The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1910-02-18
TELLS HOW he
HELPED SLATER
BreISfOTd Turns States Evidence
Before PrObeTS.
SAYS LOOT CAME TO $4,000

Testimony Turned over to Attorney |
General Denman With instructions |
to Begin Criminal Action--Food |
Probers Learn Methods of Cream.
cry Combine-Drastic Measure In.
troduced to Compel Gas Companies
to Continue Service.
Columbus, o., Feb. 15.-Accordlng
to the testimony of ]. e. Brelsford of
Dayton, former partner of Mark Sla-
ter, whose administration as super
visor Of state printing is under fire
by the state graft committee, Slater
was justified in the tenacious manner
in which he hung onto the Office
when Governor Pattison sought to re-
place him with a Democrat.
Brelsford turned states evidence
and told hcw he and Slater looted the
treasury of nearly $4,000 by means of
padded" bills, for which no goods
were delivered. and by other bills for
which the goods were only partly de-
livered. He asserted that Slater
made the proposition that he (Brels-
ford) present the bills and collect the
money, the spoils to be divided on an
even basis, but he claimed that Slater
always secured the big end of the di-
cision. He said Slater secured $10,-
600 and that he had considerable
trouble In securing the balance as his
share.
1t is now considered improbable
that Mr.. Slater will ever return to
Ohio to give his testimony In the In
vestigation. no word has been re-
ceived from him for over week,
when he was at Dowagiac, Mich, and
all efforts to locate him have proven
futile. Even if he is in the United
States the committee has no power to
compel his return to Columbus, TN
less he should be found in Ohio.
A transcript of Brelsford's testi-
mony was turned over to Attorney
General Denman to begin criminal
proceedings against Slater.
Food Probers Also Busy.
While the state graft probers were
unearthlng rank frauds in the Office
of the state printer under Slater, the
food probers were busy getting at
facts which prove the existence of a
creamery combine to keep the price
Of butter at q certain level. Charles
w. Wood, a stationary engineer, tes-
titled as follows before the commit
tee:
81 was standing in Houser's gro
Gerry store some time near the first of
last November and heard two repre-
sentatives of two leading creameries
tell Mr.. Houser that unless he sold
their butter at 40 cents a pound they
would not let him handle their
goods"
Mr.. Woods, chairman Of the COM
mittee, claimed that through personal
investigation he had found the gro
GERS charging practically the same
price all over the city, showing clear
ly an understanding as to prices
"The Retail Grocers' association Is re-
, sponsible for the. fixing Of high
prices" declared Woods. He said fur
ther that he had watched City Sealer
Beckett condemn meat scales on the
Central market and that no sooner
had the sealer turned away than the
proprietors were using the same
scales again.
Furnishes Wage Statistics.
! State Commissioner of Labor sta
D tistics c. II. Wirmel showed that the
4 baking Industries OF the state hat
paid their laboring employees $1.71 fol
: 10 hours work In 1899 ard that now
!, they paid $2.10 for 9.6 hours. Coffee
;. and spice mills paid So in 1907 for
hours work and $1.S0 for 9.5 hours
: in 1908. FIGURING mills paid So fol
: 10 hours in 1907 and $2.15 for 10.'
: hours in 1908. Pickle and preserve
e companies increased the wages IL
1908 from SLIGO to $1.65 for 10 hours
work, while the meat packing indus
tries paid $220 for 10 hours in .botl
1907 and 1908.
z. G. Cain, state statistician in tn,
# secretary of states office, showed b.
y the assessors returns from 1860 Il
e 1908 that, although the acreage o
n raTin land under mortgage had dc
Is creased from 40,357 in 1889 to 22,73
J. in 1908, that the valuation of tn
a. property had only decreased fror
:, s37 7,S1S,S12.76 in 1889 to $94,S66, 1903
= showing that the farmer was also
II victim of high valuations as we'll a
Al his city brother.
'r His report showed also that tn
II agricultural population of the state I
oil 1850 was 2,O13,S72, and in 1900 1t wa
re i,749,285, a decrease of a million, c
! one-fo, ,th of the entire states pop
lation.
"There are good prospects now {
le Investigating all the railways
as Ohio" said Representative Day, Der
e. ocrat, of Ross county, after the tart
a. clerk of the state railway commissio
lie testified before the joint legislatiN
re committee which is investigating hig
~, cost of living. "And more especially
- aold gtha bio Four rofluou In NJ