The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1921-04-25
Chapter XVIII

country lying to the westward from
the station called Orchard. A good
while ago this country was dotted
over with shacks of homesteaders
who hoped to sometime irrigate and
farm this land. Some of it was
actually reclaimed and made into
good homes. And some organized q
school district lying along the Oregon
Short Line with the railroad prop
erty the principal property. They
took in as many miles of railroad as
they could and there was a period
when there was none Of the claims
patented and yielding taxes, and the
railroad paid all the tax that was
paid. i.
The railroad company had no vote
and people had no money for a lone
time. At the time of the school cleo
tion the settlers would meet at the
school house and levy special tax
and vote Eyes, and make the railroad
company pay it. They got along al
right. If they had as much money in
every respect as they had in their
school treasury, they could all have
succeeded.
At one time the trustees con-
cluded that the school house needed
a coat of paint, so they bought 500
worth of paint and lot of paint
brushes. The dealer did not care
how many paint brushes they bought
he probably supposed they were 60
ing to have painting bee and every
body in the district turn out and
paint the school house.
The school house got painted al
right, as did also the houses, barns
fences, chickencoops and everything
belonging to two of the trustees. The
interesting thing was that the paint
on the trustees houses was all the
same color as the school house. The
county superintendent was a woman,
and when the order for the warrant
reached her, she, of course, did not
know just how much paint it took to
paint school building or how many
brushes were needed, but she thought
it was very liberal amount of paint
and brushes. If she had done the
duties of her office she would have
inquired into the matter and got in
formation from both the trustees
and the dealer, before she passed
the bill for payment. She did not do
that and the dealer got his money
and somebody got the paint and
brushes. The county superintendent
did not violate her oath of office, she
just stuffed the job.
A good many years ago we were
agitating for equal suffrage. The
speakers in behalf of equal suffrage
in favor Of women to hold office just
the same as men do, oftens made
declarations that women would
purify politics. They used to say
the women would stop the waste and
the graft and the dishonesty in poll
tics; perhaps they have, but the
waste and graft and corruption are
still going on. In the United States
senate in 1925, Daniel Webster in
speaking in behalf of public school
measure, said that when this new
school system was put into practice
and everybody was educated they
would know better than to be dis
honest; they would all know that
honesty was the best policy and as we
opened up these common schools the
prisons would be empty because there
would be no more criminals to fill
them. Prisons and insane asylums
have been more numerous ever since.
The mountain states telephone
company has made a move which is
going to cut into the situation of all
the other tax payers. In the year
1919 and the year 1920 the telephone
company protested against being as
sessed for the full valuation of their
While other people were
being assessed less than half the
value of their property. The tele-
phone company took an inventory of
heir property for the purpose of lay
ng the information before the Util-
ties commission in esta blishing the
ate for service. 1t was to their in
,erest to show that there was as
much money invested as possible.
The higher the valuation of their
property the higher the rate would
De for their service as established by
he hearing before the Utilities COM
mission, so there was no object in
rying to make 1t appear that their
was worth any less than it
lctually was worth. The state board
If equalization of Idaho assessed
heir property at 100 cents on the
1ollar. The company claim they
we're assessed at par while others
we're assessed at about half value.
they claim the state assessed one
ompany at higher price than all the
theirs and it was unconstitutional,
nd they did not have to pay the tax.
hey took the matter up with the at
orney general with the result that
he telephone company offered to pay
n all the counties on the Is per cent |
aluation which was about rs per
ent higher than other property was
eing assessed. The attorney gen.
raj advised that this proposition be |
ccepted by all the counties as court |
ecisions indicating that if it went |
nto court the telephone company
7ould get much better settlement |
han that.
The Oregon Short Line company is
n about the same position as the
telephone company was in regard to
he valuation Of its property and the
Ugh assessed valuation made by the
tate. We are informed that the |