Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1915-03-27
MORE PREVAILING CONDITIONS.

|
: Or. provide that the county pr.ntin
shall be done by contract. Sec. 1911
: S. says In part: ITO cause to b
t published monthly such brief state
. ment as will CLEARLY give NOTICE
to the PUBLIC of ALL its acts 9TH
commissioners) and proceedings.
= Is plain to see from the above tina
while the statement Is to be brief
1t LIS to clearly give NOTICE of ALI
the commissioners acts and proceed
tngs. The object of this law neet
: scarcely be discussed here, NOR.
than to state that publicity is to
. day admitted by all to be the great
est known preventive of graft, or I'm
intentional errors. Not all errors
are intentional, and by the same
token, not all errors are unintentiona
but IL there Is a statement publishe ed
that CLEARLY GIVES NOTICE tc
the public OF ALL acts, there is
little doubt but that the errors will
be noticed and corrected. On the
other hand, If an error has been
made Intentionally or otherwise, and
the statement is SO published that
nothing can be obtained from it, it is
more than probable that the error
will never be corrected, or the par
| ty benefited be molested. It is the
taxpayer always who suffer by an
error, for Ii in favor of the county
and against the individual, the indi-
yidual always has 1t corrected. No
need Of publishing statement to
notify him that he is being injured.
And now II you will take the issue
OF the Gilmore Times of November 6,
1914, Charles A. Hackney editor, and
look at the commissioners proceed
ings under claims against fillmore
County, examined and allowed" you
will find where several bills specify
ing what the bill was for, were allow
ed In part and disallowed In part,
specifying the amount allowed and
the amount disallowed. One of these
bills was from the Glenns Ferry Ga
zette, and as we are dealing with
newspapers, we will publish it as a
sample:
"Glenns Ferry Gazette, printing
and publication of notice, claimed
$126.16, disallowed 1896, allowed
$123.50, which clearly gives notice to
the public that the bill as claimed
was not only for printing but pub
fishing of notice. (The Gazette had
no contract to publish notices so
was entitled to pay for them), and
that 1926 was disallowed and the
balance OF $123.50 was allowed. We
think this brief statement complies
not only with the letter of the law
but with the spirit of it, and no one
could find any objection to it. But
low comes the workings of the "Pre-
falling Conditions so boldly given
~ CHARLES A. Hackney, only short
ime since, as being the cause of his
'eing given the county printing at
VI advance of $500 over his competi-
or's bid. Mr.. Hackney had bin
'efore the same meeting of the ,
'oard In which he claimed $349.75.
II this the board disallowed 1929 and
llowed the balance of $220.75. Now
THAT does Mr. Hackneys published ,
tatement of the commissioners acts
q his own paper say about his bill?
q the same column with the ;,
-azette's you will find 1T, and find it v
H. and one other item of his. Here
is Charles A. Hackney, printing +
1900" which undoubtedly refers to q
is contract to print ALL notices, etc, g
Though 1t omits to say so, and far .
Ter down the column you will find: h
Charles A. Hackney, printing $22075. ii
Is publishing the word printing" s.
sfore this item of $220.75 giving '
10 public clear statement CT what c.
was for? In the light of the fact u
at 5000 of the amount was for Ia
ection ballots, $500 for stationery
r the assessors office, and 1915 h
r stationery for the county superin- tt
ndent's office, is not the state- ts
emit fraud ON the public? Is it b,
It dishonest, instead of being cl
atement such as will clearly give II
'tice to the public etc? $1400 of al
Q amount allowed was for print IT
g-printing notice in his paper for W
e of the county officers for which LII
had already been paid under his Ia
ntract. Why did not the published pe
atement with reference to his bill SC
vie land publication of notice" as ~
did in the Gazette's bill? Was
ere fear that someone would see 10
and know that his contract covered WI