The Sentinel=record., 1913-11-22
A COMMUNICATION
 ON CITY FINANCE

"N"9I d991lS SuiH II can not. ana 3ll arguments along that line IS tommy rot
 To whom or what can the financial condition of our county or city be charged?
 As my appeal to the ladies of Hot Springs has been construed by some male inhabitants of this community 10 include them, I wish to say to them that if they had been of the female sex they would not have been en- titled to a place with the ladies, for l do not believe any lady would make an assertion that could not be sub stantiated by facts and figures.
 am not defending intoxicating liquors in any manner, but am. simply giving you facts. Just so long as the United States government makes it legitimate by licensing it to be sold, just so long will it be sold, and it will not stop until the United States congress makes it unlawful to make, sell or give it away
 My critics say that whiskey is the cause of our city and county being so largely in debt I deny the state ment, and had I the time could prove the falsity Of the assertion by the records themselves. l would show positively and clearly that large part of it is from dishonest of. flcials who duplicate their fee bills and make charges which are not al lowed by the law, and which are un- lawfully allowed by the courts. This may seem to some of you far fetched, but as l stand in the presence of my God today, it is true.
 Pardon personal reference, but most of you know, that l know or did know d short while ago more about the financial affairs of our county than any other official connected with it. and l know more about the financial affairs of our city now than any other man or official in it, and when I quote you figures you can rely on it's being true.
 My critics say that if we did not have any saloons we would have no need of a police force. All right let's eliminate the saloons, and that elimI, mates the police force, and then see how we would get along.
 A conservative estimate of our ex- penses are as follows:
 Official salaries ........ SIP ,000 % Fire department ........ 1S,000.00 Water, lights, etc. ......., 20,00000 Feed, repairs and other incl
 dentals ................ 6000.O
 A conservative estimate of our revenue is as follows:
 Taxes from real estate and
 personal property ....... $37, ,000.00 Licenses from all sources but
 no liquor .....,......... 100000
 Total .................... 9,OOO.OO
 Leaving us with deficit of $15' 900 annually.
 You are clamoring for better streets, better fire protection and yet when we need legitimate revenue, you are up in arms and want to tar and feather the tax assessor when he wants to assess your property at reasonable valuation.
 l am issuing a statement of the fi- nancial condition of the city today, and from that statement it can be seen that if we can receive the reve- nue from licensed saloons for an other year we will have very mate rially reduced the indebtedness of the city.
 Now as to the county, it might be little different, but Whiskey is not responsible for all the awful debt, My self-constituted reliable C? critics know just as well as 1 do that their statements will not bear invesiga. tion.
 If the courts would insist on some of these little insignificant lawyers and other lawyers doing their duty and being ready to try the cases when set down for trial there would not be such long terms of court and jurors fees count up mighty fast, Again, that iniquitous fee system in vogue in this state under which we are la boring is one of the principal causes of our large debt, and until that is abolished and salaries regulated and capitalized you will remain in debt
 You do not know and neither can you know until you have been placed in a position to observe it. what an infamous system it is. Unfortunate litigants have no means of telling what the law allows the officials to charge them, and if they try to find out, it will cost them more time, ex' pense and trouble than they care to spend The former official who as sumes to criticize all who would sign petition for the sale of liquor rather than see it sold illegitimately knows that what I say is true, and he will not deny it.
 Deception will not win in anything