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

ana source OF All MS tribulationS, Oh
considered that he >puld appropriate
ly point a moral any adorn q tale
by referring to the salary I receive
from the county i do not understand
lie has paid me q marked compli
ment. and though not be class
ed with either the kid glo we'd, or plus
hated gentry, he can ne YER accuse
me for being too SInmannelly not e.
acknowledge his favor, an Repay it,
The opportunity is at hand. I pro
pose to examine his last letter and
see to what extent II rs ere dible,
This Is due to the readers of thls
paper and Is the public fully as m u Oh
as it is to the voluble and volumin1us
communication. No one questio ma
his right to air his GRIEVANCE, though
when he does so. those to whom and
against whom his letters ara directed
have an equal right to expect that he
tell the truth. This should be no
great hardship 60 him;If It W T5SiuS re- re-
quire q little more research it would
relieve the strain on the inventive
faculties and would have tendency
to condense and abridge his works
to size very convenient alike for
printer and reader. Claiming to con-
hne 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
erroneous that they can not
be misleading. The assertion that
any county officer Of this county re.
ceives salary of $4,000 a year is one
of these. The assertion that it costs
the taxpayers, the sum of SAT ,5O4.5S
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 a
very serious attack of court house
janitor. complicated with, and much
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
mont OF janitor, and to demonstrate
that the county commissioners are
squandering the public funds, he
cites The example of Goodhue county,
populOus and wealthy. There his
ideal is happily realized, and in that
county he has laid the scene cf the
touching and suggestive little story
to the effect that each county officer
is furnished with a 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
paw regularly every month. Now 1
believe Mr.. Wilson was somewhat
unfortunate in not sticking to his
favorite theory. He might have
successfully patEaetEe3 markets near.
er ffeHe in this instanSse He ven.
tured far and Jared badly. His good
bargain is only an ig s sgiI.i or prsted
ed one. We will have, none Of it and
decline to take it off his hands. The
fact is that, sthe court house ana
county Offices Of Goodhue county are
heated by steam, that has been the
case for several years back. That
county employs janitor at $500 a
month whose work is substantially
the same as that performed by the
janltor in our court house. This can
be easily verified. ! am sorry to
have the handsome little piece of fic'
ton so badly disfgured by such q
homely, undressing fact.
Now, can anyone say there is eithel
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 hit
property had been assessed higher
than adjoining land, or that thu
assessor or town board of review haG
made a mistake, but he wanted Il
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 arr
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 tn
contrary is the ,rankest kind of bosh
II the commissioners can follow
system Of taxation, regardless of tn
statute then there is no occasion t
send a 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.. Wilso
without undertaking to violate tn
law and making themselves ridiculou
at the same time. why should the
be carped at! Probably there is nc
a man on that board who would no
like to see a law in force directin
that the amount of mortgage on
farm should be reduced from IT