Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1906 — OUR COUNTY CANDIDATES. [ARTICLE]

OUR COUNTY CANDIDATES.

Who They Are and What They Stand For. •

A BRIEF MENTION OF EACH. All Are Good Straight flen and Will Make Careful and Conscientious Officials If Elected. * On Tuesday, November 6th, the voters of Jasper county will, in addition to district and state officers, select a county Clerk, Auditor, Treasurer, Sheriff, Assessor, Surveyor, Coroner, a Commissioner from both the Second and Third commissioners’ districts, and a full new County Council, one each from the four Councilmanic Districts, and three at large. Of these officers, the clerk, auditor, assessor, and councilmen will serve four years; the commissioners three years each; the treasurer, sheriff, surveyor and coroner two years each. These men are —in theory at least —the servants of the people of Jasper county, elected to carry out the wishes ofa majority of her citizens as expressed at the ballot box. The county council appropriates the funds raised by taxation for the various needs of the county, and fixes the county tax levy; the county commissioners are the contracting and disbursing agents of the tax-payers, while the other officers are principally administrative, yet wield a great deal of influence in the disbursement of county funds. Such being the case it behooves the taxpaying voters of the county to exercise their best and unbiased judgment in casting their ballots for these servants—hired men, if you please. Reforms in the administration of government can only be brought about by the independent voters, the man who casts his ballot for the best interests of the community regardless of the party emblem at the head of the ticket, and the greatest men in all political parties to-day unite in urging lhe people to disregard political lines in local elections, town, city and county, for the history of all parties has been to grow reckless, dishonest and fearfully corrupt when given a long lease of power. The best and most economical government is always had where the dominant parties are most evenly divided, where the “hired men”—the public servants —must be on their good behavior at all times or be kicked out of office and the other fellows put in. The above statements are facts as true as holy writ, which every fair-minded, thinking man must admit and it is good sound business policy not to let the servants think they are the masters, simply because you have “hired” them or members of their office-seeking family so long that they get the idea you can’t get along without them, and consequently grow arrogant and reckless in the management of your business. In our form of government it is necessary to have two parties—another fact that we must all admit—and even though in Jasper county the deniocrats are confronted by a majority of over 600, what would become of the taxpayers’ interests if the dominant party had no opposition whatever and could go on for time unlimited without let or hindrance, because the people had no way of curing the evils by voting with another party to bring about a change?

It is therefore a matter of selfpreservation to have two political parties and to have them as nearly evenly divided as possible to secure the best and most, lasting results. The democrats of Jasper county have again this year placed a ticket in the field complete except for clerk, auditor, and surveyor. For various reasons no nominations were made for the above offices. We believe that there are local abuses that need correcting; that county taxes are unnecessarily high, and that there should bean auditing of the books in the various offices of the county, something that has not been done for the past quarter of a century, if ever. We believe'that a change in part of the offices at least will be beneficial to the masses of the people of the entire county, and we ask the earnest consideration of the voters in our efforts to help bring about needed reforms by electing the ticket we have placed before the people for their suffrage. For county treasurer we have on our ticket William A. Lock, of Remington, a man in every way qualified to fill the office with credit to himself and to his constituency—all the people of Jasper county. Mr. Lock is a good scholar, an excellent penman and accountant, and will if elected faithfully account for every dollar of the people’s money entrusted to his care. For Sheriff we present Charles, Harrington of Keener township. Mr. Harrington is the present capable assessor of that township, and when one considers how overwhelmingly republican Keener is, he must admit that Charlie is a pretty good man or he never could have gotten elected on the demopratic ticket there. Mr. Harrington is a man in every way qualified to fill the office of sheriff and if elected will make an excellent official. For county assessor we have an able candidate in the person of Frank Parker of Gillam township. Mr. Parker, like the others on our ticket, is not an office-seeker, but if elected he will honestly endeavor to earn his salary and perform the duties of his office in a manner that will not be criticised. For Coroner we present Dr. A. J. Miller of Rensselaer, a popular physician and a man of excellent character. Dr. Miller will make an able coroner if elected, and, by the way, a doctor ought always be elected to this office, For county commissioners we have Joseph Nagle of Marion township and Moses Sigo of Remington. Both these gentlemen are solid, substantial/ farmers, good, careful business men and capable. While they will,not be niggardly in carrying on the county business, they will nevertheless insist on having full value for the money expended and will not be dictated to by the politicians. No mistake will be made in electing these gentlemen to safeguard the public’s interest. Last, but by no means the least important on the ticket, we present the names of 8. D. Clark, of Wheatfield tp., Smith Newell of Joseph Lane of Newton, James E. Lamson of Jordan, C. F. Tillett of Gillam, James Carr of Newton and* George P. Ketchum of Marion for members of the county council. Each and every

one of these men are men of unimpeachable character, good and successful farmers and "solid men” in their respective townships. They are all capable to fill any office in the ooqnty, and will look carefully into the expenditures of the people’s money before making appropriations from the county funds, not a parisi monioua policy, but a sound business policy of looking before leaping, rather than granting everything asked for without question, as has characterized the majority of the present council’s work. The above ticket is without reproach and can conscientiously be supported by every voter in the county who has the best interests of the ’ whole people at heart. Think the matter over carefully and vote this year as* your better judgment tells you to do.