Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-12-30
Local Comment

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS sG,6NS6IN600O
Verify Marshalltown must have ex-
perienced tremendous increase i'll
population since the saloons closed for
in spite of the fact that last springs
| registration and vote was the largest
ever known in this city a petition cir
| culated this fall finds 353 Of it's 1.011
| names not registered last spring. The
wonder is as to where all these new
voters live, for the building boom this
summer has not been noticeable, but
the population must have increased az
| least 33 per cent for here Is one out OF
every three voters a newcomer since
the saloons closed July L. 1t Is more
than was really expected by the ~most
optimistic
Whether or not the insufficiency of
the present recall petition finally re-
suits in preventing a needless election
the city clerk has held as the law re-
| quires him to hold. He employed per-
sonai counsel Independent of the OBJ
jectors and followed the statute as best
he could.
It is TO be regretted however, that
competent legal tribunal could not have
passed upon the first objection raised.
The directors contenGed that the whole
petition was invalid because it Jailed to
contain a statement of the grounds for
which removal was asked. Thetlan-
guage of the statute providing that
the petition shall contain general
statement of the grounds for which the
removed is asked" clearly intended that
the recall was not to be used except for
cause If it were intended that spe.
cial election could be had at any time
it would lead to chaos. Suppose our CITY
officers were nominated by political
parties as they are in most large cities.
the moment one party had won in "A
regular election the other party could
start petition charging that the mayor
was guilty of wearing q green necktle
and there would be signers enough IN
the defeated party to call another cleo
ton and there would be no end to IT,
Even in Marshalltown the same abb
curdity is highly possible and not al
together improbable for if the present
dissatisfied element can call an cleo
ton on the sole charge that they old
10, like the looks of lunch stand ard
if they should win there are voters
enough among the opposition to start
a recall on Herman on the charge ina.
he speaks with foreign accent or had
not perfected his naturalization papers
and we would have another election AT
public expense. Such foolishness LEADS
TO public ruin. The recall statute clear
" intended that there should be some
kind of q charge Of misconduct SER
ious enough to justify an election for
removal and if the present language is
not specific it is time the courts read
it into the recall law or else the law
| will become joke and a travesty upoa
| intelligence.
The three charges which might be
serious if true, the purchase OF ma
terial without complying with the law
the transfer of funds illegally. and the
purchase of water pipe without au-
thority of law are specifically stated IN
the recall petition to be acts OF the
whole council and not those OF the
MAYOR. Neither one is true as coulo
have been ascertained from the rec
ords Councilman Herman. in charge
! OF the street department, hao ra11eo TO
+! see that the work of grading the
streets was Maid for out of the grading
! fund levied for that purpose and in or
der to reimburse the general fund Tor
/ these r?ayments or in other words, to
charge the payments to the right &C
count on the city's ledger the transfer
was made by resolution carefully
| drawn by the city attorney. Nothing il
legal. was done. even by the council.
1t was not even charged against the
mayor The purchase of material was
done by resolution and with full lnowl-
edge of all the council but the detail
of second adoption was in some cases
omitted not by the mayor but by the
council and so charged in the petition.
The recall feature Of the commission
plan is on trial in Marshalltown and
will be sustained or destroyed accord
ing as this petition fails or is per-
mitted to force an unnecessary and adj
mittedly unjustifiable election. If good
men in office doing their duty faith :
fully are to be recalled without cause
and solely because of political faction
alism, good men in the future will re-
fuse to accept office under such a sys-
tenn Give a man no security in office
even under good behavior and the
charlatans will soon have the political
field all to themselves.
3
The county has received its refund
of $1.036 automobile tax to be used on
the highways. Each township is pro-
vided by law with a special levy for
road dragging. The county has one
mill levy for emergency work, hence
this auto tax should be used for grad
ing. If the county would have survey
made of it's roads with railroad profiles
/ showing cuts and fills and have this
data filed it could then start syste-
: radically to reducing grades to the en-
gineer's levels. In twenty-five years
r there would be no more hills on the
roads of Marshall county. Long before
r that time we will have begun to build
I pavements in the country with twenty
2 five year bond issues.
The city now has a record Of its waite
2 mains on permanent maps prepared b,
r competent craftsman and engineer
This is the first time in the history O.
this city that this very important en-
cheering record has been prepared
Other cities have always considered
such maps Indispensable and as mat
ter of fact as cash book. The new
administration has produced the rec
r ords, but political agitation in the pas
: has helped some.
. o. ~