Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1898-11-04
rAKE sorBor THESE FACTS.

~&A&SS - VI RMS0 AVA0e
The mud batteries of the confusion
organ are more dangerous at the
breech than at the muzzle.
s1:-s::' ..r.fs - J..
The first column of Times-Herald Of
Dot. q, says: 1.-THE auditor whines be-
cause we will not give him TWO COL
uMNs space" First column editorial
page, same date, refers to his paper
refusing to publish THREE colums of
hog wash written by Auditor Stanley"
Only q difference of one full column.
This is q fair specimen of the discrep-
ances appearing in every column Of
every issue Of that villifying sheet.
The person who writes the state.
ments OF tho financial condition Of the
county for the confusion organ for
political purposes is indeed q s'cracker-
jack" He attempts to quote from the
treasurer's quarterly statements and
to prove from them that during some
quarters that officer pays out more
than he collects, and winds up his con-
vincing ~ argument with the grand
climax: "Thus, taxpayer, you can see
how u county is being plunged into
bebt. Don't you think it is time to
call q halt?"
OF course every sensible taxpayer
knows that the treasurer cannot pay
out more money than he collects and
continue to do 80 for an indefinite per-
iod, as the Times Herald seeks to have
its readers believe, without paying It
out Of his own pocket OF borrowing
from his friends. Again, every school
treasurer, every city treasurer, every
township treasurer or any one, in fact,
who has ever had anything to do with
matters Of this kind, or who will take
the time to consider the subject, knows
that balances will accumulate in the
various city, township and district
school funds Of the county for which
the county treasurer collects the tax,
and that it frequently happens that
they will nearly all draw the balances
accumulated to their credit during
one and the same month; thus it hap
pens that the t%reasurers quarterly
statements will sometimes show large
balances in these various funds and
again they will show that these bal
ances have been largely drawn out;
and thus the collections sometimes
largely exceed the disbursements and
that sometimes the disbursements
largely exceed the collections. Il is
obvious that the treasurer does not
pay out more than he collects, and
that by the collection and disburse.
ment of the funds the county is not
"being plunged into debt" The "rug-
ged honesty Of this pure (?) and holy
~ champion of reform ~ is shown in
the fact that he omits to mention that
quarter showing the heaviest collec-
tions and just normal disbursements
the quarter ending March 81.
) Again this brilliant ~ financial edi-
tor jumbles up alot of figures evident
" under the impression that the voter
the figures will not lie if he
does). This he calls a comparative
of indebtedness. Here is a
choice specimen of his statement" re-
to:
snow for comparisons. The warrant
Indebtedness in this June statement
shows a decrease of S4,45O as compared
with December statement, liabilities
$3.50 ASSETS s44,43O while
the actual decrease in the amount of
unpaid tax is S45,S332. Now think for a
moment what this means. The de-
crease in unpaid taxes s45,S32 while
our Indebtedness has decreased only
1880"
According to this we not only paid
our running expences during the
quarter but we decreased our indebt-
edness $3.50. And then he wonders
where the balance of that 1882 went
to, and why it wasn't also applied on
county indebtedness. OF course every
intelligent taxpayer knows that the
Tor the great bulk of all tax
%collections) goes to the state, the cities,
the organized townships and the
school districts of the county. If the
Times Herald thinks the average Fail
River county voter can be misled by
such shallow argument, brazen mis-
and conglomerations of fig
ures it is greatly mistaken. The Fall
River county citizen is not as gulliblo
as Ames thinks.
Ames has already commenced giving
valuable advice to his printer candi.
date for auditor Oh tho confusion
ticket. He says he has requested that
when bids for county printing are
to him after January /, that
he treat all bidders fairly and award
the printing to the lowest bidder.r
N1,, na.1r- T--z .-. -