Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1859-09-15

Gratis lame, weak and miserable defence, in
last weeks Issue. of the charges we made
against Packard the week previous. in re-
gard to his official extravaganza and dis
graceful private acts. 1t would convince
every candid, unprecedented mind, that the
charges must be true, or better defence
would have been made. We shall not
stop to reply to the intimation of being ac
tuated by "envy, malice, or even dvari-
eious propensities," on our part. Why
should we envy him? We do not covet
his ill-gotten gold. or desire has notorietyl
Why should we harbor malice toward him?
We have no fears of his injuring rs, for
we have lived too long not to know how to
make our enemies advantageous to us
not by complaining of their false charges
and efforts to injure us. but by defending
ourself like man. and deporting ourself
in such manner that no one will believe
their lies. No one can injure another who
is honest, just and true in his dealings with
his fellow-men. The charge Of draricious
ness comes with fine grace from the ad-
vocatc and defender of man who has ex
torted upon the county for his services and
for his blanks and stationery as Packard
has, the proof of which he has furnished
himself. But read the weak and flimsy de-
fence of our charges in this respect:
"As to the charges about costly records,
blanks. DC, we think some very small po-
totoes have been allowed to mix in this
mess. What does Packard want with the
records outside of a prompt and faithful
discharge of his official duties? lie cannot
eat, sell or steal them. [Can't he buy
them as cheap as other Clerks?l They are
so made to order and labeled, that they
cannot conveniently be used for any thing
else. But TO furnish Attornies and other
officers of Courts during term time. with
stationery. is made to appear the nnpor
donaJie. The attorneys are officers of the
court. Their clients are taxed by law with
a docket fee that goes into the county
Treasury. The universal practice is every
where for the Clerk 10 furnish the necessa-
ny stationery for court rooms and the bills
are footed by the county"
This is all the Democrat has to say on
the subject, and what does it amount to?
1t passes over the rcam of marriage licenses
for which such an exhorbitant price was
paid, in utter silence, as it docs in regard
to other blanks, all of which he should
have paid for oct Of his own pocket, ex-
cept what the paper cost. on which they
were printed, at least. Charging them to
the county the Democrat admits by its ST.
lence is totally indefensible. 1t is true
Packard cannot eat the records, but he
could very easily steal or sell them. we inn
aSine, were he disposed, at least the "new
and untouched ones. Could not the Ia
belling be altered? But we never charged
him with eating, selling or stealing them,
nor do we now. What we did mean TO
charge him with was that he expended
twice as much for such articles as other
Clerks in proportion to the population Of
the county. The books and stationery for
the Clerk of st. Joseph cost that county
5000 Packard's cost this county S42S.
or nearly double, and that too notwith-
standing there is twice the amount of liti-
CATION in that county there is in this
Can any one tell the cause of this? The
simple reason is that he pays too high for
what he gets, in the first place. in the Sc
cond place buys more than he actually re-
quires, and wastes it. and in the third
place buys articles he has little or no use
for. AS an instancc:-he bought ream
of cap paper last July at a cost to the peo-
pie of So, and another at the same time at
81. We can and do buy excellent ruled
cap, good enough for any Clerk. for 50 80
At the same time he ordered one quirt
Bar Docket. one s or. Complete Record
$50 worth of Blanks of several kinds. be,
sides pens, ink, mucilage, carmine, pounce
letter stamp, blotter, blotting boards, large
and small envelops. etc, ETC., and after
wards certified that he had "a large guam
tity of Stationery on hand, consisting o
pens. ink. paper. envelops, ETC." besides
records, new and untouched, bought las
year, Of the value Of 1892" Why di,
he get more of the same articles if he Ina,
such Large quantity on hand. bough
last Year," What did he want with let
ter stamp? 1t is Of no earthly use. Blu
it only cost dollar.
Mr.. Pershing. if elected. will pay for hi
blanks out of his own pocket. and will no
besides. buy paper that costs 50 ream-
AS regards the furnishing of stationer
to Attornies it will be seen that it is just
fed by the Democrat on the old plea {
. custom. 1t does not pretend to say tina
. the law authorizes it. The docket fee PAL
by clients is intended to go toward defray
ing the expenses of the Court and jury
The statute is silent on the subject of ful
ni>hing Attornies with stationery.
But, Burns wants to know who furnish
E ed paper. ink. pens and blanks to I'll