Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 64, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1909 — NO SHORTAGE! [ARTICLE]

NO SHORTAGE!

Perish the. Thought! How Could Such a: Be WHEN TH€ MONBY WAS PAID BACK After a Year's Time and a Demand Was Made For It?—Certainly Not, says thp "Apologist.” The Republican was in error when it stated in the Friday issue of the Semi-Weekly and in the Thursday Daily that the county commissioners had ordered an investigation of the books of the county treasurer and auditor to adjust the accounts between former Treasurer Nichols and ! the county. The order entered by the commissioners concluded with the language “It is further ordered and agreed that in case there should be errors found on further examination that in such case the difference shall be adjusted as equity require.” The Inference was that there was to be an investigation, and a head line in the Republican said that there would be. i The Jasper County Democrat calls attention to this error in an article .that venomously attacks and libels j Mr. Nichols, and that leaves the imjpression Mr. Nichols Is a defaulter | to the sum of $7,500, when the edt- ! tor of that paper knew, or could have ascertained if he had wanted to be fair, that 36 hours before the Democrat was printed Mr. Nichols had paid to Mr. Allman the sum ,of $3,549.47, and had the receipt of the present treasurer for every dollar that was claimed by the auditor and the commissioners as coming .to the pounty. When Mr. Nichols went out of office a year ago he turned over to ; the new treasurer the amount he claimed to have of the county money The amount failed to correspond with the accounts kept by the auditor and Mr. Nichols claimed there was some mistake. He stated that he was willing to make settlement whenever he was certain that the record was right, but he did not want to pay any of his money into the treasury. During the summer his daughter, Miss Bertha Nichols, worked in the treasurer’s office, going over the records and Auditor Leatherman also done what he could to properly adjust the matter. As set forth in the order of the commissioners and published in the Republican, errors In Mr. Nichols’ favor were found in the sum of sl,525.01. This was not nearly so much as Mr. Nichols had claimed, but it was sufficient to justify him in the belief that errors had been made, and possibly more than shown In the investigation thus far made. Mr. Nichols stated all the time that he was ready to settle all that was coming to the county, and he postponed doing so merely to determine whether or not he was turning in more than was coming to the county. Thgre was no way in which he could escape the payment, as -he was bonded and would be compelled to settle whenever the county commissioners made demand. Mr. Nichols wanted the commissioners to say that if he had paid more money into the county than was coming it would be paid back to him, and he took this position on the advice of his attorney. He paid it in under protest but he paid every dollar 36 hours before the Jasper County Democrat went to press, and yet that paper-says that “so far as the > Democrat was able to learn yesterday (Friday) morning” Mr. Nichols had not paid what the commisipners had demanded. Mr. Babcock was at | the court house and he did not ask (Treasurer Allman it the amount I had been settled. He did ask Miss Luers, Mr. Allman’s deputy, evidently selecting a time when Mr. Allman, to whom he 'has recently taken a dislike, was out of the office. Miss Leurs told him that she did not know, and that was the investigation that he made to try to avoid finding out that Mr. Nichols was hot in debt a single dollar to Jasper county. With the facts where he could have ascertained them in a single rnjnute had he been disposed to be either fair or honest, he maliciously and purposely libeled Mr. Nichols and headed an article in his paper “Short $7,500, was fix-treas-urer ‘Doc’ Nichols.” It is doubteful if there is one man In 10,000 who would'have undergone* what S. R. Nichols did as treasurer of Jasper county and have ctjme ont from under thfi load untarnished. He was in debt personally to the McCoy bank $12,000 and he had $23,305 deposited there when the crash came. The courts offset his $12,000 indebtedness against a similiar amount of his deposit of county funds and he later secured dividends on the remaining $11,305 to the amount of about $4,800, and still has coming $6,500 or near that amount. The present law would have protected him in the loss, but he fell for it himself and stood up and took his medicine like a man. S. R. Nichols {does not owe the county a single I dollar and did not w)mn the Jasper County Democrat was published Friday evening. And the amount he lowed prior to that tMe was protested and paid under protest . I The accounts between officers i might fail to balance without intenmrtwrrjUßi'*

the ability and honesty of Mr. Leatherman, It is barely possible that mistakes may have occurred in the settlement, of the business of the officers and we consider It entirely apropos that an investigation.; h? made that shall leave no uncertainty as to the accuracy of the settlement. A bill, will no doubt be passed at the present session of the state legislature that will provide for expert examination and a uniform system of book-keeping and the fact that it is being considered is proof that its need has been felt in other places.—Rensselaer Republican. Now ain’t that awful Mabel? If Jim Chapman would only make another affidavit the vindication, would be complete and conclusive. But, to be serious, The Democrat was very mild in its remarks about this matter. Here is an officer goes out of office $7,500 short in his accounts as shown by the auditor’s books. One year later, after official demand has been made upon him, he pays—so the Republican states—the amount of this shortage into, the county treasurey, less the credits be is said to have due him. A part of thjs we are told, $2,500, was paid before the demand was made, but it was not paid until more than a year had eltkpsed since he had vacated the office. The Republican heads the above "speil” with “There Was No Shortage.” Then why did. the commissioners demand that $3,549.47 be paid back, the net shortage after deducting the $1,500 which a research by the daughter' of the ex-official found to be due him? Why, he was simply waiting for the commissioners to say that if he did pay this back, and an expert examination of the records was made later, and it was found that he was overcharged, the commissioners would see that he got the,amount of the overcharge refunded to him! Did anyone ever hear such silly argument as this? Haw in the name of Moses could the commissioners or the county help but pay back any overcharge if an honest examination disclosed that there had been such?' Nobody but a fool or an idiot editor or one who believed his readers to be both, would advance any such apology as this. When a man vacates a public office and his cash accounts are short several thousand dollars, there is a shortage, unless he immediately makes good and does the “auditing” afterward. The fact that he does pay the amount when demand is made—through his bondsmen or otherwise, a year later—is a tacit admission of such shortage. This matter had certainly run along enough to determine beyond all question of doubt whether the shortage was apparent or real.

The facts are that this shortage has been attempted to be thrown by Nichols onto mistakes made in the auditor’s office, either because he really believed so or wanted to delay settlement, but it is generally conceded that no more competent accountant has ever occupied tlu> auditor’s office than Mr. Learherman, also that he is honest. The Republican’s effort to likewise place this blame on the auditor will have little credence. While it is true that mistakes might occur there, the chances that they occurred in the treasurer’s office, when one considers the way that office was run during the Nichols administration, is much the more probable. The Democrat did not doubt but this shortage would be made good—it had to be unless covered up for years to come, as it has been for the past year—and if the reader will recollect The Democrat, during th'e" late campaign, stated that a change was desirable in this very office; that while matters might be all straight now only a change would disclose whether they had been so in the past. Now, in conclusion, we want to say that The Republican either deliberately or through mistake lies when it states that we called at the treasurer's office last Friday morning and asked Miss Luers, the deputy, if this amount had been paid, and chose a time when the treasurer was absent. We were not in the treasurer’s office at all last Friday morning nor no other time during the past two weeks, have not seen Miss Luers for more than that length of time, and she will-- not say that we asked her anything about the matter then or at any other time. We did not ask the treasurer because he is a man who is too partisan to be very relable in giving out information of this kind to a Democrat. This shortage has existed for a year or morft to his knowledge, yet does anyone thinft for a'moment if he had been asked by any taxpayer of the, county If there was anything wrong that be would have admitted jtX Mr. Allman’s action In the collection of the special assessments of the city of Rensselaer, as alleged in the complaint in that "friendly huit” brought by the city to compel him to perform his duty, in spite of the penalty diced, was not of such a character as to Inspire confidence

We went to parties that were in a position to know if the amount had been paid. They stated that if it had they did not know it, and, having confidence in this information, we stated that so far as we could learn *t had not been paid. The Rensselaer Republican true to its tradition has defended every dishonest official, every drunkard or •incompetent that has ever held office, just so he was g republican. The present bunch in charge of that sheet are no improvement over old George Marshall in this respect, and The Democrat has shown up their deceit and falsehoods so many times that it is unnecessary tp repeat them here. The people of Jasper county know the bunch that sheet puts in so much time defending, and if we mistake not they will hereafter look with suspicion on any candidate or official It becomes over-zealous in the defense of. The Democrat has for years been demanding an honest investigation of the county records of a non-par-tisan character J>e made, and some eight or nine years ago, through its efforts, a petition signed by more than 1,000 prominent taxpayers, of all political faithß, of the county was presented to the commissioners asking that they order such an investigation. The bunch the Republican has always defended, turned dawn the petition and the Republican defended the Action. Now it favors an investigation (?).