Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-10-31
THE .AUDITORSHIP.
VOTE FOR j. d. L1AtsHAsNtsE.

The lates Republican. convention, in
its mistaken wisdom concluded not to
place in nomination a candidate for
| county auditor. 7 This move, in our
lopinion, i Was ill-adyised, RS all the
chal,eesappears favorable that good
Republican, could be elected Mr.. J.
D. Laehance, the present efficient
county auditor, has entered the field
for reelection: and is deserving of the
earnest support Of alltrue Republicans
! His record in the discharge ofvhe dR-
ties of.the Office during the twelve
| years is q sufficient guarantee that the
interests Of all taxpayers are safe in
| his hands. For these reasons we have
decided to support his candidacy.
This position has not been hastily
assumed bysus, and is not intended
% . reflection upon the personal char
! acter Of the regular Democratic candi
date, The opposition to the re-elec-
tion Of Lachance are laying great stress
Wpon the result Of the late so-called
Investigation Of Mr.. Lachance upon
the. frivolous. charges preferred against
hin, TO show the ground!essness Of
the charges it will be only necessary
to. briefly mention them, and our read
ers can: then draw their.own conclu-
sions. ''' ~ - i,
Al the last term Of the district court
for this county, the grand jury pre-
pared aireport which. WAS submitted to
Gov. 'Hubtard, recommending the
appointment Of a. commission to in
! vestigate the official conduct of Mr..
Lschance.: The following is the gist
| Of the CHARGES upon. which said report
| was based: That the county auditor
had entered on the records Of the
county board at It's january meeting in
1884 rescl ution" requiring the making
out and publication Of the yearly finan~
clal statement, when the resolution
I called only for its being made ont. The
! fooltshness Of this charge is pate MT to
Eeveryone when 1t is xnown that the
simple making out of a financial state
ment amounts to nothing without its
| publication as vel the law being man
d>tory as to it's publication in connec-f
ton with it's being made out. If the
above charge wac true, which, is shown
TO he not SO, then the county board
Should DO investigated in not comply
ing Will, the law in authorizing its
publication. It. is plain that finan-
cial statement must be published be-
fore the tax payers derive any knowl-
edge of the financial condition of the
county, and the law is explicit on that
point. The second charge in said re-
port is that at special session of the
county board held in last March the
county auditor refused to produce the
above statement on resolution of the
board to TINT effect. At that time the
said statement was in the hands of the
| printer, which the board well knew,
and consequently Mr.. Lachance could
not produce it. If the board was anx-
|ious to have the financial statement
before it, why did it not adjonrn until
the next day.. as requested by, La
chance, SO as to give him time to pro,
cure said statement from the printer.
The law required the publication of the
financial statement, and at that time it
was published in our columns and IN
no other. Another charge is that the
county auditor illegally assessed q
school tax in school district No. 20, and
by means of said illegal assessment the
| sum OF sl75 was raised in excess,of the
amount called for in the notice from
the clerk Of that district. Granting
that this sum was raised by such as
sessment, it simply shows a clerical
error and the school district re ceiyed
the money and reaped its benefits. 1t
is an error, such as occurs in every day
transactions in business circles, as any
business man will testify to- There is
not one scintilla Of evidence tending
to show that Mr.. Lachance was in any
way to receive any benefit from the
assessment Of the above tax. The last
charge, and the one npon which great
stress is placed, is that the county aud
ltor refused to assess all the tax in the
town of Elm Dale which the voters of
that town had voted to raise for road
purposes. Elm Dals voted to raise
eight mills and Mr.. Lachance very
properly refused to assess the amount
as the law plainly provides that only
three mills can be raised for road pur-
poses, i. This snm WAS assessed by, the
comfy auditor. Had be assessed the
eight mills asked for by the voters Of
said town. he would have been liable TO
prosecution, and besides the town would
, I have lost the whole, tax, AZ no citizen OF
that town would have been liable to pay
one cent of road tax IS no collection
}: could be enforced under the law The
above charges were. thoroughly investi
gated and reported upon to the Governo,
nearly two months ago, and there the
! matter rests A great hue and cry was
raised at the time that Gov. Hubbard
wetld immediately suspend Mr.. La
chance, and appoint in bis stead the
,, present Democratic nominee. This wa:
, , part Of the scheme Of the opponents O
|, Lacaance to forestall public opinion
i We believe tlsst the honest voters Of THU
county irrespective Of party will see hi
taninansef the above charges. IF Mr.
! Lachanee had not desmed It to the bes
!. interests Of the taxpayers of the count.