Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1882-11-29

shocked and disgraced the entire peo-
pie of the State, but this is the true
and only purpose of the advertise
ment.
What is the need of any such adj
vertisement? What good is the State
to derive from il? How is the State
to be benefited in the least by it ?
In all the Tweed steals in New York
in all the carpet bag steals in the
south; in all the steals ever perpe-
trated upon the general government,
there is not one of them that in any
way compares with this tax publishing
fraud, for in the Tweed, carpet bag
and government steals, the law under
which they were perpetrated, showed
upon its face to be in the interest of
the State or Government, and the
fraud committed was in its execution,
but this extra tax printing law does
not purport to be in the interest Of
the State, but in the interest of these
papers, and it is ordered executed i'm
mediately after election for their ben
eft. Will the people of this State
stand any such swindle9
In addition to what is set forth in
the protest Of Messrs. Turnbull, King
and others, the law further provides
"The cost of publication shall not ex-
coed forty cents description and
shall be paid from the proceeds of the
sale of lands on the warrant of the
Auditor-General, on proof satisfac-
tory to him that the publication has
been properly made"
We have made Il careful estimate
upon the list of this county as shown
by the supplement of the Pioneer last
week, and at forty cents description,
the cost of this county alone will be
about 81 800. The cost of the tax
sales of last year, for the counties of
Alpena and Montmorency, which
were then together, was 1867. 20.
If the increase is the same in other
counties, the cost of this useless tax
advertisement in the entire State will
be over $50,000-if paid at the rate
of forty cents description.
1t is neither more nor less than an
unlawful raid on the State treasury.
1t is, in our opinion, a legalized steal,
and it threatens to load the taxpayers
of this State with a $4,000 burden,
and from which they will receive no
benefit. The bare-faced fraud should
be thoroughly exposed Throughout the
State, and the legalized steal should
be kept before the people for the next
two years, when they will have an
opportunity to pass judgment thereon.
We think if this thing is thorough
ly exposed and ventilated as it should
be by the press of this State, that
this steal may in part be prevented.
1t is discretionary with the Auditor
General as to how much descrip-
ton he will allow for this advertise
ment, up to forty cents, and if the
steal is thoroughly exposed all over
the State, he won't dare allow forty |
cents description, but will cut it
down to half that amount, and thus
perhaps one-half the steal be avoided.
We ask every honest man, no
matter what his politics, to invcsti-
gate this matter, and see if we have
the facts and the situation.
This advertising could could have
been done before election Just as well
Is now, but if attempted then it
would have been thoroughly exposed,
md the honest Republican voters of
his State would have taken it up and
defeated the Republican party by as
many thousand majority as there are
thousands Of dollars in the steal.
We ask the Democratic, National
Independent and honest Republican
papers all over the State to take this
natter up, investigate it, and give the
people the honest conclusions Of their
Investigations. The newspapers of
he State can save the taxpayers of
Michigan many thousand dollars if
hey bring their weapons to bear on
his tax swindle, and if any corrupt
bargains have been made in order to
get the advertising, they will be
)roupht To lipbt