The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-10-04
he will make it. Otherwise. The Herald
will 1orox,a

H.
will prove it.
Following is the letter:
| To the Editor of The Herald.
An attack is made upon myself Will
other county officers, in this morning:
issue of The Herld that 7 canrot af
| ford to pass by ana y. led, f,rd as
sumo that you will not deny me tht
privilege OF answering your charges
in the same columns II which they
/ are made. inasmuch as You demand
! from me such explanation, and Which
| am only too willing 20 give.
AS a prelude, allow RE t. say thai
your whole article, from lightning tc
end. fairly teens with inaccuracies an6
misstatements, many Of item purpose
ly made with the sinister Inotlve OF
placing me before the public in Il false
position. Fortunately my reputation
and standing in the community is
such that your efforts will rot have
the effect you desire. [ ;ssumed
the office of county Selectman for this
county January 1st last, and inlme-
diately found that the Duties re
quired of me We're fraught with diff
culties and complications, and almost
insurmountable obstacles on every
hand; especially did I ind this to be
the case in the department to which I
was assigned; namely, that Ct pauper
and charity work. In the performance
of the duties required of me in looking
after the paupers in this county and
dispensing such charity TO unfortu-
mates as I deemed expedient. the very
nature of the work precludes detailed
statements of disbursements. For in
stance, many an application has been
made to me by people in this City who
formerly were surrounded by every
luxury that money could buy, whose
standing in the community was un-
questioned, and who, through the dis
tressfng financial era that has just
passed, found themselves suddenly
stripped of all earthly possessions, and
whose pride prevented them from ap-
plying for public aid until driVen to do
so to save themselves and family from
starvation, and who would accept aid
then only under the promise that their
names should not be made a matter of
public record.
Again, in many instances paupers
are furnished the means with which
they can go to other localities and
translents are also frequently furnish
ed the same assistance, who request
that their names be not used. or give
hcltious names. In disbursing this
pauper fund. such circumstances and
conditlons as detailed above make it
Hosolutely necessary that the disburse-
ments should be made in the discre-
eioh OF the officer, and without requir-
ing d public detailed statement of the
persons to whom charity is disbursed
II is Tor this reason that a contingent
iund Is supplied to the mayor of the
CITY out OF which he often times
makes charitable disbursements. and
VINO ever Thought of calling unon him
Tor detailed statement?
II IS assumed that an officer acting
IN TINS capacity would act honestly and
1 right here and now dare you to chal-
lehge my honesty in my public acts
since the LIST day of January, 1895. In
the disbursements that l have made on
behalf of Salt Lake county. not one
oolldr nor not one cent, has ever been
,Wrongfully or dishonesty appropriated
by me or by anyone under me. and l
ehallenge you to produce proof to the
contrary. You have taken the entire
front page of this mornings issue of
your paper and several columns of a
succeeding page to dilate upon and
cunnlngly arrange charitable dfsburse-
ments in such manner as to imply
that there has been dishonesty. 1t is
true that you say editorially that no
one is charged with dishonesty, but
this is simply a subterfuge to save
yourself from what is so plainly i'm
piled in the main article.
False and Geddes Knows 1t.
1t has been we'll known to me for
weeks and months that the reporters of
your paper have been specially detailed
to hunt out every item of my accounts
and expenditures with a view, if posi-
bic, of fastening upon me something
that would be detrimental; and what
{ he rnSI11f2 of
per are devoted to the criticising, con-
demning and misstating the disburse-
ments by me of $S6979, of which
amount $293.04 you are compelled to
admit is accounted for in furnishing
driye-Well pipe for certain artesian
wells that were put down for the
benefit of the county in sprinkling the
roads. This leaves $676.75 as the total
amount of disbursements which used
nearly one-half of your paper in criti-
cising. Does it not appear from this
that you are not governed entirely by
an honest motive and honest desire to
serve the interests of the taxpayers in
this county?
This is Geddes' own Mistake.
I stated above that your article was
full of misstatements and inaccuracies,
wilfully and purpoSely made, and /
now propose to prove 1t. In every IN
stance where disbursements have been
made by me to paupers you referred to
the check and number, and cunningly
say that nothing is disclosed by the
check as to the purpose for which 1t
was drawn, aud purpOsely avoid the /
statement, which was we'll known to
he reporter who made up this article, !
that invariably the check stub which |
was on file, and which was examined |
1y the reporter, gives in detail the pur- |
pose for which the check was made. !
AS an instance you stated that John |
Kennedy puts his cross on the book |
or a check for $11. The check is No. |
AS, July 80, but does not specify what |
he 81 was for. The check-stub, which
vas examined by your reporter, shows
hat this check was drawn to John
Kennedy to pay his railroad fare and |
BOARD to Denver, he being a transient !
,auper of whom the county was we'll !
id for $11.
You say Rose s. gets a check for
on August II. and that the check
loes not specify anything, which is
rue that the stub does, and here it is,
shoes for children" This stub was
Examined by your reporter as we'll as
he check, and if he had been honest
lie would have stated that the stub
the history of the check.
Why Didn't He Buy Her Railroad
Ticket.
You say that 1 reached a climax of
and the limit that divides
he line between that and something
Use when on September 90, by check
70. 307 I signed my name to a pauper
.ccount check on the State Bank of
Jtah in favor of Mr. PendIeton for