Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-10-24
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OPEN FORUM
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MIR. GEHLHAR' POLITICAL
ACTIVITIES

To the Editor-Prior to the primar
les, Mr.. Gehlhar was widely mentioned
as candidate against Ben w. Olcott
Evidently Mr.. Gehlhar decided that tc
defeat Olcott was too big a Job for him
to undertake, and not liking the idea
! of being out of office he turned his
attention to securing the republican
nominaton for district attorney. Tc
this end there was issued at the expense
of the taxpayers, of this county, what
is known as the "19l6 Taxpayers
Guide' and several thousand copies
were mailed to the voters at the ex.
pense of the county, although the
Guide y was designed to be and in
fact was an advertisement personal to
Mr.. Gchlhar and not primarily issued
either to enlighten or benefit the peo-
pie to whOm.it was sent, but rather to
promote Mr. Gehlhar's candidacy.
On tho first Of this folder is the
statement:
Compiled from the Marion county
records and published by Max Gehhar,
county clerk, January ], 1916"
Now the fact is, while it was com
piled by Mr.. Gehlhar, it was published
by an order of the county court, that
authorized the publication of certain
facts, but did not authorize nor have
knowledge prior to the printing, of the
self advertisements inserted therein by
Mr.. Gehlhar.
This "Guide' on the front page an
nounces to and advises The people that
it is sent them "with the compliments
of Max Gehlhar, county clerk. f" Now
the the phrase, Compliments of
Max Gehlhar, county clerk, was in
tended to convey any meaning. it was
to impress upon the people the idea
that Mr.. Gehlhar was sending the
Guide to them at his own expense;
and taken in connection with the state
ment that it was compiled and pub
lished by Max Gehlhar, county clerk "
justifies me in saying that Mr.. Gehl-
har designedly attempted to delude the
people into believing that Mr. Gehlhar
had compiled, published and mailed the
Guide as an individual and without
expense to the taxpayers. The fact is,
the people paid for the work Mr.. Gehl
har did in compiling it, the cost of ad
dressing each copy and all the postage
Gehlhar employ, without the knowledge
or consent of the county court, this mis-
leading phrase, which appears twice in
the "Guide. -
On the back of the pamphlet, find
in large print, the following:
For county information telephone
county clerks office, write county
clerk IS office, call at county clerk IS
office, Max Gchlhar, county clerk, Sa-
lem, Oregon.
That this is gratuitous self advertis.
ing at the expense of the people, is
self evident. 1t may be as one man de-
scribcd it, "mighty smooth, but it is
rather undignified and hardly in keep
ing with the idea that "smoothness -
is not requisite of the public service.
And it is fair in this connection to di-
rect attention to the fact that the
tickets sold at the military balls bear
on their backs, in his own writing, the
name of Max Gehlhar. Evidently Mr..
Gehlhar is an adept in the art of ad-
vertising.
The "Guide' is in some respects
misleading and taken in connection
with Mr.. Gehlhar's S own advertisement
in county paper that "every other Of
flee in the county has increased its ex-
is exceedingly unjust.
For instance, the "Guiden shows that
the assessors office increased its ex-
penses from $ll5 to $3.50 year, but
it does not show the fact that the new
law took the extension of the tax roll
from Mr.. Gehlhar's office and made
the assessor extend it at q cost of
from 5000 to 500 annually.
The "Guide" shows that the treas
urer's office, under Mr.. Drager, in
creased its expenses about 5000 a year,
but it does not show the fact that the
law took the tax collecting from the
sheriff and turned it over to the treas
urer, and that this increase in expenses
was caused by the employment of nee
essary clerical aid in that office on the