The record. [volume] (St. Maries, Idaho) 1913-1918, 1916-06-06
THE so-cALLED
HUSTON LOANS
Capital News

on the SO-CdlleQ huston loans, so /
far as we can see, and no one has
attempted it. On the contrary |
all the circumstances connected |
with the transaction call for con- |
demnation, save the fortunate fact
that so far as has yet been shown
the property constitutes adequate |
security for the loans.
In the respect that Huston is
a member of the land board and
as such member voted for the
loans after having appraised two
pieces Of the tract and that as
such member of the board he de-
ceived his associates, this trans
action is worse than the famous
O. V. Allen loan, because Allen
was not a member of the board.
This loan is worse, however,
only inasmuch as it concerns
Huston. As it affects The other
members of the board it is more
.eXcusable for the reason that
Huston is an official elected by
the people with the same powers
and supposedly with thes anne re-
liability as the other members of
the board, and as such member
his associates had a right t0 re-
ly upon his official representa-
tiOns. The law compels the
members of the board TO be as
sOciates in the transaction OF
state business, and each member
therefore has some reason for
the belief that he can at least re-
ly upon the official declarations Of
the others. If they are deceived
by one of their own members the
deception is worse, because there
is no reasonable ground To ex-
pect it, than if they were deceived
by an outsider, for in that case
they are supposed to be ON the
watch against deception.
So far as the governor is con-
cerned, he got caught i'm the de-
ception and there is NO disposi-
ton to deny it. The only ex-
cuse he can have is that ne can
not expect to prevent deals of
this kind so long as Republican
officials are elected with equal
powers with himself who will
put them over"
In comparing the Huston loans
with the Allen loan. however, it
should not be forgotten that the
condemnation i'm the first instance
in the Allen affair, was directed
against Allen, and it was not UNI
til after his official associates and
the newspapers OF his party de-
Tended him that they were made
to share in the condemnation.
and even that was successful
largely because it was established
that frequent loans were made TO
state officials and to political ia
vorites. There are no conditions
of that kind surrounding this
transaction.
AS matter of fact, the leading
Republican papers of the state in
stead of cOndemning the old evils
are still defending them. For
instance, the Boise spokesman of
that party only yesterday morning
said
Finally it was charged that the
(Allen) land was not worth the
amount loaned on it. At that
point a citizen came up and Of
fered to take the loan from the
state and as the security had been
questioned this offer was accept
ed. 1t was then charged that the
man Offering this check had no
such amount of money at his
command, but the check was paid
and the bank showed that he car
ried a balance to cover the sum"
This must be considered a will
full misrepresentation i'm order TO
still defend Allen in that loan
transaction, for il is now we'll
known that the money with which
the Allen loan was paid was tax
en- from the state treasury and it
constitutes a portion of Aliens
shortage and is included i'm the
sum demanded by the state from
the surety of Allen, and was adj
mitted by both Allen and Coleman
in the recent trial of the case
brought by the state against the
surety company.
The charge was made at tho
time Of the repayment of that loan
that the money was stolen from
the state with which to repay it..
but the charge was denied by
Haines and other associates Of
Allen as well as by the Repub-
lican press of the state, and the