The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1924-08-22

Herald which claimed in months mast
that Dixon had saved the state half
million of dollars at one time and
many hundreds Of thousands of dol
lars IN almost every state activity.
! When he had presented this side Of
the case and given the audience the
Deneflt OF svral columns of claimed
savings. by Dixon, he picked up a
copy OF the Helena evening paper of
tuesday, August twelfth. nineteen
hundred and twenty-four, issued but
a lew hours before he walked to the
platform, and read from the front
page CT the paper the startling state
ment that Dixon had spent forty-eight
GollafS and sixty cents more each year
IMAM the previous administration.
Where is the saving of a half mil
hon dollars claimed by Dixon and his
newspaper? shouted Edwards.
Where is the saving of a half mil
lion dollars claimed by Dixon and his
newspaper % shouted Edwards.
Where is the saving claimed at
the penitentiary and the asylum?
Where is the saving OF hundreds
OF thousands of dollars claimed bv the
administration during the last three
years, when in the very last edition
OF its official paper it admits there
has been no saving at all, but the
Dixon administration has exceeded
the expenditures of the Stewart adj
mlnlstration by even a nominal sum ?"
Governor Defends Absen.
Governor Dixon and managers of
his campaign for reelection had been
invited to attend the meeting and
| answer, if they could, the analysis
OF state finances made by Mr.. Ed
wards. The governor did not reply
to the Invitation but left on an ev-
ening train for Stevensville where he
IS to speak Thursday at the annual
Creamery picnic. No representative
OF the governor nor his administra-
ton appeared to answer the charges
of falsity made by Mr. Edwards.
AS a result of the mass meeting
here last night and the absence of the |
governor, it was voted by those pres
ent to name committee to demand |
statement from the administration
showing the receipts and expenditures !
of the last three years of the Stewart |
administration and the first three |
years CT the Dixon administration. |
The chairman of the meeting was
authorized to name such a committee. |
Read From Message
To meet the challenge of the state |
administration that the figures pre-
sented through its official organ could |
not be denied, Mr. Edwards read from |
the message of Governor Dixon to the |
Legislature of 1921 in which the gov
ernor stated the overdraft on the gen
eral fund was one million six humid /
red and eighty-two thousand with |
cash on hand of five hundred and /
thirty-nine thousand, making the total /
Overdraft enc million, one hundred |
fOrty-two thousand. To this the gov
ernOr added four hundred fifty-nine /
thousands Of unpaid claims, making |
the total Indebtedness when he became |
governor one million six hundred and |
two Thousand dollars. Mr.. Edwards |
said against this there was three |
hundred eighty-five thousand revert |
ing to the general fund from an over
collection for the asylum bond issue,
leaving the actual overdraft when |
Dixon became governor one million /
two hundred sixteen thousand dollars /
and not two million two hundred |
thousand as claimed by the admins
tratiOn and its newspaper.
DiXOn's Three Different Statements
Mr.. Edwards said the governor had |
used so many figures and mixed up
the public to such an extent that it
was becoming confusing. He read
from a speech from Governor Dixon
delivered in Billings when the govern
or claimed the outstanding warrant
Indebtedness of the state including the
deficiency claims when he became gov
ernOr wre but light hundrd and fifty
thousand dollars, while he claimed on
April first of the same year, after he
had been governor three months, the
outstanding warrant Indebtedness was
two million two hundred eighty-one
thousand dollars.
The speaker made it plain that
the governor had presented at least
three figures to represent the out
standing indebtedness when he took
office, first in his Billings speech it
was eight hundred fifty thousand, in
his message to the legislature it was
one million six hundred two thousand
dollars and later he said it was two
million two hundred thousand dollars
on April first, 1921
More Than Ever, Now.
w ucAbCNC4 IL was WlCu DlAOdl DG-
came governor, We know it is more
now than ever before and the out
Indebtedness today-the ov-
erdraft on the general fund is three
and half millions of dollars"
"But do not care Sc much for the
figures as 1 do for the general con-
ditions at the state house." said the
speaker. ''That will be the issue if
Dixon is renOminated. During the
next three months you will all learn
the condition of the state house, and
they are net complimentary to the
present administration"
Why Not Tell Truth?
AS showing the deceit practiced by
the governor, Mr.. Edwards said Mr..
Dixon had publicly declared the met
ais mines tax law which is to be sub
mitted to voters as an initiative meas
ure, was drawn by the state tax com
while, Mr.. Edwards said, the
governor had written to Chairman
Mccormick of the committee l,roino