The Rathdrum tribune. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1903-1963, 1908-10-02
CAPTURED THE MEET|| {
Raihdrum Met COeur d'Alene
Arguments at Post Falls.
ON COUNTY SEAT REMOVAL
Klopf and Sinclair Found Plenty
of Weak Spots.

A "county seat removal" campaign
meeting, arranged by the Occur d..
Alene club, for the purpose of advp-
eating county seat removal. was held
at Post Falls last Tuesday evening.
1t was we'll attended by people Of
Post Falls, and other points between
Occur d'Alene and Spokane Bridge,
for whom free transportation had
been offered in order to induce them
to be present. Mr.. H. M. Strathern
welcomed the visitors to Post Falls
and introduced tie speakers. The
meeting had been designed to be d
strictly Occur d'Alene affair, but
some Rathdrum speakers arrived un-
expectedly before the meeting and
were invited to say something IL they
chose to do so, which invitation was
accepted. j. L. McClear and r. e.
Mcfarland. attorneys. and II. N.
Dunn, register of the U. s. land
office, spoke on behalf of Occur d.
Alene, and G. r. Klopf and Bartlett
Sinclair Of Rathdrum replied to them
10 opposition to county seat removal.
Mr.. McClear was the first speaker.
He opened with story intended to
Z, compare Rathdrum with Occur d.
Alene to the disadvantage of the
former which be said had nothing
but the county seat. He said the
county buildings at Rathdrum were
not a credit to the county, that the
court house was in danger Of burning
and destroying the records, that II
| the county seat was not moved this
election and a new court house built,
1t could not be attempted again Tor
six years, and 10 the meantime he
declared. the present court house
would become too dilapidated for use,
that II the county seat Is moved now
Occur d'Alene has several.'free" sites
to offer and he read a fake "lease',
executed Sept. 25, by which the city
council pretends to dunate the free
use of the city hall for county pur--
poses for an Indefinite period. The
speaker expatiated to a great extent
on the vault reom and the alleged
safety from fire, of the city hall as
compared with the present court
house, seeking to discredit the latter.
He denied that. the county would
lose the county property In Rathdrum,
that the deed to the site did not have
clause by which it could revert I'd
the original grantor, ETC., that the
sites offered IN Occur d'Alene were
more valuable, etc. A picture of tht
city hall In Occur d'Alene was exE
hibited and map showing the "free'
sites. The alleged superior accessi
hility Of Occur d'Alene was dwelt up
on. In handling the tax phase thI
speaker claimed the increase would
be insignificant, that while the coun
ty did not want court house costin,
less than $50, 900, twenty year bond
could be issued, etc., so that th
burden would be light; he thought i
was not likely that so much as $3.50,
900 bonded debt would be incurred
by county seat removal. He sait
Rathdrum could keep the poor farm
Coeur d'Alene did not want it.
i, Mr.. Klopf was the next speaker II
the impromptu debate and beside
refuting McClear's charges regardin,
the county buildings at Rathdrum
introduced other phases for the con
sideration of voters. He spoke ear
nestly Of the manner in which Coeu
d'Alene people were assduously mis-
representing Rathdrum, the count.
buildings and the condition ant
capacity of the county vaultAn orde
to discredft the town as the count
seat. He called attention.to the fac
that part of the court house is prac.
a tically new, having been built bu
r three or four years ago, that tn
e building is ample aud serviceable fo
I all county purposes and will be fo
six-aye ten years, and the vault
q perfectly fireprocf and serves th
0 purposes of all the officials accOrdin
J. to their own statements. He adde
that he did not believe any electe