Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1912-02-22
CHARGES OF DITCH GRAFT"

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CHARGES OF DITCH GRAFT"
From the Middle River Pioneer:
The Argyle Banner Of two weeks
ago gave publication to letter from
some Marshall county citizen signing
himself Taxpayer that was sensa-
tional in the extreme.
The writer charges that there was
jobbery of the rankest kind in the let
ting of the contract of big Judicial
Ditch No. II, saying that but one bon
aide bid was submitted and three or
four other bidders who were present
and did not bid were handed rakeoffs
by the successful bidder, one fellow
getting $4,000, another $500 and anoth-
er getting sub-contract at good
price, and so on, and that .The bunch
that allowed the deal to be pulled of
got $4,000 in cash to divide between
them" He draws comparison be-
tween the price to be paid for the ex-
cavation of this ditch with that Of
most of the state bitches and gives fig
ures to show that while the ditch un-
der the contract will cost nearly mil
lion dollars it could have been con-
structed on the basis Of the state
bitches for $579,O5O.- He says further
that Immediately after the letting
the bunch got busy and bought up a
lot Of land in favorable locations along
the ditch, little later on the bunch
and engineers in their employ were or
ganized; junkets were pulled off, The
chief engineer constituted himself a
land agent and picked up all snaps for
himself and friends. At the same
time he was drawing a big per diem
and expenses from the county,
The above quotation in htself con-
stitutes no charge againstI any one,
and will carry no weight among think
ing men in creating adverse sentiment
against the men it is directed at. The
fact that men are in position to buy
automobiles is no evidence that they
are crooked. Neither is there any
reason to infer. that Mr.. Hoag's buy
ing some land here was result of or
because Of his making a big rakeoN
out of the ditch.
The writer concludes his article in
the following words;
This is a fair statement ST TACT 6n
NO. IL and it is no worse than Some
other bitches in Marshall county, on
~ on larger scale. You can call
this graft or any ugly word you like
and have no fear of calling it by a
wrong name. I can go into court and
prove the foregoing statement. | will
send you some more facts a little Ia.
ter on, at the present time 1 cannot
go farther for fear of flushing the
game.
While the Pioneer does not vouch
for the accuracy of the statements of
the Banners correspondent, it be-
lieves that there will be and should
be more to come from these charges.
This is too serious matter to be al
lowed to drop at this stage of the
game. If the writer can ais he says
IN his concluding paragraph, prove
these charges he owes it to the coun-
ty and to fair dealing that he come out
in the open and make good. On the
other hand if the county board and
the auditor and county attorney and
Others are innocent of any graft and
wrong doing they should insist on the
searchlight being turned on to clear
themselves of all suspicion; for ii
must be conceded the enormous bic
county warrants that have been issu
ed to some parties in connection with
this ditch have led many taxpayers OF
eastern Marshall county to believe
that the ditch is costing too much
money and created an apprehension
among them that there has BEEN graft
OF some sort in the ditch deal. Turn
on the searchlight!