Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1871-08-10
ga Culpable Act.

ty orders, cash." One Of the principals Of
the firm turned to us and inquired If this
was so, and we told him that it was.
The only idea that fair reader
can gather from that is, that the
credit OF the economical management
of the county finances belongs to the
County Treasurer. The idea was so
ludicrous and so palpably erroneous
that it could not escape the notice Of
even some of the Citizens friends.
It seems that the Citizen was notified
OF its error, Cor, last week, it enters
the following apology and corr &C.
ton:
COUNTY TREAsuRER.-In our editorial last
week, we laid ourself open to cricsm in the
following In which We should have said
more or less:-
sThc county is now out Of debt, pays
cash. Does not this show good manage
ment and true economy?
The or dit of this belongs properly to the
Board Of Supervisors, We suppose, as We
were aware when we wrote it, but we were
thinking of the County Treasurers dishonest
incapable, and Of those whe lend money to
friends from the treasury, cupable act,
and one which has in some counties. caused
great trouble, vexation and loss, for in such
cases there is usually loss to the counties in
spite of the sureities. Of County Treasur.
ers who have robbed counties of large
amounts, as was supposed to be the case
with the Democratic County Treasurer, of
Marion County, at the time We resided there.
but who was never brought to trial because
of repeated changes of venue, and the inge-
nuity Of lawyers in staying of the case, nn>
til the county gave it up, and est 10000,
with several hundreds for safes and trying
to bring the criminal to justice.
1t is not necessary for us to Gu
large upon this topic. No one can
for moment suppose that an editor
can so grossly do violence to the
recognized meaning of words as the
Citizen says its editor did. No man
OF sense can write of "true economy
and good management" and mean
'honesty and capabilitv." If the
editor OF the Citizen will review his
classics. a little, he will discover that
in stunning Charybdis he has fallen
upon Scylla.
But, how does the Citizen know
that the present County Treasurer is
not dishonest" does not 'lend mon
cy to friends from tho Treasury" or
has not robbed the Treasury? Has
there been an official examination OF
the books of the ofiices Is there
anything to show one way or the
other in regard to his honesty
The Citizen says that Tor County
Treasurer to lend money to friends
from the Treasury is "a culpable
act The REPUBLICAN, Lastens to
bear testimony to the good judg-
ment of the Citizen on this subject.
The REPUBLICAN agrees with the Citi-
zen. AS the Citizen has been sort
of official organ of the County Treas
urer, we take it for granted that the
County Treasurer also agrees with
tho Citizen. We are all agreed,
then, that for County Treasurer to
loan money to friends from the
Treasury is culpable act. Now,
let us refer to case. There are
some parties in this county who held
orders issued by the Plug road
company. These parties could not,
or, at least, did not, draw the
money from the Treasury of the
"Plug" company. and they turned
those orders over to the County
|Treasurer in payment OF their plug
road tax. Now, this transaction was
of character identical with that of
loaning money from the Treasury to
friends which the Citizen calls, so
perspicuously, "a culpable act Can
the Citizen see any shade Of differ
cnce in the real character of the two
transactions E? In the one case, the
Treasurer takes money, already in
the Treasury vaults, and exchanges
it for the personal paper aud security
of friend. In the other case,-the
case now under consideration,-the
Treasurer takes the personal paper
of its friend in lieu OF money which
is due the county and which ought
to have been paid i'll cash. The two
transactions are identical in essential
characteristics. The one, the Citizen
denominates "a culpable act" Will
it give proper name to the other.
In the examination of the books OF
the County Treasurer, in June, the
Board of Supervisors found that the
Treasurer had credited himself with
seren Hundred dollars Of the Plug mon
ey as paid ont. The law provides that
:he Treasurer shall pay out the rail-
raad tax money only on tho occur.
renee of certain contingencies. Ev-
crybody knows that these certain
contingencies, in respect to the