The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-06-08
REWARD FOR ErF1cIENcy-A ARTICLE 5.
From the DonnelIson Review.

In our last article under the above
heading we made the statement thai
the longer you kept an efficient man
in office the better it would be for
the county. Last week we had some
thing to say along this line in con
nection with Judges Bank and Ham.
ilton and Mr.. and Mrs. Robert Hart
of the county home, and the vote
cast last fall for county auditor
shows that the people have awaken
ed to the fact that man in position
to know his work can be elected.
When Clarence Hull defeated James
! Vermazen for county auditor he de-
feated as good man as ever ran
for county Office. While Clarence
himself is one of our splendid young
men. but what told in his favor was
the fact that he had served four
years as clerk in that office, and the
voters knew that he was better
/ equipped to give satisfactory service
! than an inexperienced man could
possibly be. Different parties have
recently told us that they are salts
fed they made no mistake in help
ing to elect Mr. Hull to this respon-
sible position. as he has already
proven his fitness. We believe that
Adrian Meyer would be in that posi-
| ton now if he had not stepped down
of his own accord, as the people
! knew he was competent, and the
training Mr.. Hull received under him
/ is proving valuable to the county.
While we did not support VIM.
Reimbold for county treasurer last
year, neither did we put up any fight
against him. We thought we had
good man on the republican ticket,
and we gave him our support, but
had we given the subject careful
consideration, without political bias,
we would possibly have arrived at
the conclusion that the best inter
ests of the county would be con-
served by retaining Mr.. Reimbold on
his record. There seems to have
been good many who did look at 1t
from that light, as he carried every
strong republican ward in keokuk,
where he is best known. Mr.. Rein,
bold has served as county treasurer
for ten years, and during that time
has handled over eight million dol
lars of county money, and not one
cent has ever been misplaced, either
by himself or deputy, which testifles
to the fact that he is not only
honest but has used splendid judg-
ment in selecting his deputies. and
we trust that he and Deputy Skyles
may continue to have charge OF the
county treasure box, as it is secure
in their hands, which has not always
been the case.
The voters of Lee county reward
ed Mr. Stemple by keeping him ID
the Office of clerk Of courts for eigh-
teen years. 1t is one of the very
important and difficult Offices to fill.
To be a good clerk one must neces-
sarily be a good book-keeper and
have something Of knowledge OF
law (but no lawyer need apply for
the job), and o. R. Johnston has
proven himself as capable and com
petent as was his predecessor, and
the people realizing this have kept
him there for ten years. He was
fortunate in his selection of a i
deputy, for Al. vollers has proven
himself a splendid official
The very fact that the county
treasurer, democrat, and the county
clerk, a republican, have been kept /
in office for ten years, demonstrates
that the voters have risen above
partisan politics and are electing the
men who can best serve them in the
conduct of county affairs.
Everyone in the county knows
John Scott, and everybody in the
upper end Of the county knows Bran
Watkins, and the splendid vote they
received last fall shows that the
people are ready to reward for eff
cheney.
Chambers and Vaughan have made
a record in the recorders Office sec
ond to none They have been in that
office for ten years, and In that time
not a single paper has, been mis-
placed, and that means a whole lot,
as they handle many papers, and i'm
oortant ones, but everything has
been on hand when wanted. which
shows efficiency par excellence. This
,eain proves that the people are
.eady to reward officials who are
rue to their trust and have proven
competent The same
hing applies to Chambers and Hayes
IS did to Hull and vermazen, for
when Chambers defeated Francis
Iayes for recorder, he defeated as
,ood a man as ever aspired to that
,flce, but the average voter has ar
lived at that stage where he does
lot care to vote for a new and I'M
ried man when he can vote for
hose who have been tried and found
rue to their trust
The office of county attorney has
s a rule been used as a. stepping
tone for young attorneys, the sal
ry not being very attractive for an
Id practitioner, but is a good school
or a young attorney and also gives
i'm an opportunity to build up his
ractice, If he has the ability to do
o. AS a rule two or three terms is