The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1890-01-23

anu source or all his tribulations, OF
considered that he A,uld appropriate
ly point moral anr adorn a tale
10y referring to the SALARY | receive
from the county l do not understand
lie has paid me marked compli
ment. and though not be class
ed with either the kid glo we'd, or plug
halted gentry, he can ne yer accuse
me for being too ,unmannelly not ia
acknowledge his favor, an kepay 1t.
The opportunity is at hand. I BRO
pose to examine his last letter and
see to what extent 1t Is ere dible,
This is due to the readers of this
paper and IS the public fully as much
rs it is to the voluble and vOluminGus
communication. No one questio ns
his right to air his grievance, though
when he does so, those to whom anG
against whom his letters ars directed.
have an equal right to expect that he
tell the truth. This should be no
great hardship Us hlm;lf it Wound 6GlG re- re-
quire little more research it would
relieve the strain on the inventive
faculties and would have a tendency
to condense and abridge his works
to a size very convenient alike for
printer and reader. Claiming to CON
fine himself to facts, it is no more
than fair that he should let us know
when he makes his little excursions
into the domain of fiction.
pass by several statements In the
latest product of his pen without
special mention, because they are so
obviously erroneous that they can not
be misleading. The assertion that
any county officer of this county re.
ceives a salary of $4,000 a year is one
of these. The assertion that it costs
the taxpayers. the sum of SAT ,5O4.5S
annual to carry on the county bust
ness, is another. Everybody knows
that amount is levied to pay state,
county, village, township, school, road
and bridge taxes.
The gentleman seems to have
very serious attack of court house
ianitor. complicated with, and much
aggravated by, what is known as Of.
fetal cigar. For the purpose of
showing that in this county there is
a shameless lack of economy in the
burning of wood and in the employ
ment OF a janitor, and to demonstrate
that the county commissioners are
squarierinr the public funds, he
les lIe example Of GOOIhue county,
pOpuious and wealthy. There his
IDEAL is happily realized, and in that
county he has laid the scene &C the
touching and suggestive little story
to the effect that each county officer
is furnished with little stove in
which he Keeps a small fire during
office hours, only. 1t is easy to IN
derStand the policy of having the
stoves little. No Janitor there, he
says, to burn up the tax payers wood,
partake of the warmth, and draw his
pay regularly every month. Now l
believe Mr.. Wilson was somewhat,
unfortunate IL Cot sticking TO his
fav0rite theory. He might have
successfully patEoptEet3 markets near.
err hgHe IN this instanSe He ven
tured far and Jared badly. His good
bargain is only An i1s =. n I.s.E or preted
ed one. We will have none Of it and
decline to take it off his hands. The
fact is that the court house ana
county offices Of G0odhue county are
heated by steam, that has been the
case for several years back. That
county employs a janitor at $500 a
month whose work is substantially
the same as that performed by the
janItor in our court house. This can
be easily verified. l am sorry to
have the handsome little piece of fc.
ton so badly dis6gured by such a
homely, uninteresting fact.
Now can anyone say there is either
reason Or justice in berating the
officers of this county, for taxes Mr..
Wilson had to pay tax in another
place. When he appeared before the
board Of county commissioners he
did not pretend to say that his
property had been assessed higher
than adjoining land, or that the
assessor or town board Of review had
made a mistake, but he wanted tC
have the penalties and accrued inter
est on his three years taxes abated
because the laws which imposed
them are wrong in principle. Hi.
theories in this respect are entertain
ed by many. but until they become
something more than mere theories
systems on paper, until they art
adopted as laws, no officer who ha!
anything to do with taxes can be gov
erned by them in the performance O.
his duties To seriously claim thu
contrary is the rankest kind of bOsh
If the commissioners can follow ;
system of taxation, regardless of tn
statute then there is no occasion t,
send good man to the legislature t.
have the tax law changed. On tn
other hand if they could net attemp
to grant the demands of Mr.. Wilson
without undertake ing to violate tn
law and making themselves ridiculou
at the same time. Why should the
be carped at! Probably there is no
a man on that board who would no
like to see law in force directin
that the amount of mortgage on
farm should be reduced from 1t
assessed valuation, but they are no