Fair play., 1883-03-31
Through COlOred Glasses.

1
Through COlOred Glasses.
The municipality of Farmington;- j.
hard up and a. n partial means o: rx-
Treating her from her financial dill
culties some other citizens are prorOS-
ing that the candidates for Alderman
run on the "nucompensatisn@ ticket,
and the Times enthusiastically cndors-
cs the suggestion. If these patriotic
citizens and the Times. who are de-
manding a vicarious duty Of others.
that they are unwilling 10 perform
themselves. would cast their ayes ovc.'
the case OF Collier. II, Mo-. l3, tE.y
would certainly lind that they are nn-
ly iumpin. from the irving pan into
the fire. In the case mentioned. the
Supreme Court says, that II is bribcr.
for candidate to offer the voters 10
take less than the legal fees Of the o.
flee, and if successful upon showing he
will be Ousied.-.Ste. Gcncriere F"'.'
Play.
Our vivacious contemp orary is l,t
tie of in inputing to us such ''enti,u.-
isstic endorsement as ,ch aide rman
Is now only receiving twelve dollars
vear. and thst is hardly sufficient to
create anv large amount of enthusiasm.
II is little of in its rcconing Of the
legal aspect Of the question also. The
board Ofaltlcrinen is 4 Legislative body.
and a promise from candidate that he
would endeavor to amend the Or,ii-
nance relative TO compensation, even
to making the services Of the board
gratis, would not be in the nature ola
bribe, any more than it would be for
Il candidate for the Legislature TO prom
ise 10 labor for the reduction Of taxes
or the salaries of county officers. or to
have certain changes made in the ro1h
and ether laws, which might at the
time be popular with the people. 1t is
customary in many small towns for |
the trustees or aldermen to serve gra-
It's for the good Of the town, and there
are always plenty Of philosophical
men who are willing to do this. 1t is
not the ten or twelve dollars ayear |
that induces them to tske upon them
selves the responsibility, but desire
10 have the town wel!-sorcrned.
which is to their interest as well as |
that of every other citizen: nor wouIL
the small amount named do much in
the way of bribins the voters of our
tswn-thcy don't hold their honor
and manhood 40 lightly. But speak
ing of bribery, does the editor of the
Fan. Play consider that hc bribcd the
County Court OF Ste. Geneyievc when
he paid it $i.lO for the privilege of do
ing the county printing tor nothing:
The lsw providin. for III" letting If
public printing certainly doseu't con-
template or justify any such proceed
ing. \ County Court with proper
dlsccrnment woald have con .idcrcl
that no bid at all. for il was moi le@i-
tima.e bid. Our contemporary should
MT strain at gnats when il can guip
down came! with So mulch a.i'ii.y.-
Times.
Our vcnerated and esteemed con-
temporary is somewhat off ia the log
lc of the above. There is no dis,inc-
ton in the remuneration or fee of leg
islatlve or executive officers and We
opine that it would be just As much
bribery for the legislative officer TO
say to the voters ii they elected him
he would have the law or ordinance
which would give him remuneration
repealed IS it would be for the execu-
tive officer to promise them. that if
elected he would turn part of the fees
over into the county treasury. Nor
does tho amount make any difference.
To offer Q man one cent TO do an un-
lawful act is as much an attempt at
bribery as to offer him thousand dol
lars. We're the Times in condition
to weigh this dispassiOnately, its own
position would convince it that our
views are cOrrect-it wants certain
men to run for Aldermen, and why?
Because those men will not draw their
salary and there will be more money
in the municipal treasury to improve
streets &c. Then it supports those
men for that reason and tries to in-
duce others 80 to do and is thereby
guilty Of technical bribery. We say
technical bribery advisedly because
We would not give the impression for
. single moment that the Times would
be guilty of actual bribery. Its editor
beside being scholar. is an honest
man and. having proper regard for
the color and size of our optics and
their surroundings. We would venture