Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-11-04
The County Treasurership.


The Times yesterday published an
editorial which calls into question the
good faith of Colonel E. E. Hewitt in his
public declaration, that if he is elected
he will distribute the county moneys Oh
deposit in a number of banks which he
named in his card, and in others which
he may find solid and satisfactory. The
Times affects to believe that Colonel
Hewitt will redeem his promise by
depositing ninety-nine per cent. OF
the funds in the Farmers and
Merchants Bank, and distribute the
other one per cent. amongst the other
banks. Nobody who knows Colonel
Hewitt believes him to be capable OF
such q trick. He is an honest man; his
reputation for fair dealing has never
been aspersed, and, after nearly forty
years of residence in California, during
which time he has always carried out hts
agreements in letter and spirit, he is not
going, at this late day, to forfeit his good
name by an act unworthy of himself and
his record. Here is what Colonel Hewitt
said in card published in yesterday g
HERALD:
'If elected, will keep all moneys be-
longing to the State or county as requir-
ed by law; and as the county has pro-
vided no vault, or any other safe reposi-
tory, will deposit such moneys in the
First National Bank, Farmers and Mer-
chants Bank, Los Angeles County Bank,
Southern California National Bank, Chill.
dress Safe Deposit Bank, University
Bank, Los Angeles National Bank, and
such other banking establishments ol
the county as may he found desirable
and secure"
One would think that a pledge such as
the above ought to be enough from any
body; but coming as it does from Colonel
Hewitt, it has the significance of fact
which will be carried out honorably in
every respect.
The Times, for election purposes, has
imagined against Col. Hewitt course
of which he is utterly incapable, for the
purpose of placing Col. Banbury, the
competitor of Col. Hewitt, in more
attractive light before the people thar
the Democratic candidate. That paper
asserts that the Republican nominee
"has distinctly pledged himself, i
elected, to deposit the county funds in
all the solid banks proportionately, ant
favoring none." We challenge the Time
to show where or when Colonel Banbury
has made any such pledge. The onl!
public promise we have ever seen frcn
him on the subject appeared in tn,
Tribune Of September 20, 1888. In tina
he says generally that he will "deposi
in the various responsible banks" This
leaves Colonel Banbury to place the
funds in az few banks as he pleases; fol
he reserves the right to determine that ir
his judgment but two or three favorite
banks are the only responsible ones
while Col. Hewitt names over Ions
series of banks in which he will deposit
and then adds such others as "may
be found desirable and secure" We
might here adopt the Times style o
reasoning and say that Col. Banbur!
may, under his pledge, select two bank
(the rest not coming up to his idea O
solidity) and place ninety-nine per cent
of the county funds in his own favorit
bank and one per cent. in the other on
or two.
If the Times has discovered that Col
Banbury 'has distinctly pledged him
SELF" as stated above, then that pape
has made out the Republican candidate
for Treasurer to be man whose pledge.
of one day may be set aside the next, fo
in his letter to the public on th,
29th of September he con
cludes with these words: "BelievinJ
as I do that every public officer shoule
hold himself free from all individua
pledges and entanglements, shall g
into Office, if at all, in that manner. ,
If the Times has found, therefore, tina
Colonel Banbury has made any "dis
tinct pledges" since that time, then al
OF his pledges may be looked upon 81
"springes to catch woodcocks."