Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1916-10-04
ment should be authorized unless It
carries In both city and country.

carries III UOIu CITY anu CouAlAy'
Il am for gravel where gravel is
available. but l believe that the local
community should decide for itself
what it needs and desires in the way OF
road improvement.
There you have my position on the
temperance and good roads issues. l
believe my attitude has been stated as
plainly and In as STRAIGHTFORWARD .
manner as 1t Is possible to state It"
Mr.. Meredith then proceeded to take
up the record Of his opponent, and
to attack it upon the ground OF incon-
sistency.
Il believe you will all agree with me
when l say that the best evidence OF
what may be expected Of candidate
when he is elected Is not what he says
he is going to do. but what his record
shows him to have already done along
the same ltnes." said Mr.. Meredith.
II am willing to concede that Mr..
Harding might suddenly have become
q convert to the cause Of prohibition.
1t is possible, too, that he might have
discovered that he erred when he at
tempted to load taxation upon the
farmers ~ . member Of the legislature
He might have changed his views ro-
Gently upon the subject Of roads. al
though he did vote for paved high
ways when In the legislature. Also, 1t
is within belief that he might have
discovered he was mistaken in his
stand for public utilities commission
when he had chance to vote for .
bill the corporations wanted.
But l do not believe, and do not
believe any Of you will believe, that
Mr.. Harding is actuated by any desire
other than to get votes when he claims
to have completely changed his atti-
tude upon all Of these things, and to
have made all these changes since he
decided to run for governor.
II am not asking you to take my
word for the inconsistency Of Harding.
Ills legislative record condemns
him. His letter to Del Huntoon. dated
October 4, 1911, shows his alliance with
the brewers. Harding himself never
claimed to be other than wet until the
present campaign.
"AS on the liquor question, so on
roads. He voted for s. F. PIT Of the
session Of 1909, the only bill for the
paving Of country roads which ever
passed an Iowa legislature. And on
Harding's own motion this bill was
amended to assess not less than SO
per cent Of the cost Of the paving to
the abutting property owner.
HE now claims to champion the
cause Of the farmer, yet in 1909 he in
troduced bill to pay over to the cities
every cent OF the county road tax col
lected upon property within the limits
of incorporated towns, thus throwing
the entire burden Of the building and
repairing Of country roads upon the
farmer. tx a ssl:gsss
HE voted for bill, S. F. 421, Of the
session Of 1911, which permitted the
taxing Of a special two mill levy
against rural property for the county
road fund, but specifically exempted
all town property from the same tax.
And he fought the provision Of the
automobile license law which gives to
the rural roads the counties share Of
the automobile license revenue.
Nov he claims to be standing up
for the farmer.
He says am trying to burden the
farmers with taxation. But he doesn't
attempt to explain his own record, be-
cause he can't. a. %
Harding says, too, that he Is OPP
posed to state commissions. Yet Hard
ing himself worked for two sessions
of the legislature to put, over a state
tax commission. He Introduced two
bills, one in 1909 and. another in 1911,
with this end in view, and engineered
the passage in the house Of S. F. 1877,
the tax law revision commission bill
of 1911. This was the bill under which
a tax commission was appointed which
reported in favor of permanent tax
commission, and whose report was re-
jected by the legislature because 100,-
900 farmers Of the state protested
against it. II Iowa hasn't got per.
maneut tax commission it isn't Hard.
ing's fault.
Harding. you may have noticed
got = $1,000 campaign contribution in
the primaries from William G. Bows
Cedar Rapids public utility owner
BOWS never gives away his money fool
ishly, but Harding earned his chunk
all right. He voted for the Crist pub
aic utilities bill Of the legislative SEES
sion Of 1911.
This was . fine little bill for thu
corporations. One section gave every
corporation In the state q perpetua
franchise. Another gave the commits
sion complete control over the max
ing Of all rates. 1t took from the loca
communities every bit Of control they
have over their own public service
corporations. And the same Harding
who voted for this bill is now trying
to make the voters believe he is sin.
cerely opposed to Capitalization Of
power.
1.-THE only important bill which
Harding himself introduced and put
through the legislature during the
three terms he served was the bill
which established the offices of state
fire marshal and deputy fire marshal
This bill is now costing the stak OF
Iowa s13,500 year. Yet Harding
claims that he is opposed to adding to
the number Of jobs about the state
house.
81 am calling your attention to these
inconsistencies because I believe the
public should know just where my OPP
ponent stood on these issues before he
started to play for the votes of the
citizens by getting on what he believes
to be the popular side of the fence.
do not believe the people of Iowa like
. atraddlar and trimmer"