Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 January 1908 — PAY OF ROAD SUPERVISORS. [ARTICLE]

PAY OF ROAD SUPERVISORS.

Newton county republicans have elected Charles Hansen for county chairman. He comes from the “wet” district, Lake Village.

The “Oklahoma idea” of guaranteeing deposits in banks is spreading and a bill has been introduced in the Ohio legislature almost identical with the Oklahoma law.

In ohoosing April 1 (All Fools’s Day) for their state convention, the Republicans display an unexpected humor. But it is an appropriate time, for the nominees of the convention will be about the worst fooled lot of men who ever hunted public jobs.

A dozen or two fellows down 'East who think the Democratic party is “divided” because they have not been voting the ticket for the past twelve years surely don’t realize how ridiculous they are. If they did they would either ke<-p still or go bodily over to the Republican party, where they can make all the noise they like.

No well-informed Indiana Republican even pretends that the rank and file of his party in this state want Fairbanks nominated. But as most of them believe that their party is doomed to defeat next November anyway, they don’t care a rap whether Fairbonks shall be nominated or not. That is why it is easy for the machine to get a “solid” delegation to the national convention.

The winter meeting of the Indiana Democratic Editorial Association will be held at the Grand Hotel in Indianapolis on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 6 and 7. A banquet will be served Thursday evening at which President O. B. Cramption of the Carroll County Citizen will be toast-master. The business meeting will be next day. Members of the State committee and many candidates for state offices and for congress will be present.

The editor of the Roseville (Kan.) Reporter recently published the following notice: "The editor will protect the reserve fund on deposit in his vest p6cket by following the ‘clearing house' plan adopted by financial institutions. Payments of 10 to 20 cents in currency will be made according to size of bill, and bits of paper will be issued showing balance due. There will be but one payment per month. Creditors must be identified and show signs of great distress.”

The republicans of Indiana have re-elected James P. Goodrich as state chairman, and decided upon April 1 and 2 for holding their state convention.

Vice President Fairbanks’ paper, the Indianapolis News, is doing a powerful lot of lying about how the brewers and liquor dealers are “trying to control the Democratic party,” but it does not explain why Mr. Fairbanks and all the other owners and managers of the Republican machine in Indiana not only keep on close terms with the brewers and liquor dealers, but maintain their memberships in the Republican Columbia Club at Indianapolis, which Judge Artman (himself a Republican) says is the “most notorious blind tiger in Indiana.”

Old John R. Walsh, one of Chicago’s chief country-savers and sound money shooters in 1896 and 1900 and the chief banker of the Windy City until some two years ago when bis bank was closed by the government officials, was foupd guilty of misapplying the funds of his bank by a jury in the federal court Saturday. The trial had lasted six weeks and the jury was out 36 hours before reaching a verdict. He was found guilty on 54 of the 150 counts against him and the maximum penalty is ten years imprisonment, the minimum five years on each count, therefore he may be sentenced to either 270 or 540 years in prison. Walsh is now over 70 years of age. Of course the case will still be fought through all the courts and he is likely to die of old age before the court of last resort passes upon it. Jan. 28 has been set for hearing the motion for a new trial, and in the meantime the aged banker is at .liberty under $50,000 bonds. The government attorneys who prosecuted the case are confident the verdict will stand. Federal Judge Baker of Indianapolis was the presiding judge at the noted trial.

Attorney-General Gives Opinion Concerning Increases. James Bingham, Attorney-Gen-eral, has given a number of opinions recently, in which he holds that road supervisors will not receive the increased pay provided by the last Legislature for services rendered previously to the second Saturday after the first Monday in December of last year. The law enacted by the last Legislature provides that road supervisors'shall be elected once each two years on the second Saturday after the first Monday in December. This law also provides that the pay of road supervisors shall be $2 a day, instead of $l5O, and that the maximum period of service each year shall be sixty days, instead of forty days. This new law has “looked good” to some of the supervisors who were in the service from the time the law was enacted until the time for election last December. They believed that they should receive the increased pay for this time and scores of requests for opinion have been received by the Attor-ney-General. Mr. Bingham holds that that part of the law relating to increased pay would go into effect simultaneously with that part which provide for the election in December and, therefore, that the supervisors would not be entitled to the increased pay for work done previously to the election in December.