The Grit-advocate., 1905-03-17
TELEPHONE NO. 13.
Acklin's Record for Morality.

Acklin's record as CRATER. black
mailer and cheap political prostitute,
were not surprised to read last week
In his organ If dscord his inane
TRADE against republican county o''ic-
falls who did their duty in collecting
taxes from man preparing to move
his property from the state. Accord
ing to the peculiar standard OF NOR
aity of the editor of the Tidings, and
some Of his political associates, per-
sou has perfect right to steal from
county. or from an individual, il he
has chance. The fact that person
is caught red d-handed and is forced to
give up the plunder, according to
the Acklin standard OF morals, makes
him good fellow" and he is entitled
to the respect of the community. On
the other hand the official who re-
spects his oath of office and prevents
the attempted robbery is guilty OF a
"contemptible outrage"
In his own estimation Acklin was
simply "shrewd." and was following
commendable spirit of thrift when
lie attempted to steal SOC 90 from the
county by an oyerchargc for publish
ing the list Of nominations last fall.
And, no doubt, in his estimation the
commissioners who refused to stand
for the robbery were guilty of a ICON.
temptiblc outrage
In the eyes Of the law. and also in
the eyes Of all good citizens, the man
who attcmps to commit a robbery,
even though he is prevented from
getting away with the goods, is equal
ly guilty with the thief who avoids
detection and escapes to enjoy his i'll
gotten gains. Acklin therefore stands
branded thief because Of his attempt
to steal s66.00 from the county and he
cannot successfully deny the accusa-
tion.
The editor OF the Tidings also wrote
himself Il liar when he penncd his
brilliant editorial on morality" last
week. The county treasurer who is
sued distraint warrant against the
Macpherson stock of furniture knows,
and the sheriff who served the war
rant and collected the taxes on that
stock knows, that Acklin lied when he
published the statement that "Some
time before Mr.. Macpherson began
loading his car of goods he called up
on the couLty treasurer prepared to
pay his taxes, hut that gentlemBu WAS
not ready to receive them, neither
could he tell Mr.. Macpherson the
amount due" The truth of the mat
ter is that Macpherson never asked
the treasurer what his taxes were and
even after he had been mailed 4 state
ment of his taxes by Mr.. Dye, he made
no move to pay them until a warrant
was served upon him 10y Sheriff Nor
gan. These are the true facts in the
case and they can be verified, if need
be, by sworn statements from Mr.. Dye
and Mr.. Morgan.
Because we pu blshed these facts we
are charged with "a violent, shame
ful and unwarranted attack upon some
of the best people JuleSburg ever
claimed as citizens" 1t may be shame
full to expose dishonesty, and we may
not have been warranted in publish
ing Macpherson attempted evasion
of the law, but we shall always hold Il
different opinion. Evidently our ideas
as to what constitute good morals and
good citizenship differ from those held
by the editor OF the Tidings, but we
shall continue to hold those ideas un-
I'll our error is pointed out by better
Judge OF morality than is the editor of
the Tidiuys-a man whose reputation
for personal and political dishonesty
smells to high heaven.