The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1895-10-24
A bad RECORD
Has George w. Wilhelm as a
Legislator.
THE SALARY GRAB


He Did Not Vote For,
The Repository recently published
nearly a column on the life and services
Of Hon. George W. wilhelm, one of the
republican candidates for representative.
All his virtues are extoled in Commenda-
ble terms, but the Repository dld.nOt tell
nalf of the story. For the benefit Of our
many readers we will give that part cf
Mr.. Wilhelms biography which the Re-
pository omitted.
Mr.. Wilhelm was elected to the legislG-
ture from Stark county in 1887 No
sooner had he obtained his seat in the
west end of the capitol than he at once
"saw various channels in which he could
be useful" The first measure Of any i'm
portance that came up was the two-cent
fare bill for railroads. Mr.. Wilhelm, be-
fore the election, had masqueraded as the
workingman friend, and the people here
wanted to see how true he would be to
! professions. His professions of reform,
however, turned out to be mockery, fer
when the two-cent fare bill came up for
consideration, an amendment was made
to have 1t not apply to distances of ten
miles or less. Mr.. Wilhelm voted for the
amendment The amendment was car
passage the record shows that George W,
/
Wilhelm voted "NO."
BAD RECORD.
During his term in the legislature lie
was simply tool Of the corporations, and
so abominably poor was his record that
when he came up for re election in 1859
he was showed under by thousand ma
jority.
Mr.. Wilhelm's next appearance in poll
tics was in 1890, when he was nominated
and elected q member of the state board
of equalization for the twenty first scna.
tOrial district. The board, which was re.
publican, met soon after the election and
organized. One of the first things 1t at.
tempted to do was to adjourn for a month
over the holidays at the expense of the
state. Some other members thought II
was the
GROWING OUTRAGE OF THE YEAR
to take pay for doing nothing. Finally,
Member McGill, from Hamilton county,
introduced the following resolution:
Resolved, That the members of this
board are not entitled to receive per diem
for the time elapsing between DeCem ber,
8, $780, and January g, 1891"
BY consulting the journal of the state
board of equalization, pages 23 and a.
you will find that Mr.. Wilhelm moved t.
strike out the word mot" The resolu
tlOn as amended passed yeas 20, nays 10
and George W. Wilhelm voted Yea"
By the passage of this resolution, tht
state was robbed of nearly &c. 900. TherC
were thirty-six members of the stat
board of equalization. Each one of then
took pay for thirty-one days from Decem
, Der >, 1890, to January 6, 1891, thirty-on
days, at So per day, making Sl65 for eacl
member. In round numbers, the stat
: was robbed Of s., $40.
Not satisfied with this steal the boarl
thought they were
NOT GETTING PAY ENOUGH
and they voted to increase their salary 1O
per cent. No man was more enthusiast
in this robbery than George W. Wilhelm
He farmed the office for all there was Ii
it, When they presented their voucher
to Auditor of State Poe, he refused t
=, honor them. He told them that it wOul
take an act Of the legislature to increas
their salary. This demoralized them an
they returned to their chamber much dis
appointed, but they resolved that if the
; could not have any of the game, the
would not have the blame. So the Who'll
proceedings concerning the raising {
c their salaries was expunged from the rec
r Ords. In this matter of trying to rob tn
c state of gigantic sum by doubling the
salaries George W. Wilhelm was the sta
performer. He cared little about the taI
4 payers so long as he got part of the swaG
> WANTED HIS PAY FOR ABsENTEEISM.
= During the session n number of men
a bers were absenting themselves for weel
at time, but still continued to dra
. their salaries. This became such an al
nOyance that it was difficult to do bus
ness. At last Member Ulery, democrG
n from Morrow county, disgusted at tt
. manner in which the board was KILN
:, time introduced the following resolution
Resolved, That any momber askin
for leave of absence for more than thr,
4 days be not allowed per diem.
This touched Wilhelm in a tender Spt
. and he quietly put Mr.. Ulerys rcsolutiO
:. to sleep by moving TO refer it to the con
Il mittee on finance.
. When Mr.. Wilhelm reported in his mil
age, he handed in l35 miles. The di
n tance from Justus, his home to Colun
n bus, is l00 miles. After trying to
IS DEFRAUD THE STATE
of several thousand dollars by doublir
p up on their salaries, and after he voted
II put Sl65 of the states funds in his pockG
e which did not belong to him. he was n
y satisfied, but had to take a little on h
n mileage. These statements are not bu
KUN. But they are the cold facts take
Ie from journals of the state board of equa
n ization. Let no dem ocrat, then, think
D. casting his vote for George W. Wilhel
/ and let all those republicans who do n
1t subordinate everything to blind lev
ton to party consult the record bcfo
10 they vote, and George W. Wilhelm will
" defeated by II thousand majority.
10 McKinley's Dangerous Friend.
ID Foraker and Mckinley appear to
4 friends, but the governor will do we
la 4 = l. IL