Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1916-09-28

lOi ttl0I ltlc COuulES NOISF SuOulN
be permitted to force them upon
the city. believe that road inn
provemcnts should be authorized
by vote of the people. the city
and country voters balloting sep
arately, and that no such inn
provement should be authorized
|unless it carries in both city and
country.
II am for gravel where gravel
is available, but I believe that
the local community should de- |
eide for itself what it needs and
desires in the way of road i'm /
proyement. l
There you have my position
on the temperance and good!
roads issues. l believe my atti-s,.
tude has been stated as plainly
and in as straightforward man..
nor as it is possible to state il =:
Mr.. Meredith then proceeded to
take mp the record Of his oppo-
neni. and to attack il upon the.
ground of inconsistency = s.
II believe you will all agreess
with me when say that the best
evidence of what may he expected:
of "A candidate when he is elected
is not what he says he is going.
to do. hut what his record shows
him to have already done along
the same lines said Mr.. Merel
dith.
II am willing to concede that
Mr.. Harding might have sud-
denly have become a convert to
the cause Of prohibition. 1t is
possible. too, that he might have
discovered that he erred when he
attempted to load taxation upon
the farmers as a member of the /
legislature He might have
changed his views recently upon
the subject. although he did
vote for paved highways when in
the legislature Also. it is with
in belief that he might have dis
covered he was mistaken in his
stand for a public utilities COM
mission when he had Il chance to
vote for bin the corporations
, wanted.
But do not believe, and
do not believe any of you vii be-
lieve. that Mr.. Harding is ae-
tuatei by any desire other than
to get votes when he claims to
, have completely changed his at
/ titndr upon all these things. and
to have made all these changes
since he decided to run for gov
, ernor.
, 81 am not asking you To take
!. my word for the inconsistency of
Harding.
I His legislative record con.
: deInns him. His letter to Del
: Huntoon, dated October Z, 1914,
shows his alliance with the brew
: cts harding himself never
q claimed to be other than wet un-
1 Til the present campaign.
], AS on the liquor question. so
5 OH roads. He voted for S. r. 217
G of the session OF 1909, the only
h bill for the paving of country
lroads which ever passed an Iowa
1 legislature. And on Harding s
a own motion this bill was amended
n 10 assess not less than SO per
4 cent Of the cost Of the paving to
Q the AUDITING property owner.
s He now claims to champion
S the cause of the farmer. yet in
e 1909 he introduced a bill to pay
: over to the cities every cent of
e the country road tax collected
p upon property within the limits
of incorporated towns, thus
$ throwing the entire burden of the
building and repairing OF coun-
d try roads upon the farmer.
n He voted for a bill, S. F. l2l
II of the session of t9il, which
h permitted the taxing of a spe-
!, cial 2 mill levy against rural
o property for the county road
i fund. but specifically exempted
: all town properly from the same
I tax. And he fought the provision
r of the automobile license law
. which gives to the rural roads
). the counties shares OF the auto
: mobile license revenue.
e Now he claims to be standing
i up for the farmer.
J, lie says | am trying to bur-
!. den the farmers with taxation.
e But he doesn't attempt to ex-
plain his own record. because he
q can't
Harding says. too. that he is
v opposed To state commissions.
3 Yet Harding himself worked for
L two sessions of the legislature to
D put over a state tax commits sion.
8 He introduced two bills, one in
u 1909 and another in 1914. with
I his end in view. and engineered
e the passage in the house Of S. i.
n 49,. The tax law revision com
+ mission bill of 1914. This was
4 the bill under which a tax com
4 mission was appointed which re-
1 ported i'm favor of a permanent
r. tax commission. and whose re-