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THE IDAHO REPUBLICAN B EM I-WEEKLY Published every Tuesday and Friday BYRD TREGO,Editor and Proprietor Entered at the postoffice at Black toot, Idaho, as second-class matter. Subscription price • 13.00 per Year a STATE AND COUNTY TICKET A vote for these men assures the defeat of un-American, Social . istic administration in Idaho. Republican Ticket UNITED STATES SENATOR Borah, William E. Gooding, Frank R. REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS Smith, Addison T. GOVERNOR Davis, D. W. LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR Moore, C. C." SECRETARY OF STATE Jones, R. O. STATE AUDITOR Gallett, Edward G. STATE TREASURER Eagleson, John W. ATTORNEY GENERAL Black, Roy L. , INSPECTOR OF MINES . Bell, Robert N. SUPT. OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION Redfleld, Ethel E. STATE SENATOR, Lee, William A. STATE REPRESENTATIVES Yorgesen, Soren Robbins, Lewis COUNTY COMMISSIONER First District Christensen, James COUNTY COMMISSIONER .Second District Bills, R. Gordon COUNTY COMMISSIONER Third District Fugate, M. A. CLERK DISTRICT COURT Fisher, F. M. SHERIFF Simmons, A. II. PROBATE JUDGE . Good, James E. COUNTY SUPT. OF SCHOOLS Faulconer, Grace ASSESSOR Malcom, E. T. PROSECUTING ATTORNEY Adair, Ralph W. CORONER Peck, E. T. The form of ballot has been amended. Take this list to the polls. --• DECLARATION OF PURPOSE On behalf of the candidates of the Republican party in this county. I desire to announce that it will be our purpose to have the county accounts audited every two years hereafter for the triple purpose of discovering er rors in bookkeeping, improving and modernizing methods of accounting and to prevent fraud and remove the temptation to defraud. J. H. ANDERSEN, Chairman. REPUBLICAN CENTRAL COMMIT TEE. MISREPRESENTING THE NON PARTISAN LEAGUE People are misrepresenting the Non-partisan league both ways. A great deal has been published that was unfavorable to the league, and without telling just where the infor mation came from. We have been told by a number of league members in whom we had confidence, that the things that were being published against the league were simply made up, and that nobody signs their names to them or stands back of them. Thinking that might be true, we have been looking up literature about the league, and find that it is not a all true. There are many responsible people in North Dakota, who have been writing and publishing things MADAM, Have You Bought Your Gray Boots? If not, better lose no time—and you'd better "stock up" with several pairs. We have the largest stock of them in town today. But we cannot get another pair until the kaiser is licked. The government will not allow any more gray boots to be made. No advance in price—$8.00 to $12,00. 9 BEACHY SHOE CO. against the league for periods rang ing from a few months to a couple of years, and not only signing them and giving their address and residence, but having writings copyrighted and challenging the league to sue them for libel. ' One such work is a book by J. W. Brinton, and seven farmers of Beach, N. D., the title of the book being "Townley ft Co. and the Non-partisan League." Another is "The Farmer and Townleylsm," a warning to the farmer against Townleylsm as ex ploited in North Dakota, published by J. D. Bacon of Grand Forks, N. D. Another is "The Non-partisan League From the Inside,'' by Rev. S. R. Maxwell, copyrighted by the Dispatch Printing company, sold by the St. Marie News company of 86 East Fifth street, St. Paul, Minn., price 50 cents. These books sell at from 50 cents down, and show that tlie league work was slarted by farmers and afterwards taken up by Townley and other Socialists, and that a machine was'built exactly on the plan of the kaiser's machine by which he rules Germany and sets one man against another to do his will. The original work of the league was good, but Townley and the others have used it for their own selfish purposes and to make money, dis regarding the interests of those they pretend to serve. The men at the top furnish the plans, dictate the policies .take the money, pay the bills engineer the conventions, nomina tions and legislatures and that the real work of the league is Socialistic on the German plan, not American and not Democratic. We find that a good many people in this country have copies of these and other books on the subject, and a numbeff of them have written to find out whether these various farm ers and other references given in the literature are real or fictitious, and they receive prompt replies that are very convincing and all containing the appeal to come and see if they don't believe, and to defeat Townley ism at all hazard or be crushed by it. Among the persons who have such books and fetters are S. Beebe and J. **. Anderson rff Blackfoot, and we believe they have several copies apiece of some of those named. ♦ LEAGUE KEEPING ITS MEMBERS IN THE DARK We have been hearing reports that the Non-partisan league was asking its members in Bannock county not to attend meetings held by its oppon ents, and not tp talk with other peo ple about political matters, but we had doubts about it being true. t We thought it was too crude' a thing for anybody in free America to do, but in a recent issue of the Twin Falls Times, which is the league paper for that county, is a report of a league rally addressed by their Candidate for governor, H. F. Samuels, and it gives a glowing account of the meet ing, and among other things warns the people not to read any papers or literature but theirs. If their own papers and speakers are to be believed, they are afraid to have their people investigate dr do any thinking. We have read that they tried to change the constitution of North Dakota to take out the educational clause for qualifications for citizenship, and we doubted it for a while, but there is ample proof that it was undertaken, and only pre vented by a bitter fight, from hold over senators whom the Non-partis ans said were representing "the in terests.'' The Non-partisans in this state are making a desperate attempt to get control of the university, and put it under Socialistic teachers, so it is plain that each county should be taking steps to elect standpat legislators, w(ho will also represent "the interests" of the .rising genera tion. The only conclusions that can be dawn from the efforts of the Non partisans in preventing their mem bers from reading or talking or in any way getting the ideas of others than their members is, that there is something rotten they do not want people to learn about, or that the leaders do not think the members know enough to hear both sides and then judge for themselves. They say in their own letters that they are de pending on the blind, ignorant vote for fifteen *or twenty thousand votes at the polls, and they expect to get them by stealth. ♦ FAILURES OF SCHOOL BOARD INVITE EMBEZZLEMENT It is easy to criticise when things havfe gone wrong. It is not easy to analyze the intricate problems and make it clear just how things go wrong and escape observation. This is a proper time to study some of these troublesome things and to com prehend matters that have escaped attention and baffled our understand ing. The Blackfoot school board has neglected a number of things, and we believe some of these things have been neglected because the members of th board did not comprehend the necessity for them. We believe the average citizen knew and under stood less about it than the trustee?. Just at this time it is easy to see why slight neglect on the part of the. board opened up the way for em bezzling large sums of money with out the board or the bank having any knowledge of the crime at the time. If the embezzler won in his speculation he put it back, but if he lost, the people had to bear the loss. One thing the trustees neglected to do was to nee that the bank in which the funds were kept, paid in terest on the daily balances lying in the bank. The lafwi makes it their duty to keep the money where they can secure the highest rate of inter est on daily balances, and the law makes it the duty of the treasurer to make a warrant-call as often as he accumulates 81000. (It used to be 8300.) By neglecting to give any atten tion to these matters it left the treas urer free to mis-inform the board as to how much there was on hand or not to inform them at all. In either case the board for the past many months did not know the facts at all, and there was nothing to bring it to the attention of the bank that any certain portion of the money on hand belonged to the school and that it was costing them any certain amount for the use of it. Evidently the bank did not pay enough attention to it to discover that there was 820,000' or 826,000 or any other sum in that fund by rights, but that in fact it was out on speculation or in private loans being engineered by the cashier of the bank who was also the treasurer for the school. The public had no chance to know these things, because no publication was ever made to show the public the detailed list of receipts and disburse ments for the year. If this had been I done, some citizens would have dis covered that more than 81000 was, or should have been on hand at cer tain times and that no warrant call was made or no warrants redeemed iwdth it and no interest stopped on the warrants. Some citizens would have scanned the list of receipts and observed that ho interest was being collected from daily balances. The key to the whole loss may be said to be the lack of publication of de tailed financial statements and lack of interest on the part of the public who had no means, of getting infor mation except by asking to see the books, and few people have the time* or the ability to figure out very much if they had the books. Up to a few weeks ago the treasurer seems to have been under no bond to secure the school funds, altho he had pos session of as much as 826,211 at a time, and unknown to the board and the publie, was speculating with or loaning it. And^hat is not all, he had a reputation for making loans to men whose rating was so weak that they could not borrow of the banks at all. The law requires the treasurer to deposit the school money in a special deposit, not on his private account. He cannot carry the funds around in his pockets nor put them in a safety deposit vault nor deposit them in a bank in his own namS. Up to last February he had never complied with the law in this respect but spilled the money around in pri vate loans and private investments and had as high as 826,000 of school warrants drawing interest when they should have been paid off with the money he had received. The particular acts shown by the auditors' report to have been crimes under our law, and commited within the last .three years and consequently not outlawed, are as follows: Failure to deposit money in special deposit. Knowingly keeping false accounts. Fraudulently falsifying accounts. Wilfully refusing to pay money that was in his hands and for which warrants were presented. , Failure to make warrant-calls or disburse money according to law. Using money in ways not provided by the law.. City Connells are Making Similar Mistakes What has been said regarding the failure to publish detailed financial statements by the school board, ap plies also to every city council we have had for a decade. The law re quires them to publish a full finan cial statement every three months, and when complaints have been made about it, there has followed publica tion of a meager, condensed state ment like the school board has made, that had little or no value when pub lished. ft: A MORAL AWAKENING NEEDED HERE It is unfortunate that in the midst of a great war, when men are bleed ing, dying for our liberties and our Integrity as a nation, when millions across the sea are slowly starving, when we are concentrating our en ergies on the task of saving the world from ruin in a mighty hollo cust, when every train sees enlisted men leaving for* the front to stand between us and destruction, that we should be drawn aside in a counter movement at home to prevent our home state government from falling into the hands of forces upholding the ideas that have wrecked so much of Europe, and in litigation to get back the money once raised and de Charming Dresses at Special Prices FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS WE WILL SELL ALL OF OUR STOCK OF LADIES' • SILK AND SERGE DRESSES AT SPECIAL PRICES. / AS 4, These dresses are all good fabrics in brown, navy, burgundy, black and green, made up in beautiful styles and are remarkable values at the prices. Lot A silks values up to $ 18.50 priced at $13.75 Lot B silks values up to $25.00 priced at $17.75 ill | Lot C wool serge values up to $23.50 priced $14.75 at. h Lot D wool serge values up to $35.00 priced I $19.75 at Kinney Mercantile Company Blackfoot We Appreciate Your Business (l Phone 37 livered for operating our home in stitutions, and in other litigation to determine the right of^trusted men to longer exercise their liberties and rights of citizenship among us. When men have trusted implicitly and staked fortunes on a man's honor, when youth have looked with admiration on a character and idol ized it, when confidence is shaken and idols shattered, when there is a tacit, and almost public admission of guilt and oft-repeated looting of the public treasury, that men should hesitate about upholding the majesty of the law is a sign of a well ad vanced process of the decay of moral fiber, that needs awakening ( as men's patriotism has been awakened by the ordeals and the crises of war. WE ANSWER IT *\,R THEM -ft Nonpartisan speakers, and men who have been listening to them, are presistently asking this question, and acting as if there was no answer to it. "What,has the government or either or both of the old political parties or the people of the towns done to help the farmer?" The federal government at Wash REJECTED WITH SCORN M x V j.'vA ft /A w. \ Filial f u m IV. 0 $ $ \ f I f '"l \ kV % i V. V ■■' 4 * :// f m IL ?A ington has done what it has not done for any other industry. It has es tablished a department of agriculture ar.d employed experts by the hun dreds, and workers by the thousands to go all over the' earth to hunt up and assemble the best fruits and plants adapted to use in our coun try. Experts are employed to specialize in every branch of agricultural and stockraising pursuits to improve prrf? duction and prevent and stamp out diseases. A great printing house is operated in Washington to furnish free literature specializing on all lines of agricultural problems under the sun, and agricultural colleges and university extension department afford free education for anyone de siring to study in these lines. Speak ers and teachers go out among the farmers with institutes and demon strations! clubs ard organized, where k*ys and girls are given expert train ing in raising many of the standard products and in canning and preserv ing farm products. Experimental stations are maintained to make ex periments and to teach all who will go or write to them for instruction. Farm bureaus and county agricul tural agents serve the interests of the farmer and stockman without charge * and the cost of such service is taxed alike to all the Industries and all property.' Labor agents with office and equipment are maintained - in many counties and towns at public expense, and last winter some four or five men, directors of the Civic league of this county, pledged their own resources to the amount of 82400 to hire office help and get a labor agent to work without waiting for official action by couiity officials. 'In this state there is a farm markets bureau, operated at great expense for the benefit of the farmers, and the expense it taxed to all alike. Thru it the assessors and county clerks are required to make out re ports to forward to the farm markets bureau to help in stabllzing the prices of farm products by prevent ing unequal distribution or getting them congested in some places and allowing a shortage in others,'and the worst handicap yet found in op erating that department has been .that they could not get the farmer himself to co-operate hy giving in formation to the public officials when asked to do so. Continue on page eight