The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1921-05-05
Thirtythree Days and
# Nothing Done
REPUBLICAN MILK
HAS CURDLED

HAL III DllSudm COuHIy, UuI pd1I ~
the men constituting the officia
roster of the county and of thu
county central committee have gon'
off yon a queer idea that bears thu
same relation to true Republicanisn
the whey does to milk.
In talking of the case Of the count!
assessor having been convicted o
mal-administration of his office b.
this paper and the Republican ia,
commission, they have no ground LEFT
to stand on in iustifying his con
tinuance in office and they say, as il
it disposed of the problem, "Why
wasn't this brought to light before
this? Why was not this thing ex
posed before the election instead OF
letting it go until this year? This
thing has been going on for some
time!"
That line of reasoning is only
about hair-line different from the
excuses made in 1914 by the chair
man of the Republican county central
committee when this paper convicted
the sheriff of the charge of prison
graft, arresting innocent men in
groups and throwing them into jail
over night so the sheriff could put in
bill for their supper and breakfast
before they could get into court to
! show that they were entitled to their
freedom, They would be arrested
after supper time, after the judge
had gone home for the night, and
would have no chance to eat supper
in the Jail for the very good reason
that none was offered. The sheriff
would have trusty 60 over to a
restaurant and buy meals put up in
bulk for.17k cents each, and have it
charged till the end of the quarter
when he would put in a bill to the
county for 35 cents for breakfast
which was served, and 80 cents for
supper which was not served, draw
the 10 cents and out Of it send 17h
cents to the restaurant man. For
every 100 men he could run in on
that plan, the sheriff made $3.50
profit without having cent invested,
and the county furnished the quilts
for them to sleep in and paid the
salary Of the Judge to try them the
next morning. In some cases they
would be sentenced to thirty days for
vagrancy, the meals would be
charged up for the full thirty days,
and the man let out within a few
days with the understanding that he
was to slip away and get out of town
without letting anyone know who he
was or that he had been in Jail. The
officer that let him out would do so
ION the quiet" as special favor to
the prisoner and of course the pris-
oner would hurry away thinking he
was In luck to get out, when as a
matter of fact the officer was merely
stealing the cost of the meals al |
ready charged up, and saving that |
much more graft money by getting |
him out of the way. When that mat |
ter was put up to the chairman of |
the Republican county central COM
mittee, he denied that it was being |
done, and when it was proven so
completely that he could no longer
deny it, he sat down and said it was
the custom, that it had been done
right along and that he would do
nothing to change it,
On another occasion when a print
ing bill was about to be allowed and
it was shown that the bill was pad
ded," 400 per cent, one of the gang
of Republicans in the clique took a
look at it and said the bill was made
out according to custom that had
always been followed, and so they al
lowed the bill and paid it. The
voucher is still on file in the county
clerks office, justified by the
customs of the Republican party as it
was then constituted in this county
and as it is again being built up by
some Of the old clique and some new
members that were in the ranks at
that time, merely looking forward
to the time when they could get into
the fold and do likewise.
But to get back again to the pres
sent county government as exercised
by the assessor, members of the
county central committee, and one
newspaper of the county are dispos-
ing OF the whole matter by saying, q
Why was not this bad condition !.
brought to light before this? 1t APP
pears that this thing has been going
On for some time And with that !
they drop the matter as If 1t were a :
upon the man that hunted
put the wrong conditions and exposed
them. The laugh is actually on the
man who uncovered the rotton condi- i
lion by an infinite amount of search q
ng Of the records. Because he did
1ot do it sooner the whole thing is all g
light and is to be ignored. The '
Onger 1t has been going on, the less D
'eason there is to pay any attention q
% it. Even county commissioners o
ire stalling behind that excuse now, II
ind when commissioners take that 0
Jew OF the thing, certainly the lesser 2
lights who are only precinct commit .
eemen, can afford to accept that rea- a
oning and wait for the matter to get p
Vell Of itself. You know gather 9
ng" sometimes testers and breaks
Z its own rottenness, but if it 'scat- 4
ersy the poison is absorbed into the n
ystem and 1t has to gather in new G
lace before it can break or be p
anced. When it gets to shifting 81
bout from one part Of the system to "
mother, the proper treatment is to g
lrow out the whole body and start Il
18th new. 8
Now that the Republican party of t
lis county has refused to lance the Il
hing while 1t had the core located, II