The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-10-17
COUNTY AFFAIRS IN WRECK.

There ls no mlstaklng the fact that
the official and business affairs of this
county are in deplorable condition.
We have a Board OF County Commits
sioners who are bent on petty crafts
and who have no comprehension of ordi
nary business affairs. In the one tran
saction of rcfurding $350,000 Of county
bonds, the taxpayers were wronged out
of $4,000. In the fake purchase Of an
alleged new site for the county farm
another $4,000 or more has gone to
the bad. In the populations Of "Mut-
tom Jones, who was superintendent of
the County Infrplary, be who ted the
inmates on rotten mutton and kept
them SO miserably clad that they suf
fered az every spell of cold, and who
seems to have lost all sense Of distipc-
ton between his own property and the
property of the county, there was an
other large loss to the county, the
amount of which it is impossible to
ascertain.
The reason why 1t is impossible to
ascertain the amount of this loss is be-
cause Of the Incompetence OF the Coun-
ty Attorney. He was unable to show
before any court that the county was
possessed of any personal property
whatever. Every time that it was
found that "Mutton' Jones had taken
that was claimed by the coun-
ty, Farley P. Christensen found it i'm
possible TO show legally that the prop
ua n ha -
county. That is to say, by reason Of
the incompetence Of the County Attor-
ney it was not possible to show the
ownership OF any personal property
whatever by the county.
The Sheriff's Office costs this county
$4,000 a year, whereas In the old days
where the Sheriff got the fees, the in.
was in comfortable circum-
stances at the end OF two years and Il
wealthy man at the end OF four. But |
Emery cannot make the Office pay with
in $4,000.
The County Recordership, also, was
in the old days an ofice that netted |
large revenue to the incumbent; and a
term or two was enough to give a man
q good start in life. Now, however, the !
Recorder s Office costs the county up
wards of $1,000 clear cash per year;
and so it goes ali along the line. Graft,
graft, robbery, pilfering, incompetence,
are the rule. The people are plucked at |
every corner, and the taxpayers are
made to suffer by the depredations of
.he rapacious clan that has fixed itself |
upon the public as leeches and blood
suckers,
From this reign of grab, graft, rob-
oery, imbecility Of effectiveness and
oppression Of the taxpayers, the Ameri-
'an party proposes to release this coun.
~. 1t has put up set OF candidates
who are clean, square, honest, compe.
tent men. They are we'll known TO the
public to be such. Under their rule
here will be neither graft, robbery nor
oppression. The people will get their
lights. The Commissioners will be able
% understand the difference between
our and one"eighth per cent and four
Ind one-half per cent in the matter of
interest. They will not make fake pur.
,hases In the name of their daughters
'r of any other private persons in be-
lalf of the county to the county's in.
ury; they will not perpetrate petty
little gratis in the guise of monthly en-
'ense; the superintendent Of the County
-nhrmary will be person able to know
What is county property and what is
lis own, and will have the rectitude Of
character to keep them entirely distinct.
There will be an improvement all along
he line, and the taxpayers and the pub
ic Of this county will receive the beno-
it of that improvement.
1t is up to the taxpayers to make the
hange that is needed and desirable, and
We have full faith aud confidence that
hey will make that change on the
sixth day Of November next, by put
ing IN all the county positions, the
American party nominees.