The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1921-05-12
NEWSPAPER MISQUOTING
A COMMITTEEMAN

NEWSPAPER MISQUOTING
A COMMITTEEMAN
The Republican county central
committee and members of the clique
that have been for some time quot
ing the apologist press as to reasons
for retaining Assessor Malcolm in of.
flee, are assuming an attitued of un-
concern these days, but at the same
time they are in a peck Of trouble
that refuses to stay fixed.
A certain writer who was en-
deavoring to fix it with printers ink
has been quoted for over a month
now with the eminent satisfaction to
everybody, but the folks who want
efficient assessing done. The friends
of the square deal have been sitting
back and looking on for some time,
noting to what extremes Of foolish
ness the apologists would go in
embarrassing the assessor, and now
the Stiffness of it seems to have sunk
in so we'll that it makes merriment.
When a writer goes off wrong in
public print there is no occasion to
take him to task about it right away,
for the type will not fade and he can
be made to face it at any time. He
might be an honest writer and see
the error of his ways and make a
correction, and it is always desirable
to allow an error to be corrected.
In the apOlOgist press of April 8,
six days after the tax commission
made it's report and acknowledgment
that this paper had published the
absolute facts about the assessors
department, 1t published an alleged
interview with one of the members
of the county central committee who
was also one of the members of the
tax commission, and quoted him as
saying he had heard all these charges
against the assessor before the pri-
maries of 1920, and that others of
the Republican party knew the whole
story at that time and did not press
it against him. The man being quoted
according to the apologist, wanted
to beat Mr. Walcom last year, but
could not get the support necessary
to accomplish it altho he did what
he could.
The apologist in quoting the
gentleman makes him to say, He's
my assessor. Whatever he is guilty
of, too, am guilty. Whatever he
failed to do, too have neglected We
the public, are wholly at fault"
Let's see now. If the quoted inter-
view is correct, and if the man be-
ing quoted spoke the truth, there
must have been Republicans more or
less prominent in the political game
last summer who knew that the as
SCISSOR of this county was letting the
herds come in from Bonneville |
county on an illegal reciprocity plan
by which we lost large amounts of |
assessed valuations and gained very |
small amounts in return; men who |
knew that thousands of cattle were |
being brought in from Gentle valley |
for the summer and did not get as
sessed at all; men who knew that |
herdsmen at the county seat were as
sessed only one animal in a hundred |
in 1919; men who knew the stock in |
transit was not being assessed; men
who knew that over million dollars |
OF illegal exemptions were being al |
lowed to people who were abundantly |
able to pay; men who knew that peo-
pie with large holdings of diamonds
were simply refusing to give infor- |
nation about their diamonds and by
that ruse were escaping taxation on
them; men who knew that over forty /
business and professional men in the
county seat were not assessed dol |
lors worth in 1920; men who knew
that the assessor and his deputies
were padding expense bills or APPROX
ing padded bills and accepting the
money on them; men who knew that |
the assessor was not making annual |
settlement with the board of COM
missioners as the law prescrfbes and |
who knew that the personal taxes
were not being collected at the time
the law prescribed nor at any time !
excepting as the individuals volun-
tarily made payments and which the |
dishonest fellows were side-stepping |
and leaving the county to lose as wit
messed by the special auditors re-
port; men who knew-but why go on |
enumerating! If more or less prom
inent Republicans knew of all these |
things during the campaign of 1920
and remained silent about them and
allowed Mr.. Malcolm to be reelected,
it Immediately brings up the ques-
tons why did they do this? What
can there possibly be in it for them,
and would they permit it if there was
not something in it for them?" Or
putting it on grounds of patriotism
and party fealty, what good are they
as citizens If they would take such d
course? What good are they to the
party If they had such knowledge
and withheld it from the other men,
bers of the party and the committee
men in charge Of the destinies of the
party?
But that is not all. The writer
closes his article by saying: There's
game sportmanship and good citizen