Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-10-29
TO the Voters of ThurstOn &c.

be considered in this election. Our
present Assessor, Mr.. Billings, has
held the Office twelve years, l am
told, and his most earnest support
ers do not dispute the fact that he
has become very negligent to duty.
They do not dispute the fact that he
mas committed very many errors, of
an ineXcusable character even, that
the county is heavy loser thereby
and liable to still further loss; but
Notwithstanding all this, some of
them will support him because he is
a jolly good fellow, and would di-
vide his or somebody else'sl last
quarter with his friends. This is a
very poor qualification for office, but
it is the only claim they can put
forth.
Let us overhaul the public records
little and see how the case stands.
Acting upon the idea that he is in
,incible, that no man in the county
could beat him, that the people had
very little to say in the matter, he
has disdained to take advice of those
whose duty it by law to give advice,
and has by his stitf-necked, illegal
proceedings caused loss to us and
trouble 10 himself
If you will take the trouble to go
to the County Auditors office and
read the report of the Prosecuting
Attorney of Dec. 18th, 1879, you will
find the following:
l'These documents appear in another part
of this issue Ed.
1t will be seen by the above quo
tations that Mr.. Billings attention
was called. early as the 14tE of April,
1879. by the District Attorney, to
the fact that his assessment was ille-
gal, and the way pointed out where
by it could be remedied. But it
seems he paid no attention to it.
Again, in the report you will per-
ceive that Mr.. Bloomfield calls his
attention to these things. Still he
heeds them not. Again, the Grand
Jury, in their report fiji ID Feb. 10Th,
nS" straco@ns @ 81 nfdid he that GraaG they yJa9 9e be
complied ,cih, cithom delay. And
still, none of these things move him.
and he goes right on, in utter disre.
i+e:-: ,e:: s.. tsse i.y,r OF tie TTos-
ecutlnS Attorney and makes the as
sessment of the Northern Pacific
Railroad Co.'S lands, for the year
1880 in the same ILLEGAL, INsUFFI-
GENT and GOOD FOR NOTHING" manner,
that he had before, despite the in
structiCns from the Prosecuting A.
sorney, repeated and emphasized by
the Grand Jury. And when asked
by II juryman why he did Lot follow
the advice of the District Attorney
he replied that he Was under no
obligation to take the advice of any
one as to how he should make his
assessment rolls"
You will perceive By the above
extract from the report of the Pros
ecuting Attorney, that certain let
ter Of the 14th of April, 1879, writ
ten to the County Commissioners is
referred to. This letter we desired to
see, but were refused, by the Audi
tor, Mr.. Phillips. Why he refused,
of course we are unable to tell, ex-
cepting it was upon the principle
that no man is compelled to crimi-
nate himself. 1t certainly must
contain something very damaging
to some of the parties concerned, or
Mr.. Phillips would not have refused
to let the public know what it con-
tanned. If we have public serrants
who have so long occupied positions
of trust that they consider themselves
masters of the situation, and that
the people have "no rights which
they are bound to respect" then it
is high time they were excused from
further service.
MIR. Billings has issued an open
letter in which he tries to vindicate
himself from charges made against
him by Mr.. Kratz, bnt his attempt is
a very lame one. He says in rela-
ton to Mr.. KS charge that the coun-
ty were not able to collect tax on N.
p. r. II. on account of Mr.. Billings
failure to properly assess the pro-
perty, that not a county through
which the road passes has been
able to collect the taxes from them,
Notwithstanding the assessment
has been legally and carefully made
against it." 1 don't know whether
the other counties made their assess
ments legally, but the rolls show for
themselves in this county, that it
was not made according to the direc-
tions Of. the Prosecuting Attorney,
which were in accordance with Judge
Greene's deci sion, I am told. He
then presents Mr.. Wards affidavit
to try to throw people off the right
track in relation to the reason why
the county failed to collect the o.
T. r. r. tax, instead of the failure