Jasper County Democrat, Volume 5, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 November 1902 — DO NOT TRUST HIM. [ARTICLE]

DO NOT TRUST HIM.

If you want the public affairs ■well conducted let the blue crossdesignate members of the board of commissioners who manage their own business with good judgment. For every dollar the tax-ferrets paid into the county treasury from residents of this county, the county paid out $2.50, but the public money flowed to boom Halleck’s friends and spite his foes.

The members of the board of county commissioners are the hired servants of the voters at a price fixed by law. Each voter should select the best men, who will do the best work for the salary. Let every voter come out to the polls on election day and cast his vote for the candidates whom his own good common sense tells him will best serve the interests of the taxpayers of the whole county. Don’t be a stay-at-home. The Keener gravel road was let to Halleck’s favorite for $1,500 more than the bid of Sigler & Hawkins. The bid was refused and it will cost $20,000 to complete the work. If you want all gravel roads so managed, vote for Halleck. How will you expect one who could not manage a township, and who does not know, nor does any one else, in what condition he left the office, to discharge the duties of the office of county treasurer? One who can’t manage his own business has no business in public office. Don’t let partisan predjudice over-ride your better judgement. You know, Mr. Republican voter, that there are several men on your county ticket that you wouldn’t trust out of your sight with your pocket-book. Then why trust them to manage the financial affairs of the county for which you help to pay? Don’t forget that two members of the present board of commissioners paid out, illegally, all the Keener tp., gravel road fund and that they also, illegally, paid out hundreds of dollars from the county treasury for township railroad elections, an expense which should have been paid by the townships holding the elections only.

Yes, election comes the next day after tax-paying day. Remember this and remember also when paying your taxes that 16 cents on each hundred dollars valuation was added by a partisan county council. If you want it reduced again, elect some of the democratic candidates for councilmen and make the board nonpartisan once more. We made a charge against Halleck and Waymiro that the notice of the Barkley township railroad election was paid for by the county once too often. The court decided said notice was not allowed to be paid for at all, and Was paid for twice too often. Tbe hot-headed republicans want to vindicate£Halleck and Waymire sginst us because our own charge was not broad enough.

The county board is the special statutory agent of every ordered local improvement, whether of roads or ditches. If you want them built in the best manner and for the least money, see that you vote for a careful man. The county in collecting its uniform credit with our local improvements, such as a gravel road or a ditch, needs no lawyers services, for the money comes from the sale of bonds. Hanley asked while Halleck & Waymire gave S7OO of your money above collected of the Waukarusa and Iroquois. Won’t they do the same in all like cases, to teach the county how not to collect what is due? Vote for Allen and Parker Readers of the Democrat who have followed ’its course right along during the 4£ years of its present management have come to have explicit confidence in its statements regarding the management of public business and the character of the public officials. Not once has any of its statements been disproved, but, on the contrary, time has shown them to have been correct in every instance. Don’t forget this. In order that local improvements may pay the current expenses until bonds are sold, the law requires the county to extend them credit and by counsel assist such debtor’s to sell bonds. Halleck & Waymire hired lawyers to postpone and destroy the Waukarusa after it owed the county $3,053.17, and the Iroquois after it owed the county $3,646.70. Won’t they do the same with pending and prospective outlet drainage? Think of this when you vote.

The same fellows who told you a few years ago that the affairs of Jasper county were being conducted as economically as could possibly be and that it was absolutely out of the question to run the county business with less than a 65 cent, levy, are again telling you the same thing. The action of the non-partisan county council in cutting down the levy to 34£ cents proved the untruth of those statements. They lied to you then, taxpayers; they are lying to you now. The tax levies in Jasper and neighboring counties for 1902 for all county purposes, including bridge, gravel road repairs, county bonds and all other county expenses, is as follows: Ja*per County s<>H cents Benton County 30*4 “ Newton County 16Mi “ Pulaski County 80H “ Porter County “ White County 87H “ If you want to reduce Jasper’s levy so that it will compare favorably with that of her neighbors, sandwich in a few democrats on on the county council. The fellows who are now eulogizing some of the republican candidates for county office were two years ago eulogizing Sim Dowell. Sim was later proven a cattle thief to the satisfaction of a White county jury, which gave the Halligans a judgement for SI,OOO against him, and in the brief of the above case, appealed to the supreme court, the attorneys say: "There were ten car load of cattle run out of jasper county, Indiana, by the appellees. (Dowell et al). Two were shipped to Indianapolis and the residue to Chicago. The proceeds derived from the sale of the Indianapolis shipment represents the judgement for fi.ooo against Simeon A. Dowell, into whose HANDS SAME WAS FINALLY TRACED.”

The voters of Keener township endorsed the project to build gravel roads and issue bonds. There were bids for making said gravel roads with good resident sureties. Abraham Halleck’s friend McGinnis was awarded the contract without giving any solvent bond. The amount of his bid was paid and $20,000.00 worth of said road is unbuilt. ’ The taxpayers of Keener township are

patiently paying for the pleasure accorded to said Halleck of booming a friend and paying him sl,500 more for not completing the work than a responsible bidder had bid for the work. Is it not to be expected that in building future gravel roads the special fund will be managed in the same way? The matter is up to the voter. S. R. Nichols Republican candidate for County Treasurer was over Monday making the acquaintance of the voters of this end of the county. Mr. Nichols is a well to do farmer, enjoys the esteem and confidence of his neighbors and is worthy the support of his party.—Remington Press. All of which might be true, but unfortunately it isn’t. Far from it. The records of this county (Mortgage Record 38, pages 276 to 291, and page 301) show that Nichols’ $16,000 worth of land in Barkley tp., is covered by $24,000 in mortgages, $12,748.56 a second mortgage given to A. McCoy & Co’s, bank, and prominent republicans openly charge that the McCoy’s were and are behind his candidacy that they may even up with him. As for his enjoying the “esteem and confidence of his neighbors,” the best men in his party in Barkley tp., are doing all they can to defeat him, and he will receive mighty little support from his neighbors who have known him for years. When he was trustee of that township, school teachers had, in numerous instances, to wait months after their schools closed to get their pay, the township was run into debt, its credit became so poor that a Rensselaer merchant refused to trust it for a broom for one of the school houses, its financial reports were always months behind the time allowed by law for making them, and when going out of office he never made any public report of the condition of the township’s finances at all. The present trustee (a republican) says that he don’t know a thing about some of the funds qxcept since he himself has held the office. These are facts, and should be known by all taxpayers before casting a vote to put this man in charge of the public funds of Jasper county.

“Hinky Dink” Robertson of the Wheatfield wind-jabber got real angry at The Democrat last week and expressed his feelings in his usual vile billingsgate style, i all of which amounts to nothing | and will not convince 1 dred readers that the gray matter in that No. hat of his is anything more than very poor quality of scraped potato. His reference to Chas. Armstrong having received S7O for assessing Barkley tp., and James Spriggs S7O for assessing the same tp., the latter in June, 1902, and the former in July, 1902, and the intimation that Armstrong stole his S7O, hardly bears out the facts regarding the usual manner and payment for assessing that township. While we are not endorsing the custom of township assessors hiring “assistants,” unless absolutely necessary, we wish to give a few brief facts regarding the present cost of assessing Walker and that under the able assessing of the same township by that old republican patriot and exsailor John O’Connor, against whom "Hinky” would not say a word for anything: It will be seen from Hinky’s tirade that it cost $l4O to assess Walker in 1902. Now, if Hinkey will go to the auditor’s office here and turn to page 244 of Com. Record 11, he will find the following allowances made for assessing Walker tp.. that year: John O’Connor,.. 5114.00 Ira llrown 12.00 Jane O'Connor 32.00 C. V. Janies 4.00 F. M. Goff 20.00 Total $182.00 Here are five persons who drew pay for assessing that tow’nship, all for one year, and the total expense is $42 more than “Hinky” says the democratic assessor drew in 1902. Walker tp., is improving right along and there is more people to see •and no doubt more property to assess than

when John the faithful was doing the assessing. We would suggest that Hinky be bored for hollow-horn. See here, Mr. Voter and Taxpayer, we want to have a little plain, common sense talk with you. What do you honestly think about the political machine managers at Rensselaer sending out a lot of boys and a couple N os tom-toms to make a noise, arouse your party predjudice and to tell you how you ought to vote for your own best interest? Isn’t it silly, come to look at the matter cnlmly and dispassionately? Some of these young cubs have never been self-supporting but, figureatively speaking, have lived off of “Dad;” all they have had to do was to stick their feet under “dad’s” table and get to work. Now, the idea of these fellows coming out in your neighborhood to tell you how you old, hoaryheaded sons of toil, who read the papers, have a goodly supply of gray matter in your caranium and who would not take the advice of one of them on any matter of business, following their advice when it comes to exercising your right of franchise? Isn’t it preposterous? Did you ever look at it in that light before? What do those fellows care about you and your interest, except to get your vote? Then there is “Honest Abe” and “Doc” Nichols. The idea of those men coming to you and asking you to hire them to manage your business—for the county business is your bueiness and is kept running with your money. Neither one of them has shown an aptitude to manage their own business and do it ably or successfully. Abe has been bankrupt for years and is getting deeper in the hole every year, while the judgement records of this county are burdened with dozens of judgements against him amounting to thousands of dollars. Nichols’ financially is much in the same boat. He has never been competent to manage his own business and, like Abe, his management of public business has not been of such a character as to commend him to your trust. Can you, in the light of these facts support either of these gentlemen for the offices they seek.?

“Honest Abe,” we are informed, is again working that old, wormeaten chestnut about the “taxdodgers fighting him.” Four years ago he worked this “gag” and then had all the cases against the alleged tax-dodgers dismissed at the very next term of the Benton circuit court. Two years ago he worked it in stumping for “Sim the Cattle Dealer,” who is now alleged to be under indictment by a grand jury of this county for stealing cattle from the Halligans, and who would be arrested at once should he put his foot in Indiana, and now he is working it again. It would seem that the subject would be about worked out by this time. Besides, Abe has had his taxferrets at work here for nearly two years, and every man who | would submit to the “stand and 1 deliver” game without a fight for ! his rights has been milked dry, | and not a dollar has been placed on the omitted tax record for the past six months. The ferrets j have gone and took with them the ! lion’s share of the spoils, 50 cents on each dollar collected, while the | taxpayers have had to add about j 75 cents to each 50 cents left with 1 them to make good the state and other taxes on the amount “collected.” It was, in our opinion—and we have watched the “game” carefully—the worst imposition ever perpetrated upon the people of a community, a "heads I win, tails you lose” game. The county treasury is out thousands of dollars by this “investigation” and nobody but the ferrets and, possibly Abe, are benefitted a dollar. Even the republican papers of the

county have not had the cheek to endorse the scheme. It would have been better for the taxpayers if not a dollar had been collected in, for they have had to go down in their pockets and dig up extra money to pay the “ferrets.” If, as Abe falsely claims, his “investigation” of the tax-dodgers, has added so much to the county treasury, then the action of the county council in raising the county levy from 34£ cents to 50J cents is all the more reprehensible. But it is not true. Instead of adding to the county funds it has been a losing game for the county treasury from the start. Two years ago Abe told you he would have an investigation made of the county offices, in response to a petition of 1,000 representative taxpayers of the county, and you haven’t heard a word from him since about it, have you? Dont trust Abe, he is as slippery as an eel and as tricky as a Moro native of the Philippines. You will rue it for three years if you return him to the office he has so long disgraced.