The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1918-09-17
TRIBUNE ON THE WRONG TACK

Our Ocala contemporary goes a
long way out of its path to give Gov
ernor Cats a tantaIizing dab in his
proboscis and to cast an aspersion
upon the Hillsborough county tax
collector. The Star is chatting under
its TANKS because Governor Cats re-
moved the Duval tax collector on ac-
count of shortage in his cash
amounting to $4,000. The Hills
borough collector is an honest man
and an efficient and accommodating
official and his friends apprehend no
such a calamity Governor Cats is
to be commended for removing from
office the incompetents and thieves
Tampa Tribune.
We can't understand why the Tri-
bune thinks we are chatting about
Rast. The Tribune can't produce any
words of ours to that effect; neither
can it, without twisting our words to
suit its own purposes, make it APP
pear that we have cast any aspersion
on the tax collector of Hillsborough
county.
We have not criticised Gov. Cats
for removing Rast. Neither have we
praised him. Florida has had eight
governors since we came to the state,
and each of them has removed one or
more defaulting officials. But until
the Tribune praised Cats, nobody
ever thought of praising a governor
for removing dishonest official. The
Tribune's praise of Cats for this act
shows how hard up it is for some
thing to praise him about If Cats
hasn't removed Rast, the legislature
would almost certainly have i'm
peached Cats. When a man is hired
to do certain work, and will be fired
if he doesn't do it, why praise him
because he does it. Of course, Cats
Suspended Rast. What else could he
have done?
We have criticised Cats for ap-
pointing his son-in-law to fill the Of
flee. Will the Tribune say it was the
proper thing to do? Doesn't it know
that nepotism is one of the things
democracy is unalterably opposed to :?
Will the Tribune go back over the
history of Florida and find a more
glaring instance of nepotism than
this? Will it find anything like it,
even in carpetbag days?
If Will Knott was governor, and
had a son-in-law, and appointed him
to such an Office, what would the Tri-
bune have said?
Mr.. Paderick may be. and probably
is, an honest and capable man. We
have never heard anything against
either his integrity or his ability But
the governor had no right to appoint
him to the office and he had no right
to accept it.
A hundred and forty-two years ago,
the people of this country decided
that they had no use for men in pub
lie Office who used their Offices for
their personal profit and for the per-
sonal profit of the members of their
families. Whenever an official has
gone against this decision, the people
have always put him out of office, and
the people of Florida will put Cats
and his tribe out the first time they
get a chance.
We believe the Tribune claims to
be a democratic paper. Did it ever
hear of such an institution as the
county democratic executive commit
tee? Has it forgotten that democratic
usage required governor whenever
a county official died, resigned or was
removed, to wait for the recommen-
dation of that committee? Did it
know that from Drew to Trammell
that custom was respected by demo
cratic governors, who never disre-
garded it unless they had good rea-
son? Did Cats give the people of
Duval county any chance to say who
they wanted for their tax collector
Didn't he send his son-in-law over
theer and put him in the Office as the
kaiser would have sent one of his
sons to reign over conquered pro-
vince?
The governor did not find out that
Rast was delinquent, but he undoubt-
edly knew he was being investigated.
Rast was suspended from the office
Saturday. Cats put his son-in-law
into it the next Wednesday. Swift
work. No man was ever raiIroaded
into a fat job so rapidly before.
The Tribune is peeved at the Star
and misrepresents what it says 1t
is peeved because it is on the wrong
tack. The tack is the official record
of Cats, and the Trib. sits on it to
try to cover it up. Sitting on a tack
is very uncomfortable, so we are