The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1873-12-26
WHAT SHALL We !. Do Aso % II,

DO about what? Why the mis-
and defalcations so
common, among the men who ham
die cur money. There is too much
mismanagement--too many, defal-
cations. Every few days we are
startled by some Astounding de-
veIopments'' whereby some man
who has been trusted with the peo-
pies money has, by some hook or
crook, made way with IL. We
are surprised, hold up our hands,
utter a few EXPLANATIONS, and the
matter subsides. But the people are
robbed Some how or other the
guilty man goes unwbipped OF jus
tice, while thepeople bleed. p, o.
But what are you going to do
about il? Ia the question. One
thing can be done, and it ought TO
be done this winter. A. law can be
enacted with, . penalty to punish
such Offenders That can be done.
That must be done. AS the thing
now stands, it appears that IL the
guilty man can show that .thera was
no criminal intention upon his part,
that he simply tried a little specu-
lation, and the thing didn't pan out
"a he expected or that he deposited
the money in some bank, or made
some 9niSLdke concerning bonds,
&C., he goes scott free. He may
not be elected 10 Office again. but he
is not punished as an offender of
law. The people simply bury him
20 raise up and try some other
shyster. The matter will never be
remedied in this way. These men
must be punished BY the law, and
punished severely. Every man
who goes into treasury must be
made to feel that If he mlsuses the
funds he will have to pay the PEN
city by hard labor in the States
prison. And he must know that nc
plea of "mismanagement," and
Thought so and So" will clear him
The guilty must be punished, or the
people will continue to suffer. Let
the coming legislature enact = Law
that will fully protect the public
money from the hands of speculatinl
officers. The public Treasur!
must be guarded. r.r.
One other thing can be done
The people must do that, Flee
!, men, not partisans, to Office
When we are going TO elect u treas
uref. let the question be, is he hon
est? is he capable? And it would
not hurt to ask, whether or not he i
Spectator? Here is the chic
danger. A Spectator will run
risks; sometimes he gets into tigh
places, and then, without "crimina
intent he will use any none,
within his reacIf. He thinks he cal
make, risks whatever funds he ha
at command, and too often loses all
. Look out for these spectators
We refer to professional specula
4
to:s. , ... .... ....
And, we wish to say, that We dC
not condemn speculation and spec
uiators as such. A man has a RICH
TO speculate with his own funds
There are men who make their liv
ing in that way, aud do 1t honor
ably. But no man has right tC
speculate or even try so to do, with
the peoples money ; and there are
unscrupousless men who will use il
if they can geI it. They will risI
anybody's money. They are among
spectators what shysters are
among politicians. And these are
the men who like to handle the
peoples cash. They care but little
about the salary and honors Of of.
fee they like to make money out
of their Office. We must look out
for snch.
Nor are we ready to say that
all of the mismanagement OF the
public funds is scoundrelism, fol
we believe that most of the failures
have been made by men who In
tended to do right IN the end. But
with the vain hope of making q
"spec,' they risked the peoples
money, lost it, and disgraced them
selves. The way to stop such pro.
ceedings is to punish offenders, and
look out at elections for these spec.
u.ators.