The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1901-02-21
SUBSTANTIAL REASONS WHY.

- ing and completing the court house
re The law would not authorize it AM
the individual members, all honord
! bic gentlemen, pledge their hOnors I,
the taxpayers, that they will not le
the contract for Il greater amount
= and the contract, when let, will re
quire the building to be completed
~ The members of the court are al
substantial citizens of our county
with property interests and are inter
ested alike with all other taxpayers
9 They could not afford to violate SO
q sacred a compact with the people 4
this county, even if they were SO dis
! posed, which they are not.
, The court invites Il committee Of
taxpayers Of the county, to be com
posed Of one member from each
: township, to advise with the Judges
in the letting of the contracts and to
3 oversee the construction of the build
ing. Could anything be fairer?
The taxpayers of Butler are inter
ested alike with every other taxpay-
or in the county, in the building of a
court house, no more. no less. 1t
would not put dollar into their
pockets. 1t would really fall harder
upon us because our taxes are al
ready about three dollars on every
hundred dollars valuation, while in
the county townships it amounts to
about one dollar on the one hundred.
The remodeling of the old building
Is impracticable and impossible and
when the Rich Hill Review published |
that n responsible contractor had |
offered to repair the old house and |
guarantee it for twenty years, that |
| paper was either misinformed, or de- |
liberately made the statement to de-
| ceive the taxpayers. No responsible
contractor ever made that PROPOSE
ton to the county court. The coun-
~ county has already spent thou
sands OF dollars in vain effort to
preserve the old house. and not until
it was dangerous to life did thew
order it vacated
The architect who condemned the
old building was Frederick f Hill of
Kansas City. He has a national
reputation as an architect. He
planned and supervised theconstruc-
ton Of the great Convention Hall in
Kansas City. He did not offer plans
for the proposed new court house
building. The plans offered are those
by Geo. f. Mcdonald, IL noted archi- :
tect OF the state {
1t is no guess to say that the build t
Ing proposed can be constructed for d
100000 1t is the same plans for fl
the Warrensburg, Savannah and "
Mt. Vernon, Mo, buildings, all OF Ii
which We're built and completed with u
n that amount, and the contractor
low completing the Mt. Vernon p
signifies willingness to ac- St
ept the contract at those figures b
nd enter into bond to complete the l.
'uIding according to plans and al
pecitcatiOns. it
1t would be impossible to submit a +
rOl ositiOn that would meet the I'M hi
Eallted endorsement of every citi- T
an Of the county. We all have our be
WI ideas, but when We select agents
, transact our public business, and
hose agents act in a thoughtful.
irelul, conscientious manner. ana
their very best judgments, they 81
lonid be approved. Suppose this SCI
ropoeition is rejected because the tel
tails do not meet this or that e>'
ans individual ideas. the same We
reut~ would have to select other
ans and Is there any assurances rec
lat they would then please Il greater so
amber Of people? Thecounty court. IN
fore deciding on the plans. invited ne
cry township in the county to send pi'
representatives to 90 over +ha Cit
ffereut plans with he court and 81
# The best and most appropriate sci
le for this county. \ number of nu
preventative gentlemen from the lie
ttereut sections OF the county re- Br
'ouded and it WAS the opinion Of to-
lose present, after a careful and bet
investigation thar tina
~ selected was the best, all things