Bismarck daily tribune., 1912-04-05
Communications
Editor Bismarck Tribune:


There appeared in this weeks is
sue of the county treasurer's personal
organ, a very amusing article with
the following heading: Gen. Thos.
H. Poole, retired, was thrown out"
meaning out of the county treasurer's
in reading the article we find the
heading contradicted entirely in the
body itself which at this point reads
as follows. "and warned him that it
he ever found him there again, (mean-
ing in the vault of the county treasur-
er's ottice) he would use physical
force in evicting him." (the evicted
to be the said Poole), so in fact the
eviction suggested in the heading was
merely a threat. The undersigned
was employed by the county commits
sioner's to check up the personal tax
collections OF the sheriff's office for
the years commencing 1903 and end
ing 1910. At one period in the ex-
animation the county treasurer re-
fused. to allow me access to certain
records, assigning as his reason that
some of the statements had been tam
pered with and changes made there
on. After a short discussion of the
matter with the treasurer l was able
to convince him and get the PROPOSE
tion through his Uranium that these
changes had been properly made and
by the proper official, either the coun-
ty treasurer or the sheriff himself,
to conform with the moneys turned in
at that time and with the receipts is.
sued by the county treasurer, so this
poor excuse was refuted (but the ar
ticle in the organ admits there was
no malicious damage done). Then
the examination proceeded in the
treasurer's Office in an orderly man.
ner, this after had given Mr.. Kositz-
ky little fatherly advice in language
just as forcible as it was elegant
an there was no violence done. The
county commissioners employed me
to check up the personal tax collec.
tions as stated above to determine
if all the face of the tax lad been COL
lected and if the legal rate Of interest
had been collected by the sheriff and
properly accounted for by him. Sec.
1854 of the Revised Coles of 1905,
and prior statutes define the duties
of the sheriff in connection witt the
collection of ielinquen: personal taxes
after they Rave been placed in his
hands. 1t is his duty to collect on
delinquent personal ta2es penalty and
interest from the da*e they became
delinquent up to AMI including the
month in which they were collected.
and turned in. If he has made COL
lections and not turned the money in
the county should know it and If e
has not done so he has failed to CON-
ply with the law and he himself is
personally liable for the amount which
he failed to collect. My report on this
subject has been made and filed with
the county commissioners and it is
subject to criticism by Mr.. Carl Ko-
sticky or any others who are inter-
ested in the matter. The criticism
should be based strictly on whether
the report is or is not correct and are
the amounts correct and due the coun-
ty. 'On this point l will defy Mr..
Kosltzky or any of his miMons, po-
litical cohorts or sham reformers to
prove that the statements therein are
not correct and am willing to submit
to any firm of competent examiners
(no wind bags or interested parties
go) for the purpose of verifcation
and if they do not find that the
amounts are correct I will charge the
county nothing for my work.
Mr.. Kositzky has been wailing long
and loud to the tax payers Of the
county that on account of his loyalty
and interest in their behalf and not
for personal gain. he has pushed per-
sonal tax collections without fear or
favor and that his sole interest was
in collecting these taxes in order to
reduce taxation on the over burdened
tax payers. digressed little in nv
examination to ascertain if this was
really the only reason why he was in
terested in the personal tax collec-
tions and of course as usual in the
case Of over Jealous reformers l dis
covered that he was a beneficiary in
part in the collection thereof, a slight
intimation Of which will be found in
my report. So while I was want to
give Mr.. Kositzky full credit for his