The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1874-02-21
a Mephitic Blast from Earlville.

a MephitiC Blast from Earlvllle.
Some twenty-five years of editorial expert
cnce ought naturally to case.harden us agains
r around us, but we confess an article in TIT
last Earlville Transcript has given us pain
} not on our own account, but because from
| the idea we had from casual acquaintanc,
of six or eight years, formed of Mr.. 4. }
: Grover, we were not prepared for his degra
datIon in our good opinion to the dept
which such an exhibition as he makes o
himself necessarily involves. A few week
ago we had occasion to notice the fact tina
certain wise men or philosophers in EarlvillC
had called Mr.. Representative Hart to accoun
for his supposed readiness to exempt church
school, cemetery and the like class of proper
ty from taxation, and that MIR. Hart had
promptly replied denying the impeachment
and in the same connection we venturcd to
suggest a few of the reasons why such pro
perry is by most governments exempt from
taxation We did not even state that those
reasons prevailed with us, or that we actually
ihFoItu INC thtIHl'tlpil VI 'ill tnC l)IDlItI'l
which our state laws now exempt.
| Our modest article, how ever, in which we
may possibly have INDUCED in bit of rail
lery about the Earlvillc philosophers" and
'infidcls," among whom Mr. Grover at least
is proud to enrol himself has provoked
from him a torrent of abuse that actually
stuns us. Is this man, whom in our imagin.
alton we had hitherto endowed with the in
stincts Of gentleman, really the beastly
BLACKBOARD this article proves him to be? 1t
seems incredible. Take specimen:
A few years ago, the hardest names this
pious Episcopal black guard could think of,
were "long heel" damned abolitionist,"
niger thief" and the like. Providence hay
ing choked these words out of his foul mouth,
he has learned new set, and hurls them
about in the same piOus and reckless JUNCTION
with which he used to show his sympathy
with the divine institution of negro slay-
cry. All this the Deacon used to do, and now
does under the white vestmcnts Of his sect,
which denote purity.
Our readers, who are not used to this kind
of filth, will readily excuse us from making
further quotations.
Mr.. Grover is man of some good quail.
ties, but in many things we are told strangely
eccentric. They above may go as an illustration
Another cccentricity is his monomania on the
subject Property exemption. Who but a era.
zy man would insist that cities, towns and vii
lagos should pay taxes on their public school
for instance? The tax themselves
to raise common fund to build school
houses and support schools; and then Mr..
Grover would have them take part of this |
common fund and pay it out for taxes on their
school houses. Pay 1t to whom? Back to
minus the collectors fees. There's |
wisdom! There's philosophy and political
Yet that is exactly what Grover
means Off he knows what he means HIMSELF,
when he insists that the people Of Ottawa
shall pay taxes on their public school pro
perty.
Mr.. Grover is lawyer by profession and
has "A good thing as such on account of his
by big eastern monopoly to
screw collections out of their unfortunately
delinquent western customers One naturally
sees very little compatibility between such
IN occupation and that ofthc honest western
illers of the soil yet it is one Of Mr.. Growers
1iosynCrasies that he has filled his hair with
lay seed, and makes himself quite conspi-
uous champion of farmers rights and lee
ures them luminously and voluminously on
'elitical economy, ethics, metaphysics and
many other subjects on which so great man
S A. J. Grover naturally can shed power"
flight! Well, we wish him every success, and S
his zeal should ultimately give him seat
n the state Legislature or congress, the least
man will be A. J. Grover. a