Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 June 1899 — Another Fling From the Apologist. [ARTICLE]

Another Fling From the Apologist.

The “padded legal” gent whu “edits” the Washington street “paper” called the “official organ” and who is always ready with an apology for every scheme concocted by the ring to skin the tax-payera, takes another dirty fling at The Democrat this week for the latter’s “fight” on Supt. Hamilton for re-election. Of course every reader of The Democrat knows that there is not one iota of truth in the Apologists’ article, and that no fight whatever was made on Mr. Hamilton by this paper. The Democrat did copy somn figures from the state reports on the cost of county superitendent in this county, and made a comparison with other counties in this relation, but not a sylable touching upon Mr. Hamilton’s fitness for the office nor that his work as such officer had been unsatisfactory was ever made in these columns. To be sure the state reports made a rather unfavorable showing for Mr. Hamilton, in the way of increased expense of his office, but probably no more so than in other matters pertaining to th® management of public affairs in Jasper county, the whole report showing very plainly that this county is among the very highest taxed and most expensive governed counties of the state. That a more thorough understanding of this county superintendent business may be had by taxpayers, a table giving the cost for 1898 in the four highest-priced counties in the state for this service (including Jasper) and our neighboring counties of Bento* and White, and Allen, the largest county in the state, together with the number of townships and schoolhouses in each county, is given below. Not one of these counties but has a larger population than Jasper, and Allen has a population five times as great. The cost in this county was about S4OO more in 1898 than the average for th® four preceding years. These figures are official and we defy anyone to disprove them. In Grant county, by the way, as a result of an investigation of the county commissioners alone, the said commissioners are alleged to be anxious to turn into the county treasury some $2,000 each which they had illegally drawn from the same. (The number of schoolhouses in Keener township is not given in the report for which these figures are taken, but we believe there are five, which should be added to the 90 as given in the following tabla. No report as to number of schoolhouses is given in one township in Elhart county.) Countiw. Exp. No. Tp's No. So. HL | Elkhartsl 892 20 16 12J St. Joseph 1 665 77 13 M Grant 1 636 63 13 10» JabPER. 1 630 96 13 M 8ent0n,...1 230 00 11 M White 1 236 00 11 US Allenl4l* 00 20 US