Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1896-10-15

phtn'S0 u o0hc '-5 W- -
Throughout the entire schedule
will be found as glaring differences.
Schedule &C" is the catalogue OF
McGlurg & Co. of Chicago. Under
the contract, Mr.. Kelley furnishes
the county with all pens, pencils,
inks, rubber bands, paper fasteners,
etc, at list prices. Now every
dealer knows that it is Impossible
to get McClurg's list prices for
goods at retail, and that a discount
from list of 80 per cent. and 6 per
cent. is allowed, aud that the coun.
ty could by sending for these goods
get the same discount. Thus, by
ordering SO worth of sundrles
from McCiurg for the county, Mr..
Kelley pockets 50 80 without even
handling the goods. Any Webster
merchant would be glad to have
such a snap as that allowed by
schedule 90"
Kelley defends this part Of the
contract by saying 1t was only "a
little thing, as he had sold but a
small quantity under it. He abso
lutely brags of his control of the
county board by saying he could
prevent them from paying any bills
of the Reporter and Farmer, but IN
his hberality Of soul had not done
so. We will say right here that if
we have to have j. +. Kelley's per-
mission to DO work for Day County,
we don't want ans ; but will fur
ther say that we would like very
much for him TO undertake to stop
che payment of any of our bills.
We would 0 see if this vlllainous
document would hold water. He
says. why don't Sears tell how
much the Reporter and Farmer
has stolen from Day County in the
past fifteen years" Ii the Il. and
+. Was as an expensive institution
for Day County to carry for fifteen
years AS Kelley has been for three
years, the county would have been
bankrupt long ago. An examina-
rion of the records reveals the fact
that Keliey's prices average nearly
double those of the Reporter. For
instance, the publication of the
auditors and t~reasurer's report by
the Reporter for the year 1894 cost
S62.25 /; for 1895, under the Kelley
regime, IL cost SS7. rs, a difference
of $25. 80. AS the two other official
papers are paid at Kelley's rates,
the loss to the county for one year
amounted to S76.5 on this one
item alone. The records also show
that on all local notices the Report
er while official paper charged but
5 cents per line as against kelley's
Charge of 10 cents. As one bill
reads for ZIG lines, 1t will be seen
that this is no small matter. AL.
ways remember that the other
papers are paid at Kelley figures.
lie don't even pretend to 60 by his
contract price. In a bill of Jan. s,
1895, can be found u charge of
$l.25 for ole dozen undertakings.
His price list says 35 cents. On
Sept. 5, u bill is found OF one aud
itor's cash book, Z or. cap size,
$14.05, while contract says $12.5 So.
ION same date, y treasurer's cash
book, same description, $l4.05,-
$l2.55. On Nov. IL is found u bill
for 81 liquos books, $22 95 or As
cents apiece, while the other houses
put in the same books at $500 pei
dozen or rs cents apiece. This
state OF affairs prevails throughout,
and any party interested IN know
ing the truth OF these statements
can find the same III By examining
the bills and records open TO in
spection. AS for the Reporter, il
charging ) cents per line fornotices
is robbery while Kelley charges 10
cents, we plead guilty. For the
past SIX moths, however, this
paper has been getting 10 cents per
!, line, Tor tho ceuson as above that
Kelley fixes the prices.
In his article, he points TO thu
fact that The Republican board OF
commissioners used to cut the lie.
porter bills. This was a great Re-
publican trick when We had an