Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1936-09-03
liars Of our funds. Had they succeed

lars of our funds. Had they succeed
ed. it would have been one of the
most disgraceful steals in the history
of Pine county. At that time l pub
licly offered to debate that issue with
those two officials involved, or amy
one whom they cared to import" The
offer was refused and it still holds
good.
(2) The two commissioners max
ing this present attack, now support
each other in their attempts to rule
or ruin"
(3) l was threatened before l took
office and many times since.
(4) The salary question was not an
issue although it should have been.
If it were an issue, l would have gone
to court and collected it long ago, as
two other county officials had to do,
although the law and the attorney
generals opinions were in my favor,
refused to have any trouble by going
to court about it. my minimum legal
salary, however, would have cost less
than two cents per family per year,
extra.)
(5) These attacks on me seem to
be political barrage fire or smoke
screen to direct the attention of the
public away from these two commits
sioners' own public or private records.
(6) There were nearly 10 months
OF false. whispering propaganda, which
was suddenly exploded three months
ago when l published the facts taken
from the auditors records for the past
II years, and showed that my ex-
penses were actually less than that
of previous years.
90 1t has also been shown that |
have saved enough in one year 0935)
in various ways, to pay my salary and
these two commissioners salaries for
years to come, even though they them
selves took an increase not many
months ago.
May l now add the following facts
for your Information:
Q) My expense report was sent
out to all commissioners and school
board members so as to explode the
whispering propaganda that had been
circulated by few who know better.
This report was mimeographed on old
discarded, useless state examination
paper and mailed in the same enve-
lope that contained other necessary
material. So, like many other things,
including the year books, teachers
bulletins, etc., it was accomplished
mr. FRO 70 k1o
county, even though it was of educa-
tional Importance.
(2) l wish to repeat my request
for a check-up by a neutral commit
tee on these and other questions and
facts.
(3) l wish also at this time to
challenge these two commissioners to
open public debate in at least six
localities in Pine county during Oc-
tober, 1896, on this question they have
raised regarding the economy and eff
ficiency of the county superintendent
office. One of these debates should
be held at Markville or Cloverton and
one at Bruno or Kerrick.t This offer
must be accepted before September Is.
(4 Their statement that l was
campaigning against certain commits
sioners is only one of the many false
statements they made. Yet these two
commissioners have kept up a con-
tinuous campaign against me for rea-
sons stated.
(5) The principal reasons why my
yearly expenses have been only about
two-thirds as much as the average for
sixteen previous years are:
(A) l usually was able to visit and
check from three to eight schools
on the same trip for which only
one trip would be charged).
(B) No charges have been made
for meals and lunches for more
than a year.
co. Many official trips have been
made without any charge to the
county. This amounts to thou
sands of miles.
(6) l have been able to supervise
the two county PWA projects for rural
schools with very little extra travel
ing. These two county projects were
sponsored by the commissioners at
my request, and both are valuable.
% The extra number of calls
made at certain schools is due to
the fact they are centrally located and
convenient to stop at while on other
trips, without any extra travelling.
While on trip we made every min
ute count.
(S) We do not supervise the indie
pendent schools but many other rea-
sons cause us to stop in those dis
tricts, such as: About 40 teachers
group meetings, some board meetings.
transportation problems, WPA project
work, etc. Most of these stops were