Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1882-11-08

Oct. 9, 1882. To make fair COM
parison between the expenses of Mr..
Scott, as Sheriff, and Mr.. Dyer, as
Sheriff, the same space of time was
taken when Mr.. Dyer was Sheriff.
that is, from JAM, 1879, to Oct. II,
1SS0,-both accounts ending with the
annual meeting of the Board of Super
visors. The result was favorable to
the Democratic administration. The
Republican daily knew very we'll that
the ARGUS would not be again issued
until the day after election, and thus
thought it could say, without fear of
contradiction, anything it desired, in
order to place its nominee for Sheriff
in more favorable light, and thus,
issue after issue, it was full of all sorts
of accusations. 1t calls the statement
in the ARGUS, a "tissue of falsehoods,"
it was "wilful Misrepresentation"
and designated those figures as "the
most absurd campaign lies that ever
disgraced the pages of public print"
The little daily had the jim;jams very
bad. 1t was wonder it did not burst,
poor thing. AS the ARGUS could not
contradict the insane sayings of the
Reporter until after election, and that
sheet knew it, it became necessary,
therefore, to issue an extra, show
ing that the charge made regard
ing the fact that Sheriff Scott receiv-
cd more pay for services in given
time than did Sheriff Dyer, was cor
rect. For this purpose we will take
the Reporters own figures. From
JAN, 1879, to Oct. IA, 1880, the
amount that Dyer, personally, receiv-
ed, according to the Reporter, was
S2,O1753. The same sheet admits
that Scott received s2,70293 from
Jan. 1881, to Oct. Is, 1882, which
shows balance in favor of Dyer, the
amount of which is S6S5.40. The Re-
porter itself proves that the statement
in the ARGUS was substantially cor
rect, and it was no wonder that the
little sheet was so much excited. In
fact the poor thing was so terribly ex-
cited and bewildered that it did not
know that it had shown that less
amount was paid Mr.. Dyer than was
paid Mr.. Scott. The next day some
friend of the Reporter must have in
formed the manager that the public
only laughed at his Don Quixote f.
nancial argument, and so a committee
was organized to try and set it right.
The committee did not attempt to
show the difference between Scott and
Dyer, on personal account. They
wanted q statement of all the business
connected with the Sheriff's office COM
pared. That, they said, would show
the thing as it really was. On this
basis the aforesaid committee went to
work to make what they term fair
comparison. But how fair? Dyer is
charged not only with the expenses of
t,oo full gears, but also with part of
the year 1878, for that bill of Dyer's
dated Jan. 30, 1879, amounting to
S193.95, was partly for services rem
dercd in 1878. Now see what they
do for Mr.. Scott. He is charged with
the expenses that occurred only dur
ing one year and a little over nine
months; and that they term "fair
comparison" Judging from one of
the names signed to the statement in
the Reporter, we believe that gentle
man, as far as the figures were con-
cerned, made his report in good faith,
but it is an easy matter to miss some
items in looking over four years re-
ports, and mistakes are always liable
to occur. Let us examine the errors.
On Oct. 10, 1881, Scott is charged
with receiving s4S; the proceedings
of the Supervisors, as published, show
that the amount should be 4S cents.
The published proceedings of the
Board of Supervisors of June 8, 1882,
show that Geo. w. Jones received
s73.25 and s66.S0. The proceedings
ofSept 10, 1882, show that Mr.. Jones
put in bill for SOL Al, and received
s93.41. In the report of the commit
tee, in Saturdays Reporter, these
three items, amounting to s233.46,
were omitted, and in place thereof
the committee charge Jones with
$49.30. So much for the Reporters
so-called "fair comparison"
The Reporter and the committee
demand a full comparison of all the
expenses of the various persons, and
the same shall be given. The figures
on the Dyer column are those pub
lished in the Reporter, which include
salary and all other amounts received
and those in the Scott column are
taken from the published proceedings
of the Board Of Supervisors, with the