Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1915-01-01
FIGHT HARD TO STOP.

The follow insult to the citizens of
Orofino appeared in the last issue of
the Elk River Sentinel:
Gossip from Orofino has it that a
committee of business men recently
waited upon some of the leaders of
the contending factions there and
notified them to cut out some of the
bitter personal fighting which has for
several years been the distinguishing
feature of life in that lively burg.
Just what success the committee had
is not known-only time will tell
but it is not likely to be marked.
Too much has been said and done that
was vindictive and blackguardly for
the sores to heal at the bidding of any
self-appointed delegation. In fact,
so few of the business people have
kept out of the numerous fights there
that it would be difficult to find
enough not themselves guilty to make
up committee.
''The only way the Orofno fight
can ever be finally settled is by the
advent of new blood drawn by the
growth of the town and country and
not concerned in the old feuds; even
truce is little likely unless the
fighting results in a series of draws
which no one of the factions can bet
ter.
"For the rest of the county the
whole series of scraps has been an
amusing spectacle in which few have
had PERSONAL interest enough to care
who won. The combatants have
never been fighting for any principle
or policy but for revenue only and fol-
revenge for defeat. 1t originated il
business and spread into politics wher
the creation of Clearwater county
gave the clans another bone to figh,
over.
Politically, the victories of all
have been a simple transfer Of the
county meal ticket
The editor of the Sentinel is either
an old ignoramus, or is talking tt
hear his head rattle. Manifestly he
does not tell the truth. When he
charges the people of Orofino with be-
ing all grafters, all set of politica
pirates who live at the county pie
counter, and that the political fight
just ended involved no principle, thS
Sentinel insults every intelligent citi
zen in the county. 1t is an insult tt
Clearwater county, and the Sentine
has no right to send such statement:
broadcast.
One of the paramount issues of tn,
fight was the stopping of graft or ex
trayagance, which ever it may sui
the Sentinel to call the looting of tn.
county treasury, over which the Senti
mel has repeatedly protested. Tn,
Sentinel, because it desired to curry
favor with the Potlatch Lumber com
pany. has howled and raved over tn,
taxation of timber lands in the neigh
borhood of Elk River, and in the east
nounced the outrageous waste of coun
ty funds. And here we have tn,
Sentinel itself discovering the yer,
meat of the principle involved in tn,
recent county contest. The people o.
Clearwater county were not satisfied
and the people of Orofno We're no
satisfied. The vote at the reeen
election showd that the people al
over the county understood the issu,
and that 0rofino joined in most laud
able effort to clean up the county
stop extravaganza, and thus relieve
the timber owners of their share Of
the unnecessary and unjust tax burden
There was another issue. Thert
was another principle involved. The
people were outraged and Mortified al
the lawless condition in Elk River, /
condition the Sentinel knew existed,
yet one the Sentinel never had the
courage or the disposition to condemn
or exnose. Law enforcement was the
second principle involved in the fight,
and the Sentinel must have realized
this. It is rot for this paper To now
rise up ard declare that the people
were set of fools fighting over moth
ing. Lawlessness, such as has exist.
ed ard disgraced Clearwater county
f3r the past four years at Elk River,
ard at 0rotino and all over the coun-
t. for that matter, does matter, and
the Sentinel belittles itself and in.
suits its own intelligence when il
slsrs and mock at the respectable mef
and women of Clearwater county who
arose in their might ard laying aside
politics, joined in movement that
nade every bootlegger in the county
sit up and take notice.
The people were fighting against q
lawlessness that resulted in murder in
an illegal brothel at Elk River.
A third nrincinle at isSra IN fba ,a