The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1890-02-20
COMMUNICATION.

By IIr. FlahertY and which appeared
in THE Sun two weeks ago. The
writer apparently labored very hard
trying to make somt thing out uf
hut unfortunately like his
who undertook TO deny
and explain away solid facts, made q
disastrous failure of it. Now 1t
appears 10 us that if those statements
we had made were so obviously
Hs he says, 1t seems to US
that 1t would have been an easy task
for Mr.. Flaherty to have singled out
each item and shown for the benefit
Of the readers of this paper and the
public generally, wherein we were in
error, but the truth of the matter is
we had stated nothing hut what is
true and which the readers of this |
paper as well as the public generally |
knows to be nothing but actual facts,
and no mere fiction.
The fact that $47 ,504 IS is taken
from the hand full of taxpayers IN
the county every twelfth month,
might seem to Mr.. Flaherty like
fiction, but to the taxpayer it is
simply a matter of truth, no matter
what disposition is made of this
money, or for what purpose it is
appropriated Tor misappropriated.)
II paid out for the building of bridges
to school mans, for teaching school,
to SALOONS, for lager beer to quench
the thirst of the county poor, TO drug
shops for pinS and other medicated
slops to feed the county poor on,
when sick, 1t matters not, it does not
! in the least lessen the burden Of the
taxpayer, he has to make UP the full
amount of this levy of SAT ,5O4 So,
! but in case of some unavoidable cir
cuMStances, such as failure in the
crop &C., the farmer is unable to pay
his tax when due, the state says we
will grant an extension of ten months
at q per cent. interest, at the eXpira-
ton of the ten months another tax is
due with an additional Is per Cent.
added. Now the state will grant no
further extension, with light crop
again and low price the farmer is
unable to pay the tax, and in order to
keep his farm from becoming the
property of the tax title grabber, is
forced to the money l0aner and takes
loan on his farm on which he pays
ten per cent. and Il five per cent. cash
commission, hence forward he PAYS Il
double lax on his farm, besides ten
per cent, interest on the borrow ed
money. and of course his time to re-
main on the old homestead becomes
very short. The foregoing Mr.. F
: might call an idle tale, a fiction, but
is nevertheless Il common every day
t occurrence in this county, a practical
3 fact with far too many of our citizens
\ I will name but few iteIIo OF tx
j. n4nditures, and VIII refer the reade
e - tho G~-.uclal statement of Thu
county just published for the rest
Mr.. Flaherty it appears is paid
salary of $500. per annum, as Count,
Attorney, just 5000. less than th
: Attorney General, of the state o
Montana receives, and for which snu!
little sum he tried in the distrlc
y court one case for the county las
: year; l presume the counsel on tn
opposite side of the case got perhap
20 or % dollars from his client tor Iii
a services. Now if Mr.. Flaherty ca
Y get from the county $500. for tryin
8 d case which another attorney woul
g only get 25 dollars for. from prlvat
y individual, why shouldn't he b
n happy and stand up for those VIII
:. deal so literally with him.
:, 1878. was paid Matt Diedrich 70
Il 90 tons of coal, which amount of fut
# ought to have been sufficient to kee
6 the court house ring comfortabl
IS warm during the four winter months
g 1920. dollars was paid to VIM. Tand
n for shOveling the same in the flu
$ naces, $50. was paid to VIM. Barrel
a for cleaning up the ashes; $500. Wa
II paid to doctor Hulburd, for doctOrin
n the county poor; four county poo
o must be sickly set.) If those in tn
county who are able to settle thei
own doctor bills, pay as literally fo
X medical services, there is no need c
t our doctors wearing store clothes
d % dollars was paid VIM. Tandy d
v fees for his services as an office
d during court time; 0 dollars was pal
O to A. C. Thorpe for like services.
a never could see the use of all thes
|. deputy sheriffs during court, and
verify believe half of them could h
dispensed with. Now the reader wi
please bear in mind that both of thes
last named gentlemen are employe
by the county at fixed salary by tn
o year, and they are both we'll paid fo
= their services too, one receives $120t
:. for about six weeks work, two week
~ prior to each tax paying season, til
" balance OF the year he has absolutel
nothing to do; the other gets $42
for about 5 months work durin
- the winter season, the rest of til
- year he has almost nothing to do, an
= yet for this little extra duty durin
y court time they come in and deman
from the tax payers extra pay? NJ
right. IL a farmer hires % man h
the year at a fixed price and pay
him the full wages agreed upon, h
will consider his time to belong |