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MB! SCOTT COUNTY KICKER V0L- xy BENTON, MO., NOVEMBER 2, i912 NO 48. THIS IS NOT AN "OPEN LETTER' But it Tells an Interesting Story of Official Despotism I don't reckon there Is any use addressing any more letters to our prosecuting attorney, since he refuses to make any reply. Vo I will Just tell the story to the people about It. Maybe they will take nptlce. In the libel 'soot " against the .Klcker they have fUed a motion to strike out all of my answers concerning matters that happen ed prior to January, 1911, when Mr. McWIUiams took office claiming that he had nothing to do with what happened before then, and that If violations of law were committed he was not responsible for the non-enforcement of the law. All right. Let It go at that. But lets' see what has happened since January, 1911. I shall speak on(y of printing because that is II matter with which I am familiar. And if there is stu pendous waste in the printing de partment who will say that it does not exist elsewhere? In 19)8 it cost the tax-payers $7 to tave their financial state ment published. See county court reeordj. book 13, page 442. In lit n it cost $90. See coun court records, book 15 page 3S. Mr. HcWilllnms was then pros- editing attorney And I eaiiei his attoir. ion to it through the Kick er. 1 In February, 1912, I went be fo ne county court ami asked it th printing would be let to the I west bidder. I was given an ev rive answer and handed to i .1 . 1 1 ! Fraser the following: (the Scott county Court tlie Scot county Kicker herein to publish the 'inancial agree tatfi lient of 1911-1- for Si'".; kct (or the April term of circUt court for $20. and ditch and tther notices that tlie cour t or cirk are authorized by law to navoj published for one half tlie rateipald in recent years. Phi, A. Hefner, Editor Kicker. .in j;e F rater ordered it filed. By viis action I felt that per naps bids would be asked for and explained that in case case the printing should be let that I wanted the prlvlllge of withdraw ing that bid and put in another for Anyone could easily underbid mc v ith my bid on file. This was agreed to. Time passed and no bids were asked for. The court docket was pr'ui ted ; the financial statement appeared, and so on. One day I met Judge Frazer In Commerce and naked, -what did ihe Court do with my bid?" Th Judge hesitated a bit and replied, "Why. the other fellow took it for a dollar cheaper." Too1", what for a dollar cheap er?' I insisted. "Why, the financial statement." "But that was not the under standing. It was understood that if competitive bids were to be ac cepted, I was to have the right to withdraw my bid and put in .another." To this there was no reply. Returning to neutou I went over the records to see if any ul lOWaaoa had been made for pub lishing the financial statement of 1912. No bill had been presented nor has there been to this day although the Democrat has faith fully presented bills and collected for all other printing. And you wonder why.' Well, as I sae it, it is some more, of their "funny work." They don't want me to be able to prove in their libel "soot ' that this statement that ;ot $120 In lttlO and $90 in 1011 cost only S24 In 191 "J. But .iuuc rrase "let the cat out." 1 he statement : 1912 occupied one-tnirq more pace than eith-v ! the former statements, yet it "ost only .ne Jlftn M much as in WtO and enc fourth as much as In 1.11 all because the Kicker had B bid on file to do It for $25. But for the Circuit court docket which I of fered to print for 20 they paid 950. See book 15, page 304. And they again paid '$50 for the docket of this October term. And it is your money that is do ing the paying. By examining my bid you will notice that I agreed to publish all other notices for one-half what they had been paying. For pub lishing the list of primary candi dates in 1910 the Democrat re ceived $53 See book 14, page 349 One-half of this, which is the a mount the Kicker agreed to do It for, would be $26.50. Yet the Democrat and Sikeston Standard received $74 each-WHICH IS IN EXCESS OF THE MAXIMUM LE GAL RATE I e e e e Understand, I am only hitting the high places. It would take too much space to tell it all. On Sep tember 30 I addressed the fol lowing to Judge Frazer at Com merce "Sec. 5895 says the pruiting and publishing of the ballots 'shall be done under the direction and with the consent and approval of the county court.' Will the court ask for bids on this work? If so. It should be done soon, so that the printer can lay In the necessary "received no reply. I did not expect any. A day or so later I went Into the county clerk's of fice and asked Mr. McPheeters if kids would tie asked for on the tnat would be Hard to Duplicate. ballot jqb. Of course he didn't know. He said he had not received the copy from the secretary of state and ventured the Information that It was presidential year and would be a big Jobt I assured him that that made no difference that I was ready to offer a bid on the work. Then he said the court had giv en him no Instructions in the mat ter. '; On Saturday, October 12. I was at Commerce. Judge Frazer met me saying, "I owe you an apology for not answering your letter. I knew I would be out soon and was there this week and intended seeing you, but. somehow, I didn't get around." "Oh. that's all right," I answer ed. "What did you decide to do ? "Well, the court meets on the 24th, and we can take the matter up than." "That will be too late. The bal lot has to be published two weeks before the election." The Judge agreed that this was true, but said he didn't like to call the court together just for THAT. Why, doctor." I went on, "It would save the. people from 6150 to $800 and it stems to me that THAT would be or as much im portance as the granting of a saloon license, and you have spe cial terms ror that." The judge seemed to wilt and said h would call the c 11 ft get her I expected to see notices up on Monday for n special term of court, but there War none. So Tuesday I again went to clerk Mcl'heeters and asked what would be done about printing th ballots. "I have already arranged to have them printed." he said. I banded aim this: "To the Scott county court and the clerk thereof For the election of Nov. ". 1912. the Kicker will furnish ballots and publish same as follows : Constitutional amendments, bal lots, per 1.000, S3 35. Voting ballots (candidates), per 1,000, 1 25. In connection publish same In weeks for $20. In one other weeks for S15. therewith Kicker foi will ! two paper for two If supplements are furnished, Kicker will publish same for two weeks for $15. Resp. PHIL. A. HAFNER. " "I want that bid FILED." 1 in sisted, "and if there are ajiy c barges I want to pay them." The clerk said there would be no charges and 1 went out. A few days later, with pencil and tablet in hand I went to the clerk who said he "had made ar rangements" to find out what the printing and publishing of the ballots would cost this year. He said he didn't know. I Insisted that if arrangements had been made he ought to know. He said the cost would be more than niybid. Rut I could "worm" nothing from him except that the Sikeston Herald would get (50 for publishing it. As to what the Democrat would get he said that would not be known until the al lowance was made by the court. Ain't that queer? The bid that I put in amount to about onethajl what it , cost two years ago although this is a presidential year and the ballot is much larger. Ordinnrially I . pould have done the work for one- third less, but I had a law-suit to look after and fixed the1 price so that, If necessary, I could have the work done in St .Louis and yet make a profit. I had spoken to two Democratic publishers of the county either of which agreed to publish the ballots for two weeks for $10. if I furnished the supplement. You notice that I agreed to do this for $15. Yet the Sikostq.il Herald gets $50 and we will find out what the Democrat gets when the allowance is made. At the same time this "trig gering' was going on In the ballot job Mr. Harris, the suei intend ent of schools wanted some print- ng for public schools and asked rr, nmn,.of . $30 25. ' The Kicker I bid was $17.90. Here was a saving of of about 40 per cent. If the Demo crat bad been given a free hand, without competition. Its charge would have pnbbably been $50 or more. I No doubt you wonder why the Democratic officials do not do likewise end save money for the people. It is because the money does not come out of their pockets. YOU pay for It, and with this patronage they control the paper that tells you of the honesty, the efficiency and capability of Dem ocratic officials. You are made to pay for your own misinforma tion and deception. But eo long as "the party" has the prosecuting attorney and se lect the grand Juries they are sale You can't reach them. The grand Jury of a year ago created quite a furore and very few peo ple knew how it happened. But Judges Frazer and Bandy were both new men and not "onto thei r Job." It wa' their first attempt at picking a grand jury and they made a fearful mans of it. Judge Farls was also new and 1 dont reckon anyone around here had the nerve to try to give him the tip as to who should be ap pointed foreman. W. 0. Bowman, the Republican candidate for county judge from the first dis trict was appointed foreman, and a grand jury composed of ten Democrats and two Republicans contained this in their report : "WE ARE INDEED SORRY TO MAKE THE I FOLLOWING RE PORT about the poor farm, but we feel that is Is our duty to do so. In the first place the farm has been badly located, being a quarter of a mile off the high wa.v Hardly a more desolate spot in the state could have been found. We believe that land lying be tween the farm and tlie highway should be bought, and the proper kind of buildings erected. We found the fences ell down and the yards surrounding the build ings turned into a regular pig pen and cattle lot. Horses, mules and cattle, goats and hogs went wherever they pleased and were right by the doors and windows of the buildings occupied by the inmates. The buildings were in a very unsanitary condition. Many of the rooms being used for the r1"" wi hiui iuk ni twu, iuu 1 i iinir T. .1 .1 . . I T.i , . . . ..... nr .iwnimfi .an, auu ina ,-. knJUJV Ul iuv rooms were usexi io store a- way various kinds of machinery. "We also believe the rooms oc cupied by the inmates should be disinfected more frequently, as in several of these rooms where we visited it was almost unbearable on account of the offensive odor. We also want to call at tention to a sick man whom we found In one of these rooms. His bed and room were anything but sanitary, and this man told us he had been sick all summer. Something should be done to re lieve his suffering, and he should should receive the proper kind of medical treatment. His bed and room should be disinfected and put In bettercondition. We found this poor fellow lying upon a bed with his head entirely covered on account of the flies being eo bad. If his room was screened it would no doubt be a great relier to him from these pests. No doubt the stock having the run of the yard drew a great many of these flies. "Possibly the greatest surprise to this jury was the case of a woman whom we found to be an epileptic. This woman had never been married and has been on the farm for several years and has given birth to three children and is again pregnant. Surely this Is a deplorable state of affairs and a disgrace to the fair name of Scott county. Two of her child ren are dead ; the one living is a bout two years old. We think the woman; should be sent to the insane-asylum at Farmington or to the home for the feeble-minded at Marshall, Mo., and the child to the orphan's home. Some action should be taken in this matter at once to clear the county of the stain. "In conclusion we cannot help but say this farm is indeed poorly managed and not fit for the pur pose it is intended." SAYINGS OF LINCOLN. By Burke McCarty. Away back in 1S47 Abraham Lincoln uttered the following revolutionary language: "in the early days of our race i the Almighty said to the first of our race, "in the sweat or tuy face shalt thou eat bread.'' And since then, if we except the light and air of heaven, no good thing has been or can bo enjoyed by us without having first cost labor. "And, In as much as most good things are produced by labor, it follows that ail such things, of right, belong to THOSE WHOSE LABOR PRODUCED THEM. ' But It so happened, in the ages of the world, that some have lab ored and others have, without la bor, enjoyed a large portion of the fruits. "This is wrong and should not continue. To secure each laborer the WHOLE PRODUCT OF HIS LABOR, or as nearly as possible. is a worthy object of any good i government See Lincoln's Com i plete Works. Nicolay & Hay, vol. flw: Wh ln 1847,, at about -he time Marx and Engels were printing the Manifesto, Abraham Lincoln, an unknown and self-educated law yer In swampy Illinois got hold of this central concept of Social ism? Isn't It strange that the grand old party, which always parades the NAME of Lincoln and rarely quotes the LANGUAGE of Lin coln, has given no attention to this, the greatest thought of Lincoln THE RIGHT OF LABOR AN INDUSTRY THREATENED "What you want to do la to have this mud bole in the road fixed," sild the visitor. "That goes to show," replied Fanner Corntosael, "horar little you reformer understand local conditions. I've party nigh paid off a mortgage with the money I made hauling automobile oat o Wat mud now." Wj THE "INTELLIGENT" VOTER. The average "free born Ameri can" voter is a rare article. Shackled hand and foot he will yawp about his liberty and his in dependencewear a party badge, march In a parade gotten up by his master and shout himself hoarse. A few swigs of booze helps along the enthusiasm. Rut this free born American ci tizan often has a rude, awakening after the ejection. If liejLs a wage-slave the boss may stop his pay. Very naturally he looks around for another boat and sometimes these are hard to find. He often parades the highways for months looking for a Job not with bannei's and flags fifing, nor to the musiu of a brass band, but if he is not too broken in spir it he may whistle "tramp, tramp, while his rags flutter In the breeze. If he be a tenant farmer the boss mav notifv him t.i vsnata e 1 p , Knofl will onnnn , I. . V. .r. -.u ' ' ..1 . 1,11 a big. long contract In which this free born American signs away every right the law may have in tended for him. But he signs. It is either that or get off the earth. Visions of that patriotic parade return to him. but he tries to for get. He sees his family suffering j for the necessities of I'fe. He be comes sullen, restless and dlscon I tented and damns the government I Ha keeps this up until just be I fore the next election. Then his boss begins to appear Interested i In him. . He goes to town and the i well dressed men notice him even shake hands and chat With him They tell him about prosperity i and so on, and the merchants even extend a little credit. They pin on a badge ami enroll him ms member of the club. He i- told that his bom belongs to the club I and that be ought to. And In a i few days Mr. Free Born American is again seen in the parade mak ing a fool of himself. And on ejection day'.' Well, there are always some ! Work-mules who act a little stub born. And the rooters In the towns know exactly who they 'are and watch for their coming. ! They also know their prejudices and weaknesses and are prepar I ed. If Ruben Jones Deacon of the Brown Creek church, is a little off : they have the preacher or some ! other good brother laying for ! him. If Ike Smith, who is fond of ; his "tea," is in rebellion, the wet goods brigade attends to him and so on. And this will be worked at eve I ry polling place in Boott county 'and everywhere else on November I 5 just as it has been Worked In ! the past. And this will continue 1 until the masses are sufficiently intelligent to Know ana realise the value of a vote. When that point has been reached, then it will bo as impossible to talk or wheedle you out if your vote as it would now be to talk you out of giving up a farm without get ting anything In return. The average citizen has not the remotest idea of the value of his vote. The plutes know -and they spend millions upon millions in getting what you throw away and then make you dig up the millions in interest, rent and prof it. They do not make a cash pur chase of your vote not unless :t becomes necessary. It is cheaper to hand a rooter a $10 bill and a jug of liquor. He keeps the bill and you get the liquor. But when you reach a point where you fuse to exchange your vote fijF'honied words or li quor, they will come at you with the cash as they did In Adams county. Ohio, and in Uncle Joe Cannon's district In Illinois, two years ago. IT IS SAID THAT "No rogue e'er felt the halter draw With good opinion of the.! aw' Then why should we find fault with the exploiters of the people for not haviug a good opinion of Socialism which would shut off their graft? If I were a capitalist, and a defender of capitalism. 1 don't be lieve I'd want a Socialist paper In my home either. Do you believe that an exploiter could look his wife or children ln the face if he knew that they knew the means by which he secured a living for them and defended those moans? Some may want to know why Socialists accept rent, interest or profit If it is wrong? Well, a So cialist likes to eat, sometimes, and so long as 'the other fellow Insists on wanting to bring the grub to him although his own children be hungry why 11 would be im polite not to take It. Socialists do not blame the capitalists for letting the working people feed and clothe them, bo long as the workers vote for that privilege and would fight rather than have It any other way. While there la no moral differ ence between taking the wealth created by another "according to law," and taking It under the cover of darkness, yet society ap plauds the one and Jails the other. Besides, It Is easier to ride than to be ridden and so long as there are so many suckers ready to walk up and. tell you to get on, why not ride? It is the law of the church that ln order to sustain life one may teal without committing a sin. This to a no natural law. But the law of capitalism Is contrary to both Tes;lon and nature. It says tyi akvb I that U you you are n criminal, right? 1 food Which Is FACTS AND FIGURES. From the Kicker of Aug. 1911 Mlssourlans want to be shown. If I told you that one per cent of the (people own ninety per cent of the wealth of this nation you would pass the matter up as something you had heard before very probably. Thla state of affairs was shown up in the United States Senate two years ago. What does It mean'.' SOW, think a bit and s:'e If you can figure it out. "One per cent of the peo ple own ninety per cent of the wealth of this nation.' Got it? No? Well, on an average, it means that where one man has a hundred dollars, men have a little Over ten cents each in this "land of equal opportunity." Got that? Well, now if I said that this condition existed in Scott county you would ask to be shown. You don't believe it is that bad right here lu the "garden spot" of Southeast Missouri, do you? Of course you don't and I had my doubts about it until Collec tor Buck produced the official figures. Mr. Buck didn't know he was doing It. He is always messing around "getting his foot in It?" Week before last Mr. Duck took up the cause of the rich Ln Scott county and undertook to show that they are "the people." and that the majority pay so little taxes that "In a VAST majority of cases the amount Is so una.' that the cost of collection would be greater than tlie tax." That in quotations is Mr.Buck'l exact language. Cut It out and show it to h:m the nest time he comes around as the poor man s f (lend, "raised on tae farm." Here is another gem from Collector Buck's defense of the rlohl "You have had this statement, the poor pay all tUe taxes, dishel up to you iu so many ways boil ed, baked. FrUvi. nplnnunrl rhrit believe it. The fact Is, the class of which Mr. Cooksey speaks pays practically none. When I tj'o'. charge or the tax books on March 1st. 1011. there were 1,700 names unpaid. Between four and five hundred have paid since. Prob ably a hundred or two more Will pay within the next two months ana the remainder will be carried along on the back tax book until barred by limitation. "Now Jet's apply the teat acd see how it works. A J Matthew,' contribution to the different tax funds of Scott county for the year 1910 was In the neighbor hood of 52,OdO. (I want you to get in mind here the difference between an assessed t ix payer and a tax paying tax payer.) Counting an even thou.-and who will pay no tax whatever and another thousand whose tares will not amount to over 2.00 apiece, we find that Mr. Mat thews has paid a tax equal to the first two thousand men oa the tax book." There you have It you o'.d vote 'er straight bone-ttead. That showing is even worse than the general average thruout the na tion. Mr. Buck tells you that A. J. Matthews, of Sikeston. pays taxes equaling that of 2000 other citizens and Mr. Buck does not accuse Mr. Matthews of giving in his p -operty values too liberally, nor the poor of understating thoir wealth. Hence this one man A. J. Matthews, owns as much of Scott county's wealth as 2.000 of our poorest people! And you vote for the system that makes this condition not only possible, but unavoidable. Smart, aint you. Rube? But bar in mind that A. .f. M, Is not the wealthiest man in this county. He is only among the wealthy. A. J. Matthews contri buted only S2.000 to the differ ent t ix funds of the county, while Mr. Buck credits C. D. Matthews with contributing S4,ooo to the Sikeston .School District in taxes! Let's take another chunk from Mr. Buck's defense of the rich. He says : "Mr. C. D. Matthews is another tax sinner. Volumes have been written and talked about how ho stays with the Republican part while certain other business n stay with the Democratic party in order that tho.v may be able t control any set of officials that might chance to be elected. This particular Mr. Matthew- paid a school tax for 1010 in the Sikes ton district alone amounting to over 94.000. The teacher- force In the .-'ikeston school cost proba bly In tlie neighborhood of 81,000 a month. He paid the entire for e for four months during the li-t scholastic year, while Cooksey, D, J. McC iy, Mangrum & Co. combin ed paid fifty-four cents." Don't that sound a little queer, coming from tlie man "raised on the farm?" He taunts and ridi cules the property less class be cause, they have so little to pay taxes on. But Have I proved, with Mr. Buck as witness, that one per cent of the people own ninety per cent of the wealth? And the Joke or it all Is that the ninety per cent who have so little produce all of the wealth. How do the one per cent get It? Mr. Buck did not go on and give us facts and figures on that line. But wi should not ask too much of him. The figures he baa furnished will do for .general purposes. Now, dont blame the rich. It is not their doing but yours. They are giving you what a majority of you vote for. Some of you are sap-beaded enough to shoulder a gun and fight ratlier than have it changed. Soak It to em. Messrs, A. J, C. D. Buck & Co, Give the suckers what they vote for and then some. . THE CIRCUIT JUDGESHIP. To many jsvople the resignation Of .lulge Farls Jnay wojti strange, but to me it is hot at all haty, it is conceded on nil side that Judge Farls Is a clean man. and cannot be "handled if he knows it. Tnat sort of a man. ! not at all satisfactory tu the landed in terests Who have so much litiga tion with their tenants. This was evidenced by the fact that In the primary two years ago Judge Farls was nominated by his own county Pemiscot. He lost the remaining four. However. Fari received suTfi cient majority in hi own county to overcome the majorities In the remaining. four, and was elect ed that fall. The question now uppermost in the minds of the interests was how to get ' rid of Farls. And the average citizen who does not understand politics will wonder at the methods used. Do you rejnember how. soma 1H months ago there w;is a unlvei sal demand echoed by various court house organs of the district that Judge FarU become a candidate for supreme judge.' Of course you do. And the ball was set to rolling right, here by the Hon. Thus. F. Rucker, Paris was nominated In the pri mary and. with a split iii t: Re publican party, his election -assured. Therefore t e reslgned thus giving the politicians, thru their committ-e. a chance to ; it vp a man after their own he 1 1 The paonle had re sty in the se lection of Frank Kelly as the Democratic andldate, it w ! done by a little group oi men at Sikest on. Who is Frank KUy'.' On what I am about to say I must depend largely on mem ry and am not able to point to the records a- In the Mc Williams case. But what appears Is 'proxi mately true according u n y best recollection. Some twelve yea; - ago Mr. Kel ly entered politics in si Francois county by becoming a candidate ior justice of the peace. Re was defeated. Being turned down at home he sought greener fields and came to this county. He nos considered an Irish Catholic and when he first came here attended church at New Hamburg. He s'e:;ie l to think that he had discovered something that the other politi cians had overlooked the Catho lic vote In this Mr. Kelly was mbttakefi. But he was no more mistaken than I was when 1 ran against Mr. Mcl'heeters for county clerk along about that time. I felt sure I would sweep that precinct I was raised a Catholic, my fa ther is buried at New Hamburg, and th- preist had solicited me to make the raca But or. election day the P est was ogaiust me and. although I was there personally all day fur nishing the usual "enthusiasm," Mr. McPheeters, who was not there received as many votes as I did. This was a crushing blow and I couldn't understand it uritt. 1 discovered the underground connections THE PAROCHIAL SCHOOL THERE WAS DRAW ING SUPPORT FROM THE PUB LIC SCHOOL FUND a direct -olatlon oi Law Of course Mr. Kelly had his eye on the office of prosecuting at torney. He wa. evidently ci'.e'i the tip that to be know;, as a catholic in the protectant com munities was not popular. At that time the catholic vote of the county was comparatively small and the issues were usually wet and dry or some other harmless nonsense. Mr. Kelly ceased his visits to New Hamburg and became a Methodist. That was th" popular thing to do, The big landlord are quite all Methodists, He an nounce! for prosecuting attorney and was elected, He became so unpopular that he was re-noml-nated by a majority of less than 20 votes, if I remember correct ly, over Norman Atwood, ami i fore hW second term aspired he left the county and moved to Cape Girardeau. H iving no candidate of our own for this office, the .Socialist- arc free to choose the "lessee of two ev ils." Socialism is not so far off. It is on the road and coming RIGHT NOW ! You can see evidences of it J on every hand- The old order is j breaking up. For instance, take a peep at the Republican party. And then take a peep at the Dem ocratic party, with the Bryanites meekly yelping for Wall Street s candidate in order to prevent a split similar to the one in the Re publican ranks. Wall Street never surrenders. That was proven in in 1896 at Chicago But the peo ple of the central and Western states are asked to believe that Wall Street was floored at the Baltimore convention. They know better In the east. TO BLODGETT READERS. Joe Mackley has agreed to act ae agent for the Kicker at Btod gett and receive subscriptions for the Kicker. Parties wishing to re new or 'subscribe can do so conven iently through him. Subscribe for the only Kicker. WHERE THEY STAND. On October 17th the Kicker ad dressed the foltowing inquiry to the two candidates for prosecuting at torney: "Since there lias been consider able controversy among the peo ple over the law regulating the letting of public printing, will you please tell the voters what YOU understand Sec. 7(Ss to Sikeston, Mo.. Oct, is Phil. A . Dear nauier, jienton, no S'ir : I aju in r eceipt of ii. . . . . your letter of yesterday hi which you request my understanding of .Set:. Sflfl of the Revise 1 Statutes of the State of Missouri. Upon in vestigation I find this section to read as follows : "Officers to Procure the Best Rates Iu procuring the publica tion of any law. proclamation, advertisement, order or notice, as ia the nest proceeding section mentioned, the public officer shall accept of the most advan tageous terms that can be ob tained, not exceeding the rates limited in the preceding section." My interpretation of this sec tion is that it means that any of ficer who has the letting of "pub lic printing should get it printed or published on "the most advan tageous terms." or at the best rate that can be secured, so as to save to tae public treasury all the money possible. Yours vary truly, RALPH E. BAILEY. Mr Bailey Is the Republ '-a a nominee for prosecuting at tor rey for Scott county. No reply has been received ireut John McWHliamn. On the same date I nddresseotha following inquirj ro the five candi dates , ir connty judge '3ince there la considerable sen timent In the county favorable to an auditing of the b oks of tlie county, will you pleas state for the Information of voters wheth er you, if alactej county judge, will favor an early auditing of said books?" ' There ha been considerable controversy o. the law regula ting the letting 1 public print ing. Will you plegje give your constr iction of Sec "it ?" Sikeston, Mo., Oct. 18, K12. Phil a. Hafner, Benton, Mo. Dear Sir Ian: ,n receipt of your letter of the 17t.; Inst and have noted same fully, Vtt reply, beg to state, if I am elected as a county judge of this county I shall pn daavor to put the same energy and judgment Into the adminintra tion of the county's business that I have always put Into my own boslnetw. 1 shall! favor auditing the county s booka Replying to that part of your letter referring to sec s, will say that not having the Revised Statutes before me, I am not fa miliar with this section; but las sure voj I will comply with the law to the host of my ability, at all times and under all circum stances Yours very truly. W. C. BOWMAN. Mi .Bowman Is the Republican nominee for county judge from the fist district Risco, Mo., Oct. 18, 1912 Phil. A. Hafner, Benton, Mo Dear Sir Your favor or recent date to hand and contents noted. With regard to audit In gthe books of the county, I am in favor of it. I don't see why any official can '. be opposed to such an examina tion .If be has been faithful he 6hou!i be glad to let the people know it: if unfaithful, then the : people should know it. 1 understand sec ri-x to mean that all public printing should be let to the lowest and best bidder. I am, yours truly, W. B. QBICE Mr. Qrloe is the Socialist nomi nee for county Judge from the 2d .district. Kelso. Ma, Oct. 21, 1012 ; rhii. a. Hafner, Benton, Mo. Dear Sir Yours of the 17th re ceived and in answer to question No. l. 1 beg to say that if elect ed. I will favor an immediate aud it of the Comity Books by experts in that line. J In answer to question No. 2, beg to say that I am n ota law?? yer, and might not be correct in my construction of section refer red to, but that if I am elected I will favor the letting of all printing for which the County ' has to pay to the lowest bidder, i thus giving to this section the ; broadest meaning. yours very truly, MATT THOMAS Mr. Thomas Is the Republican nominee for county judge from the second district. No reply has been received from either Judge Bandy or Josh Mason GINSENG ROOTS: I have for sale a fine lot of one and two-year-old ginseng roots at $10; $20 and $25 per 1,000. Will fill orders every Moo day and Tuesday. Special price on orders for 5,000 or more. Call or address, Excelsrlo Ginseng Gar v dens, New Hamburg, Mo. 47-3t. ANNUAL MEETING 1 Notice e fas hereby given that the meeting of the Scott Ceu ualAsoinahMWttbbMI annual : ty Mutual at Kelso, MOn oa oay Noaesn ' s0ftfca D setts WUflBrW bar ifuitMl retnry. " Tnffi&NHE m iM' ft iiM'tV r ''Tii r