The Forrest City times., 1914-05-29

ana the two gentlemen whose name . appeared upon t,e ticket for re-elec, , ion, have served gratuitously and sa,
 lsfactorily, so far as we know. still, i : seems queer that the people shoul t not have taken enough interest il - their school affairs to go to the poll
 ana vote. And we venture to sa . that even of the S5 who did vote. no P 25 oi them know the financial condi l ton Of the district, or anything of tn, a plans of the Board for another year
 or Tn fact, anything else about th, , business of this most important of al
 branches of civil government. Whf would alloN such a vast sum of mon
 ey to be collected and expended of his
 own, without giving it even passing
 thought? Are the people content tc
 go on paying the highest rate of tax.
 alton and with never a thought as to
 how it is to be expended? A new
 school building is greatly needed. in
 fact, is absolutely necessary to ae. commodate the increased numb.r of pupils which are now offering.
 It Is a reflection upon our pride and patriotism in home matters to thus allow our school, and other publ c
 matters to just ba' ely exist, or drag
 along, without any assistance or h.
 terest, and do the b. st it can by itself and without anybody's help or even an inquiry. We venture to say that out or the 6l5 voters who were entitled to vote in the election, not 200 even knew that there was to have been an election held. For twenty-five years up until Hon. W J. Lanier became president of the Board, there had been proclamation of election published In one or the other of the newspapers Of this city. MT. Lanier says there is no law requiring this publication or authorizing it, and therefore declines to have the publication made. The cost to the district for publishing such notice is not more than s7. 50 | and sometimes it has been less. IT | would seem to the writer that preced ent for twenty-five years, and - oi tice' would be sufficient Yese.. vrac- doing so, even if Jd Will con4arrant fir shouio hoL-hSe to t good it would do i"iiiiit ihappSSe considered at all. The no nsfo i, off in the vote has been very kee lceab since the publication has been displaced, and altogether it seems
 to US to be matter of false economy
 or that there is some other reason for
 withholding this information from
 the public who is entitled to know all
 about it and should be deeply inter
 ested in it. We are aware of the fact
 that the district is pressed for funds, but we do not think this information
 should be denied the tax payers on
 the ground of economy because the
 cost is so small, especially when com.
 pared to the good it would do in bringing out larger vote and creat-
 ing a greater interest in school affairs,
 that it would be ridiculous to offer
 economy as an excuse or reason for
 withholding the publication. The ar !. gument that it is not authorized by
 law, is overcome by the argument
 that practice and precedent makes it
 lawful, or at least excuses it. We may
 be accused of self interest but it is not so We favor 1t on principle, as a
 matter of public necessity, or public , benefit. We would like to do the
 publishing, but whether we do so ol not, we are still in favor of it being published It ought to be. MT. La ? nier is a lawyer, and stickltr fol D the law That is all right. He should
 be. But he should be reasonable, anC any man can afford to be reasonable ; under all circumstances, and to follow g precedent, when that precedent is ir
 the interest of those who have it tC pay for. He has refused to sign g l warrant allowed The Times for print ; ing because he says it was not autho !. rized. It had ben done before, anC 9 there had never been any question :, raised of its legality or it's authori2a Il tion, and we are innocent sufferer: l. because we followed the precedent
 and had no idea that there would bt 9 any objection to the account. The nc
 count is reasonable and just accoun r for material, etc, that seemed to b' V necessary for the proper and inteli r gent conduct of the affairs of the loca
 schools, and we venture to say tha
 many other bills are paid withOu
 question that have no greater merits
 The public would like to see a tnan
 cial statement of the receipts and ex , penditures of the district. and tn, 'i law ought to require publication o :, same, but as it does not, we cannot q hope that il will be done. It shoulC 2 also require notice of annual election . and such other matters as are of vita