The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1908-03-19

COEueT law, lOu huOH, has EObsen
} many a man In trouble. When l am
stumped, ask a lawyer. II you
have an engineering proposition,
rather think can answer il In the
proper way. The place In which your
laws have been changed Is from the
election TO the appointment OF the
overseer.
Under your township law your
overseer was elected for two years.
The law provides the overseer shall
be elected 10 February for two years.
That overseer who is elected for two
years is elected by the people, and
they cannot legislate him out Of shat
office, neither can legislation change
a mas salary, while he is In Office.
That law has been Sustained time
and again. But, In order to have
things run smoothly they are simply
allowing the old overseer to resign
and appointing the same man. 1t
brings the law into effect sooner than
II would otherwise come.
The other point which l wish to
speak OF, which Is a material change,
is In the collection OF road taxes.
The poll taxes are offered In labor up
to the first OF June. 1t then falls on
the oversesr to call out his men. He
doesn't have to ride over the district
and tell where he shall and shall not
work. This is left to the poll tax
payer himself. II he wants to pay
his poll tax In labor, he shall, before
the first OF June, notify she overseer,
and / think, In writing. II he does
not notify the overseer in writing by
the first OF June, then every poll tax
payer which has not paid, or which
has not sent this notice to the over.
seer, his poll tax becomes payable In
cash and Is collected as other taxes,
The other point which has been
changed is shat OF the collection or
paying Of property road tax.
Property road tax must be paio In
cash. Ii cannot be paid In labor.
1t must be paid In cash. The over
seer Is made deputy collector, you
might say, for his road district for
ths collection OF the poll and the
property road tax. This property
road tax is paid to him, and he takes
It and deposits 1t with the township
trustee and hs puts 1t in the treas.
ury TO the credit OF his district and
i.can only be drawn out by warrants
properly drawn.
You cannot, under the law. legally
collect property tax and turn
around and pay 1t to some one who
has done work on yourroads. You
must turn II to the trustee. The law
provides the overseer shall be put
under bond OF double the road tax
OF his district. That is because you
are made a deputy collector and this
money is entrusted in your hands.
That believe Is about all, unless
some line have not thought OF In
which our laws have been changed.
In summing up, you have simply
got a head to your system and to
your work and a man TO help you
out, and he has a man In turn to help
him out
And the property taxes are paid in
cash, and the poll taxes are collected
by tho overseer, and II the poll tax Is
not offered In labor by the first Of
June, it becomes payable as other
taxes. The accounts are turned in
to the collector collecting them the
same as any other taxes.
Now. along this line have two or
three little talks want to bring out
In connection with this work.
The first is with regard to these
laws. No man In Jefferson City ever
will or ever can make laws to suit
every condition or every body In q
state like this. l do not care how
many laws there are there can always
be found some flaws In them and
there is scarcely a law but that can
be defeated II some one wants to do
lit. The thing to do lie to give the
broad meaning that was intended.
The thing to do is to interpret them
as they were intended. The thing Is
to try to do the best we can, under
them. We will find points perhaps
where 1t Is q little bit difficult to
make things work smoothly. There
NAV be some points in these laws