Semi=weekly graphic., 1896-04-08
Fails to Explain How He Sells Goods to the Fire Department in Defiance
 of the Statutes
A Very Lame Excuse for the Irregular- ties in His Administration of
 City Affairs.

The Mayor rushes to his own de. fense in n communication in today E Commercial.
 His article is more remarkable for what il does not say than for that which iteontains.
 His plea is one of confession and avoidance.
 He does not meet the issue, but seeks to avoid it and explain it away.
 He makes no reference whatever to that section of the statutes of Arkansas which says: "But they the Board of Public Affairs of which the Mayor is ex-otlico chairman) shall have no power in any ease. except upon advertisement and to the lowest bidder, to make any eon- tracts with anY person ASSOCIATED IN BUSINESS WITH OR RELATED WITH | IN THE SIXTH DEGREE OF coNsANGuIN- 1rY OR AFFINITY UNDER THE CIVIL LAW, TO ANY MEMBER OF SAID BOARD OK MEMBER OF THE CITY COUNCIL. and every contract in which any such forbidden person shpll have an in- terest, DIRECT or INDIRECT, shall be NULL. AND VOID.
 The Mayor calls attention to an error of the GRApme in quoting the law, and we thank him for callAg our attention to it. The law says ''in all cases where the amount of ex. penditure involved may exceed fifty dollars. In printing the law the sections in the digest were marked and turned over to the printer, who by accident set it $25, and when the proof came to the editor in the wee small hours Of morn, after eighteen hours of con tiHuoiis labor, lie fii iietii to oi.- serve the error (not reading the proof by eopy) and the error crept into print However, the next section ef the digest, relating to the same subject, contained the amount cor rectly, and the error in figures was palpahle to the observing.
 But this is simply n typographical error and a technieality.
 Why does the Mayor sell goods to the fire department out of his store in express violation of the law-the same law he has sworn to support?
 The law says in effect that the Mayor shall not be interested with fin the SIXTH degree of consanguinity or affinity" or tassociated in hus- sness" with any person entering into contract with the city
 But the Mayor says he has no contract
 Then he is violating the law.
 lie also says that he has meyer given T acquisition for feed whereln the amount purchased exceeded $l500."
 Then this is simply asubterfuge to eyade the law. His bills against the city for feed amount to from $50 to $97 (by the recordl per month. Ac- eording to the same logic, if the law said $25 instead of $50, then he could issue q acquisition for $20 one day and $5 the next; or if the law said $5 he could issue a requisition for S4.50 one day and 50.cents the next.
 The law contemplates that sup plies for the city shall he furnished by contract, and the law says that the Mayor shall not be associated in business, or "related within the sixth degree of eonsanguinity or af- finity" with any one who has con tract with the city.
 The Mayor refuses to make any contracts; sells to the city in little "driblets, and at high prices, and therefore says that he is not violat- ing the laws.
 We would remind tic Lord High Mayor and Executioner that a County Judge of this county was indicted by the Grand Jury while back for building bridges without n contract, in violation or the law, and history las been known to U. s. Govt Report