The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1911-03-10
Mayor Friday Simply Lied.

1
Just why Mr. Friday is so eager tc
retain his clutch on the Job has not
yet been satisfactorily explained, bu,
he apparently believes that by attack
ing Norfolk industries and lying about
them, he can help boost himself back
into the job which he seems to like
so well, for fourth term.
In his anxiety to retain his office
Mr.. Friday has publicly lied about
The Huse Publishing Co., apparently
| hoping TO create sentiment that
might counteract some of the facts
The News is going to print about him
He has also publicly attacked other
| industries and business men.
In open council meeting in his ca
pacity as mayor Mr.. Friday said The
| Huse Publishing Co. was a tax shirkeI
and in his published letter he says
the Huse family are not paying one
tenth what they should pay" Gin
| taXes).
AS a matter of fact, "the Huses"
paid $421.65 taxes into the treasury of
Madison county last year, which all
fair minded men will agree was a
pretty liberal share toward maintain
ing the county business, including the
lawless expenditure of city money at
the instance Of the mayor.
Just why Mayor friday should so
maliciously attack an industry which
employs more people and pays out
more money in wages each year than
any other local enterprise, is difficult
to understand.
As to his charge that the Huse Pub.
fishing Co. shirks it's taxes, it is OBJ
vious that Mayor Friday simply lied.
His attack on The News was in line
with the vicious spirit he displayed
toward a new industry, the Norfolk
Chemical & Oil works. In his pub
lished letter he backs down, declaring,
Il have not word to say against this
industry in rs present location" 1t
is well that he hasn't. That doesn't
erase his spiteful slurs cast upon the
enterprise in his harangue to the
council, when he continually referred
to this new factory as a grease box"
He says he hasn't Knocked" this new
industry. Perhaps politicians told
him he had made another blunder
But if Mr.. Friday doesn't call it a
knock" for the mayor of a city, in a
speech to the council, to slightingly
refer to factory as "a grease box"
then We don't know what the word
knock" means.
Clearly enough, to counteract this
political blunder, the mayor is merely
lying.
Mayor Friday attempts to discredit
the public spirit of The News and its
publishers. In open council meeting
and in a signed letter that he has
caused to be printed, he insinuates
that The Huse Publishing Co. refused
to donate to the fund for buying n
site for the Norfolk Chemical & Oil
factory, the new industry which he
tried to drive out of town. He says
he subscribed to this fund and asks:
Did Mr.. Huse?"
Mr.. Huse certainly did. The Huse
Publishing Co. was one of the first
firms to subscribe to this fund. May
or Friday, now Dragging over his do
nation, forgets to say that he at first
fatty refused to give one cent toward
this new Norfolk industry's site. and
that he did not subscribe until bust.
ness men had pleaded with him time
after time and that he only did it then
for political reasons. Just why Mr..
Friday has seen fit, in his official ca
pacity as mayor, to say that the pub
fishers OF this paper did not subscribe
to that fund, is not quite clear.
The fact remains, however. that Mr..
Friday has simply lied about it.
In open council meeting Mayor Fri
day declared that Mr.. Huse did not
subscribe to last summers race meet
guaranty fund.
The Huse Publishing company has
never yet refused to subscribe to any
public fund of this sort, and it not
only subscribed but paid it's share Of
the shortage last summer, as it always
had in the past.
Again Mr.. Friday, using his position
as mayor to assail a private Norfolk
| industry, has simply lied.
Mr.. Friday denies that he meant to
attack the Commercial club In his
council meeting harangue. If he is
afraid to stand upon his fascinating
assault upon the present Commercial
club, why is it that although he is
mayor of the city, he refuses to be-
| long TO the Commercial club? Why
does he refuse to pay so cents a
month, as business man, to support
this organized effort to make Norfolk
grow? What kind of mayor have
we, that is of such small calibre and
so lacking in public spirit for the good
of the town in which he lives. that he
refuses to join with other business
i ~, tu' 20 int 20