The state herald., 1902-10-10

OF county officials but the bill az finally
passed failed to make satisfactory re-
duction in several Of these salaries.
Notwithstanding the fact that several OF
the Official salaries escaped the reduct-
ion that should have been made, an
organised attempt hae siuce been made
to defeat through the sourts the en-
fsrcement Of this salary reduction law.
OF course all OF the county Officials in
the state will vote for this amendment
and urge every other voter to do SO for,
il tho amendment carries. IL will give
each Of them an extra year in office with
out the trouble Of making a campaign
for third, fourth or fifth term Of Office,
Being interested TO that extent IN the
adoption of the amendment, 1t ia ex-
pected us matter OF course that they
will support the amendment.
The remaining 1924 OF the election
expenses after deaucting the $500 &C.
counted for, was paid ont for newspaper
publications, county clerk fees and
election supplies. The certificate Of
nominations was published in two news
papers and cost the county sll7.6O.
This Is an item OF election expense that
the proposed amendment would cut
down very little for the reason that the
the newspapers are paid according to
the space occupied by the certificate Of
nomination aud the only saving in space
that this change would make, would be
the space occupied by the heading and
the Official certificate and this in the
election OF 1901 would have figured
1880 or Sl6.S0 on the bill of each news
poper BAD The proposed amendment
been in force IN 1901, instead Of paying
the two newspapers s1l760 for the
election OF that year, the county would
have paid them Ss4 for the sams space
in addition to what il will have to pay
for the publication Of the certificate Of
nomination for the coming election.
This accounts for oil but about 500 OF
the election expenses of Philips county
for the year 1901 aud that was paid out
for election supplies and county clerks
fees. 1t cannot 10 reasonably claimed
that the proposed change in the time OF
holding the county election would save
| all OF this latter expense to the county
for the reason tina, the election supplies
for the combined state and county OF
national, state and county election will
cost more than the supplies for either
election held alone. The clerks foes in
Phillips county aud in many Of the
other counties OF the state more than
pay his salary and the excess OF fees
above his salary earned by the office 10
turned back into the treasury. From
these figures it can be seen that about
the only saving OF any Importance that
this amendment would make for the
taxpayer would be in the matter Of
election BOARD expenses. The farmer
the ranchman and other tax payers who
do not hold official positions are asked
in this campaign, IN the interest Of
economy, to give up the small amount
that they might probably secure
for their service on the election board
for the county election as now held. OF
course this is one kind OF economy but
the plea for such economy would come
with much better grace from the public
officials, IL 1t was an economy that low
cred their salaries, instead Of one
sided economy that touches only the
pocket books OF those not holding Office.
II does not strike at the salaries Of the
tax eaters but at the p,ttance that tax.
payers may earn BY serving on election
boards.
There is in our judgment m objection
to this amendment that all Of the econ.
omy that can justly be claimed for II
cannot counterbalance. II is an amend.
ment that will have tendency to make
our county elections more partisan than
they are under our present laws. Ono
year the county election will he held in
connection with the state election and
tho following election will bs held IN
connection with the state and national
election. Under the excitement and
enthusiasm incident to every state aud
national election men will he elected to
county oiiico who could not possibly
haveSbecn elected had the county elec.
tion been held sepera,e from the state
and national election IN 1t 10 now. lf
voters ever vote n partisan ticket 70.
gnrdless OF the inertia Of tho respective
candidates. they do 40 when ihcy vote u
state or national ticket. Voters who
believe that their candidate for county
oilicc should bc elected regardless Of his
qualifications for tho Office may laugh ut
this objection but no fair minded nun
Who has high regard for the best In.
forests OF the people will do no. Party
nominations Gro largely under tho con
troll OF limited number OF party lssders
and these leaders nrc not always scru.
pulously particular as TO tn. quali.ica-
ticpa OF the mon nominated when they
have some political eccme 10 carry out
by the nomination Of certain parties
and. under such circumstances the only
way iu which they can DO prevented
from placing men in Office who ase un-
lifted Tor IL, N by tho votes Of men and