capitol for the purpose of defeating legislation against evil-doers and in favor of the plain people, by stealing and destroying all papers before the legislature injmioal If jrou .renot in

Our ring contemporaries are kept pretty bnay explaining why “Honest Abe's" $2,900 court house clock occasionally performs thus and so. Of all the pitiful ideas that were ever made in a political campaign, the worst is this, that republicans should vote 'er straight so as to retain (the ring’s) “party friends” in office. Let every, taxpayer who wishes to see lower taxes and a more economical management of county affairs consider himself a committee of one to see that a full vote is gotten out next Tuesday. Less than two miles of the sixteen miles of gravel road in Keener tp., is completed, and the commissioners have already paid out almost one-half of the contract price for the whole road! Was any county ever “blessed’’ with such financiers as Jasper? “Honest Abe’’ says the people of Jasper county are prosperous. Unfortunately Abe’s vision doesn’t extend beyond his own shadow, and as his per diem of the commissioners’ court cost last year was between SBOO and S9OO, secured without in any way neglecting his own private business, it’s no wonder that he thinks the people are all prosperous, like himself.

The candidates on the democratic county ticket have made an honorable active campaign and all of them will be elected. They will make excellent officials, too. They will make honest officials. It is conceded by votere generally that the democrats have never placed a better ticket in the field or one that is more deserving of the sufferages of the people. “Beware of Roorbacks.” —Journal. We heartily endorse die above and as the democrats have no “roorback” to spring, but have simply given the people true and reliable statements of affairs, and the roorback is and always has been a creature of the ring politicians, we would most earnestly caution the taxpayers of Jasper county to beware of them. The ringsters dislike very much to poll their hands from out the county treasury and will resort to any measures to still retain their place at the public trough. Yes, by all means, beware of the roorback.

That $4,000 loan: "There has been nothing secret nor nothing underhanded about it.”—Republican. And still it was kept from the taxpayers by “omitting” from the published statement of the county's financial affairs for two yen ra- presumably also on Hailock’s order, as Abe is an adept at the omitting business and when the last interest was paid 'the fig. ures on the record were juggled so as to deceive the people again as to its being paid on this same old 80-day temporary loan! Not a thing secret nor underhanded about it! Oh, no! The people would still have been in ignoranoe in the matter and doubtless the warrant would still have been drawing interest had not Thb Democrat smoked these “financiers” out, Our billions contemporary next door, to divert attention from the issues of the campaign, has devoted a grgat deal of space lately in “exposing” The Democrat man for not listing property for taxation last spring which the said Democrat man did not possess. Now, let us see how The Democrat man compares with the Journal editor in this matter. We owned the Remington Press a little more than three years. The actual value of the plant was about onethird or one-fourth that of the Journal plant, but during the years we owned it, we listed it for taxation at S4OO. The Journal outfit, with power press and engine, which alone is worth from S7OO to SBOO, was given in to the assessor by its very moral, truthful and honorable editor as worth only $485. It is very amusing to hear such fellows t ruthfulness in others. 7

The fight for batter and more economical county government being waged by the Jasper County Democrat should appeal to the sense |Hi Judgement of every taxpayer In Jss* per county. For years tax-ridden by one of the moat extravagant political rings that ever prayed apon a long suffering people, the turning point has come. Thera are times whenfk long suffering people refuse to listen to appeals to ••stand by the ticket” and vote for their own interests. We la Jasper county.—Delphi Times. What do you think of a set of men who contract for a court house complete for $89,180, and then run in extras enough to double that sum? Several claims are still pending on acoount of that new court house, and they have not been “dismissed" either, but simply “continued” until after election. In the event of the republicans electing their oounty ticket next Tuesday the. Journal hopes with the aid of its statistician (30 years in office) to be made the official organ, hence its low-down, baseless attacks on democratic candidates, ■, Judge Thompson aayi members of election boards can draw pay for bat one day’s labor. The Journal says they are entitled to three days pay. Which is rightT—Democrat of Oct. My attention has been called to the above statement, which is a mistake. The matter has not been presented and has not been passed upon by the court or the Judge. 8. P. Thompson, J. C. C. The above statement appears in the Journal of this week. We suppose Mr. Thompson means that the matter has not been presented to him in an official way. He will not deny making the statement to the writer in private conversation some two months ago, when we were talking over the Benton county bar trouble and the pay jurors and election boards were entitled to under the law.

The writer claims to be no expert in examining reoords, but we have unearthed lots of rottenness in county government in our necessarily limited time to devote to such examinations. There was never a time in the history of Jasper county when exposures were made of violation of law and looting of the public treasury by officials and contractor* so extensive and flagrant as those The Democrat has made of the present republican administration. The question for the taxpayers is, what is to be done about it? The offense is open. It is undenied and undeniable. It is a matter of publio record What am you going to de about it? ■W At last! Bro. Marshall explains (?) that $4,000 loan matter, and devotes more than a column ofjspace to saying nothing more than that it “has been paid,” Although the loanwasmade for but thirty days (order made for same June 29, 1896) it wau not paid until August 24th of'the present year, “after the auditor's annual report was made up and it was found there was sufficient money in the oounty fund to pay it.” when “Mr. Halleok ordered it paid, and it was paid on August 24,1896.” Well, we are glad to learn that this loan has been paid at last, although past due mom than two years, but as the auditor’s report is made June Ist, why was the loan not paid before August 24? Why pay three months more interest on it than was necessary? Why did not Mr. Halleck make his order three months earlier? And why, unlessto deceive the people as to the rear condition of the county’s financial affairs, was not this county warrant of $4,000 included, in the auditor’s report of outstanding warrants for 1897 and 1898? ADVERTISED LETTERS.. Mr. Guy Hoover; Mr. John Chantal; Ettie M. Coleman; Miss Person* celling for My of the above letters in this list will please „ G. M. Robinson, P. M. .• v. .. j:£ 1 .• - . ... 'XJ-,