Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1900 — About Illegal Allowances. [ARTICLE]

About Illegal Allowances.

The Democrat is not making war on women, but whenever it becomes necessary in referring to any allowances made from the county treasury which we consider illegal we shall in the future as in the past give the name of the party to whom such allowance is made, be it man or woman. For years Jasper county has been bled in every conceivable way. The county treasury has been drawn bn for “soap for court house” in order to help out some favored woman in getting brasstrimmed bedsteads and fine center tables as premiums. It has been drawn on for laundry bills, barber bills, bills for services never rendered, also bills for copist work in order to help out some favored one who was out of a job. It has paid “padded” printing bills and in fact bills without number that never ought to have been paid, and Godonly knows what all it has not been pulled for. No doubt the contents of the large number of beer and whiskey bottles cleared out from the court house basement about the time the new janitor took charge was in part at least charged up directly or indirectly as “Mdse, for court house” and paid for out of the county treasury. If thfe taxpayeis could only see the many schemes that have been resorted to for extracting money from their pockets as we see them in looking over the records, it would make their blood boil with indignation. The Democrat believes that every county officer and employe of the county should have every penny that he is entitled to under the law, and we feel sure that every taxpayer in the county thinks the same. But it is the ' special and unauthorized allowI ances made to various officers and 1 others which we object to, and the number of such allowances foot up to a great big sum in the course of a year. When we get an investigation of the county records— and it is bound to come, regardless of the strenuous efforts of guilty ones to prevent it— the amount of money that has been taken illegally from the county treasury of Jasper county will almost exceed belief. While the Barnacle “editor” lias existed here for years by republican support, to keep out a decent democratic paper, and at every opportunity the county treasury has been raided to accomplish this result the gang don't like to spend its own money when it can get at the public crib —and many questionable bills have been paid him, and that some member of his family has almost continuously for years, either directly or indirectly, drawn pay for “services’’ at the court house, it was not our intention to speak of all this when referring to a bill for §l2 “election expense”, allowed by the commissioners last week to a daughter of the Barnacle “editor,” but rather for information from the count}’ officers. The claim as entered on the records reads for “election expense.” As we have officers elected and drawing good salaries—with no extra deputy hire allowance—to perform all the functions of their respective offices, not see wherein Jasper county was under any obligations to pay this bill—one of many in years pastas we presumed it was for some copying work. If it was for such work then the officer having the work done should have paid it out of his own pocket, and not Jasper county. Therefore we asked for the. name of the party who employed her, and wo repeat the J question again: ‘Who employed) Mrs. Bostwick to do this work,! and what was the nature of the I services rendered? Will the county commissioners kindly answer this question?