The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1875-02-10
Publisher of ssPalladium."

/ fuOu6ner OF 'falla0lum.
On being read, Councilman Dick
man, moved that it be laid on the ia
ble-fve to 6ve-a strict party vote
Mayor Elder. one of the stock holder
of the Free Press" (anJ the estab
lishment competing for the printing,
gave the casting vote, to table our pc
tition
just here we desire to call the read
er's attention to the following Section
of an Ordinance prescribing rules anc
regulations for the government Of the
City Council, its officers, &C., adopted
April 25, 1870:
Sec. Is. No member of the Coun
Gil or City officer shall be directly OF
indirectly interested in any contract
to which the city is a party; nor shall
any such member or officer become
the surety on any bond or contract oil
q City officer or contractor, for any
public improvement ordered by the
Council 81
This section bars out the Free
Press" in toto, from competing for
the public printing; because the Mayor
Is a stakeholder in that concern, and
two or three of the members of the
City Council. were published as stock
holders thereof, in the columns OF
that paper. and they are directly, in
terested" in the contract for which ii
was competitor. This being the
fact, what becomes Of the charge pre-
ferred by VIM Thistlethwaite against
the City Clerk, of having 'unlawiully,
corruptly, without authority and con-
trary to instructions Of Council,
opened sealed envelope addressed to
the Common Council of said city, con
tanning bid made by him for doing
the city printing!" Doesn't the Or
dinance FORBID this Mayor and these
Councilmen-stockho holders from being
directly or indirectly interested in
ANY contract in which the city is a
party?" The fact is, the Free Press
could not lawfully come in as a COM
petitor for the printing; hence, the
Clerk committed no offense, and If
any one committed an act OF fragrant
defiance of public decencv" and was
wanting in respect due the honorable
Council, it was the stock holding
Mayor. and the stock holding Coun-
cilmen in that paper, forcing them
selves in as bidders, and voting as
they did for themselves, in order to
obtain a contract to which the city is
a party, in defiance OF lawl
Like the cuttle- fish, it became nee
essary for Mayor Elder to muddy the
water in order to conceal his move
ments in disregarding the plain re-
quiremcnts of the law; hence what
docs he do but write out the report OF
the committee, to whom the bids were
acknowledgment two of his politi-
cal satellites into signing that report,
and then by Misrepresentation and
falsehood, induce the third commit
tee-man to believe that the City Clerk,
Peter p kim, had spoken dispara-
gingly of the Printing Committees
integrity-and, by that means, OBJ
tanned his signature thereto! This
precious report, gotten up by this
stock holder of the Free Press, or
ders the Clerk to re issue notices to
the different printing Offices in the
city, for the reason that that officer
had, Gin what he considered was in
the line of his duty,) opened those
bids, and, by that act had invalida.
ted them! The utter mendacity of
Mayor Elders course in this printing
matter. is equalled by his abiect and
contemplate meanness, and is paral-
leled only by his casting vote securing
to himself the $500 salary grab"
We know that our exposition. on
various occasions. of Mayor Elders
tergiversations has caused his i'm
mcnse caul- bladder to burst and com
pletely saturate his little soul and
large body with bitterness toward us.
Personally we regard him in the same
light Uncle Toby did the big boss
fy' he gently took to the window
and heaved out. remarking: Go,
poor devil-there' room enough in
the world for, thou and l y But, as
Mayor of our city-that is another
thing-and we owe solemn duty to
our fellow -citizens to use our humble
efforts to have our city relieved from
the foul nest he has made in the War
ner Building-to have that "Augean
Stable cleansed by eiecting him from
a position he has SO eminently proved
his total .unfitness to occupy.
But why, fellow.citizens, should he
seek to heap obloquy and reproach on
Peter z. Kim, who, if there is an
honest man in our city, HE is that
one? Well tell you in few words.
Peter z. Kim is soldier--he lost his
good right leg by rebel bullet, shot
from a musket in the hands of a
Southern Democrat. Mayor Elder,
during the 'onpleasantness'' that
commenced during Buchanan's trait
orous administration. and continued
until the patriot Lincoln was murder
ed by Democratic assassin, sympa-
thized more or less with his Demo
cratic Southern brethren. and the
material with which he extended his
sympathetic feelings was destroyed
by the Union soldiers. Hence, he
don't like Union soldiers, and that