The Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1846-1852, 1847-08-06
A few Facts TO be considered by
the Tslx-PayerS Of Fairfield County.

A few Facts 10 be considered by
the Tslx-PayerS OF Fairfield County.
Economy in the management of coun-
ty, state, and national affairs. is absolute
ly essential 10 the well-being Of society,
The extravagaut expenditure of public
monies is a sore evil; but it is not tho
only one. In private life the individual,
who is prodigal of his means, is sure to
become impoverished in the end & unless
he has been endowed with large moral
faculties, which is seldom the case with
the s~pendthrift, he is thrown of his guard
and is tempted TO regain his standing by
unholy practices. So in public matters.
A long course Of prodigality is sure to
~engender corruption. Those, who have
the control of the public treasury, be-
come accustomed to think that its con-
tents have beemprovided only for the pur-
pose Of %squandering upon favorites and
supporting their f~ayorite cause. ltleaks
out through so many channels that they
seldom fear exposure and thus dollar af-
ter dollar is wasted, carlessness leads to
corruption and we next hear of a Swart-
won't, a Price, or a Sturgeon appropria-
ting the public funds to their own pri-
vate use, with as little conjunction of
conscience as if the people had selected
them, out of favor, to live off of the public.
We do not charge our officers with
fraud. But we do say that carelessness
in the handling Of the public funds will
in the end lead to fraud. An individu-
al for two, three or four years may be
careless, yet honest; but carelessness in
the end will lead to corruption.
We do charge those, who pay out the
public funds without reference to econo-
, my, with dereliction Of duty. If a per-
son is about to purchase one hundred
reams of paper. q quantity of books, or
have some printing executed, for his own
use, he will go to that place where he can
buy cheapest & have his work donefo rthe
lowest price-provided the articles are as
good and the work done as we'll. What
q excuse, then has the individual, whom
the people have selected to manage their
affairs and who is paid a fair price for the
same, when he fails to perform for the
public what he does for himselfl He
has none. And yet every day we see
this very state of affairs taking place a
round US and extravaganza of all kinds
is witnessed in the management of pub
lie matters. Will the people in this
county any longer suffer il? The Coun-
ty is in debt-no one knows how much
very few in the county are aware OF the
fact itself. The proper officers do not
choose TO tell the people of it in theirre-
! ports and the people remain ignorant
But we are in debt-in debt to "a large
amount. 1t is not less than $50, 000-and
some say it is over $50, 900. Do not the
taxpayers know thisl If the truth was
known, we believe it would be discovered
that the interest itself is not paid annual
ly. If this be not the case, year after
year finds us deeper and deeper in debt
and when will things take a turn. More
taxes are collected in this county on the
same amount of taxable property than in
most of the counties in tho state and it
! does seem to us that this overplus might
r go to tho redemption of the public debt.
Our Offices certainly can be managed as
cheaply as those of our n~eighbors.
!. The reason is obvious. Carelessness,
: prodigalty, favoritism are at work and
the additional per centum goes to
balance these. The Commissioners are
told by their clerk, see communication of
Taxpayer" that it is none Of their bu-
siness to whom and for what price he puts
out the public printing--it is a matterthat
, concerns himself, That may be, but by
what rule is the clerk placed above his
master?
But TO a fow facts:
Stationery for Fairfield County, $414,O
Do. " Ross 1856, so
Do, Muskingum 255,2s
In the above are included Blank books
and binding--nearly twO hundred dollars
MORE in our county than in either of the
} others. 1t cannot be said that this is the
result of circumstances, that during the
} past year Fairfield has purchased some
articles that the other counties did not
and that they may purchase next year oil
have purchased last year--for the amount
in this county exceeded those in others as
much last year. 1t is u common occur
ence.
In regard to Muskingum we would
( state, that the actual mount may vary
| some little from what we have stated, as
sOna fe w ~nrticloa ora pniva1 IN Ia tha 40