Durango semi-weekly herald., 1901-10-31
(SEAL)
THE COUNTY COMMISSIONER.

THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.
| Last fall when The Herald publish
ed tabulated statement showing the
extravagance of the board of county
commissioners there were many to
cry campaign yarns!" But a year
has passed. and we feel that all are
row satisfied that every word utter
eo by The Herald one year ago was
true and that half was not told. To
corroberate this we have only to cite
to the developments OF the past week.
or the statement appearing In this Is
sue, In which 1t is shown that the
! commissioners In 81 months have
paid Sheriff Mccartney over six hun
dred dollars without warrant of law.
We will admit that Mr. Mccartney Is
responsible for filing illegal charges.
| Dut the commissioners and their at
torheys are the ones against whom
me greatest criticism should rest.
1t Is their duty to investigate and
verify claims of such character. That
is what they are elected for. If Nc
| Cartney is fair criterion of the man
| ner In which the commissioners have
watched and protected the county
treasury, 1t is no wonder We are On
the verge of bankruptcy, with increas-
| ed taxation staring us in the face
Sherim Mccartney is not the only
one who has drawn money from the
treasury Illegally. d. +. Day, as prin-
cipal owner of The Durango Demo
crat filed an illegal bill of $144 and
some cents. which The Herald fur
| ni5hed proof AT the time was illegal,
but II was allowed. just the same.
The law says the county printing
shall be let to the lowest bidder, The
commissioners, following the law, ad-
vertised for bids last December. but
rejected all of them, not because they
were too high. but because the bid
of The Herald was too low. ana left
[ the matter open in the hands of tho
chairman to secure the work at prob
ably the highest price. There is no
law giving the chairman any such au-
thority, and Judge Holbrook issued an
Injunction against the commissioners
paying out more money for printing
than The Herald was willing to do
1t for as per its bid. For several
months the county went without print
ing and then the commissioners obey.
ed the injunction SO far as job work,
and are now in contempt for disobey-
ing the legal part. and as soon an
possible they will be brought on the
carpet to answer the charge. Un-
der The Heralds bid the county Ia
saving several hundred dollars on ita
stationery, 500 In the matter OF cleo
tion ballots. and would save several
hundred more II Judge Holbrook's or
der had been fully obeyed. For d.
F, Day to state morning after morn
ing that Mccartney obtained money
illegally from the treasury, In the
face of the $14i steal. ia not good log
ic. Both are guilty. Again, the
said Day owes the county $3.50 In
taxes overdue on his printing estab-
lishment for the years 1897 and 1898.
Through political favoritism. because
Day supported him for ONCE, Treas
urer Balster has not had the courage
to go after these taxes and make Day
dig up and the commissioners have
done nothing about 1t. The commits
sloners should see that county ofIicers
do their duty or report them. Not
so In the Day case. He Is able to
work the county both a-going and
a-coming. We do not ask voters to
take our word for this. Let them
look up the records.
Under these circumstances. do you
think 1t best to elect men whom Day
Is supporting? VIII not Pace. IL
elected commissioner. work In with
the present members and use county
fund for Days treachery to the ticket
this fall. We know that Mr.. Patter-
son will collect the $3.50 back taxes
and Increase the county funds at
least that much. We know that Mr..
Schroeder viii not vote to allow iile-
gal bills after his attention has been
called to same. There is not q parti-
Gle OF difference between Day and
Mccartney in the matter of goueing
the county. The Democratic editor
was not satisfied with the high COM
, bine prices but added another hun
dred or two.
These are matters the voters should
consider next Tuesday. Let US elect
officers who will be under no obliga.
tion to The Democrat, as Day seems
, to exercise hypnotic influence over
many Of them.