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A Weekly Journal of Democracy Fourteenth Year No need to worry yourself another moment about what to give. Come into this store and let all our experience help you. Here you will find the finest selection of wedding presents in the country—bought for just such a case as yours. Come in today. w IF ITS FROM RICH'S ITS RIGHT" Hotel ColVille Building COLVILLE ABSTRACT CO. Abstracts of title to Stevens county lands, mines and water rights Frank Ko&ka Merchant Tailor Colville, Washington | *r ~~ ' «j£^r~=a NOW COMES THE MODERN h_~tt~' -- '-^irrlaTMUii Appropriate for young and old, for [HK^HSnHflfji|ffß,il ardent young lovers and middle-aged ■'.j.j££l' | KjlL married sweethearts. COLUMBIA Hillli'*' frMI RECORDS in artistic special Valen- li r'lufl til"' envel°Pes are *-ho very latest things in Valentines. Novel, intimate, |""^«^ " V distinctive, a musical Valentine takes the personality of the sender and provides a graceful and delightful . .;- way of expressing delicate sentiment. Vv :-, c Come in today and select your ii<hJb,%i novel "Musical Valentines." Shop \^tr^ H BUY FEED FOR YOUR CATTLE || © with care. Anything is not good enough if you © YS expect your cows to keep healthy and give good W\ S milk. We look to quality in preparing our feeds ||? ra and long time users testify as to our success. ffl I [topNoch Flour Mills 11 I COLVIUE.WASHINCTON | Cbe golttiile examiner OFFICIAL NEWS OF CITY AND COUNTY High class tailoring for men and women Dry cleaning, pressing, repairing, altering Colville, Stevens County, Washington, Saturday, February 12, 1921 THREE FIRES IN FOURTEEN HOURS FIRST FIRE ALARM IN 1921 FOLLOWED BY TWO OTHERS THE SAME DAY Two Trucks and Garage Totally Destroyed By Early Morning Blaze on East Beach Three fire alarms in one day was the record on Wednesday for the Col ville fire department. The first oc curred at four o'clock in the morning when the Ed. Hohbs garage on east Beach avenue was discovered in flames by the night police. The sec ond came about 3:30 in the afternoon from the Colville Laundry, the roof of which had caught on fire from a metal stovepipe. The third called out the volunteers about six oclock in the evening to the Maggs boarding house where there was a chimney fire. At the time of the early morning alarm, the sandman had a firm hold on Colville residents and especially on the members of the fire depart ment who arrived at the scene of the fire three quarters of an hour after the alarm. By that time the flames had gained considerable headway and the efforts of the department resulted in the saving of some of the frame work of the building but the two trucks in the garage were totally destroyed. The fire was a hard one to check as the building had been built for an ice house with double walls and a sawdust filling between the walls. The trucks were a Denby and a Republic, and Mr. Hobbs stated on Wednesday morning that he had insurance on the Denby, but that the insurance on the Republic had expired, he thought, and he was just trying to take out some in surance on the building. A cow was also housed in the garage and an early arrival at the scene of the fire reported that the cow was seen running at full speed down the street. At the time of the fire, Mr. Hobbs was out in the country, about nine miles southeast of Colville. During the latter part of last year the Hobbs residence caught on fire and at that time Mr. Hobbs was also in the country. Mrs. Hobbs and children were awakened Wednesday morning by the roar of the flames. The walls of the residence became so hot from the garage fire that the firemen turned water on the house. The fire at the laundry was dis covered before much damage was done and was quickly extinguished by the firemen who carried buckets of water to the roof. The chimney fire at the Maggs boarding house was extinguished with snow by boys in the neighbor hood before the department reached the scene. Word was passed to the firemen who turned the hose cart around and returned it to the hose house. NOW IS THE TIME FOR TUBERCULIN TESTING Dr. F. E. Allen, federal veteri narian for eastern Washington, hut; been in this vicinity this week, test ing cattle for tuberculosis. He will probably spend several weeks in this vicinity before he leaves for other parts of his territory, and it is sug gested that any owner who desire cows tested this spring should make application immediately. Blanks and information can be obtained from the office of the county agent, Colville. The Colville milk ordinance goe. into effect March 1. This new or dinance provides that no milk can be sold within the city except from certified cows. The examination and the certificate cost nothing, but should sales of milk from untested cows be attempted within the city after March 1, it is said that this might cost something. Dr. Allen has already condemned a number of cattle as being afflicted with tuberculosis. BONUS APPLICATION BLANKS DISTRIBUTED FROM 7 POINTS Bonus application blanks are now on hand at the office of the county auditor and a supply of the blanks has been sent to the following for distribution: P. F. Schroder, Kettle Falls; Louis 4 Conyard, Chewelah; C. O. Snapp, Springdale; C. Ostrum, Addy; W. H. Lillie, North port; James Kaftis, Valley. Ex-soldiers living in the above communities may obtain their blanks from the man who has the blanks in his community. J. Whitten of Echo was the first ex-service man to obtain bonus ap plication blank from the county audi tor. The next to appear was a man unknown to the auditor's office, who was followed closely by ]'.. J. Trem blay and Mark Sullivan. The American Legion ha. been busy all the week assisting the ex service men in the making out of these application blanks. The handling of these bonus blanks by the audi tor's office requires considerable extra work on the part of the auditor and his deputies. AUXILIARY OF THE LEC.ION GIVES DANCE THIS EVENING The woman's auxiliary of the American Legion is giving a dance and card party this evening for the purpose of raising funds to send a delegate to the first auxiliary con vention in the state. This convention will be held at Tacoma in June. The woman's auxiliary of the American Legion, organized but one year ago, now has 1461 units, having pone forward at the rate of 120 units a month. Plans are under way for the convention of the auxiliary to form a permanent organization, elect officers and choose a head quarters city. With 100% organization of the wives, daughters, mothers and sis ters who are eligible for member ship, great things could be accom plished by the auxiliary. Such an organization would mean a vast army of women stronger in numbers than the Legion, banded together, working for the good of the ex-service men and for the betterment of local con ditions. AUTOMOBILE GOSSIP ABOUT AUTOS AND AUTO DRIVERS A Stanley Steamer will be used on a new stage line between Hunters and Spokane and it is expected that the trip will be made in four hours. B. A. Campbell, formerly connected with the Pacific garage, is now em ployed in the sales department of Culver & Richardson's garage. One of the new Buiek service signs now hangs in front of Culver & Richardson's. It is illuminated for the purpose of guiding gasless, tire less, airless, pepless, or houseless Buicks to hospital or boarding house services, whichever they desire. Mr. Culver, who recently returned from a meeting of Buick service men in Seattle, reports that there is to be one of these service signs every fifty miles in the state. There were 178 Buick representatives at the meeting from Washington and northern Idaho. Mr. Culver also states that the Buick took first place at all the national automobile shows this year and that the Buick is the largest producer of six cylinder cars in the world and has the largest single automobile plant in the world, in addition to being connected with the General Motors Company which is the .strong est financially. (This line of talk is all right, Mr. Culver; we all know you are selling Buicks.) LEGION PRESENTS FLAGS TO NEWLY NATURALIZED Six residents of Stevens county became citizens of the United States last Saturday morning at a naturali zation hearing before Judge D. H. Carey of the superior court. Just as each man signed his name to the oath of allegiance to the United States, he was handed an American flag, presented to him by the Ameri can Legion. These were the first Hags pre sented to newly naturalized citizens in Stevens county, but it is the in tention of the American Legion posts throughout the country to thus recog nize the newly made citizens. L. R. Donley, speaking for the American Legion to the petitioners at the be ginning of the hearing, welcomed into United States citizenship those who should pass the examination and reminded them that admission as a citizen carried with it certain privi leges and duties to which they had not heretofore been accustomed. Mr. Donley explained to the men that the Legion was interested in the kind of citizens admitted and told them that the flag was not presented be cause it was a piece of tri-colon'd cloth, but because of the things which have been done under and in the name of the flag. Ah each of the nix men received his flag, Judge Carey reminded him that it wan presented by the I-egion and not by the court and that he should take good care of it. The Neighbors of Woodcraft are what their name implies, viz., neigh borly and always invite in some of their neighbors when they have their monthly card party at the Odd Fel lows hall, the first Tuesday of each month. At the last regular meeting five hundred was played at several tables and all enjoyed the evening. HIGH TAXATION A REAL BURDEN PUBLIC NOW PAYING PENALTY FOR PAST NEGLIGENCE IN FINANCE Local Taxing Officials Not to Blame— Public Must Accept Responsibility For Results The 1920 taxes became due last Monday, payable at the office of the county treasurer. The law provides that personal taxes must be paid by March 15. Real estate taxes be come delinquent June 1. If half the real estate tax is paid by May 31, the other half can run to Nov. 30 with out interest. If all the real estate tax is paid in full by March 15, a 3Cr rebate is given. Every year it has been the cus tom for many taxpayers, at the time of paying the taxes, to register to the county treasurer their disapproval of the high taxes. This is taking a most unfair advantage of the county treasurer and her force, for they have but an infinitesimal part in de termining how much taxes shall ho paid. Sometimes the irate taxpayer will go in and also tell his troubles to the assessor, and as the assessor is a public servant he is obliged to be polite, but it is equally unfair to complain to the assessor, for he has but a very small part in determining the taxes. The county commissioners always come in for their part of the criti cism, so much so that it has become a standing joke that if no one else can be blamed, the commissioners must be it. The fact is, the oom missioncrs have but a fractional part to say in the determination of taxes, and ought to be .spared the wrath of those who beat about the bush in an attempt to give vent to dis pleasure. Then who determines the taxes? If the truth must be told, the people determine them—and this de termination consists largely in pay ing no attention to city, county 01 state business, and leaving the finan cial part of civil administration lo the whims of chance. There -hould be no more compliant at the animal paying of taxes than there is of the annual payment of fire or life insurance. If taxes are too high, they can be out at the call of the people. If taxes are not high enough, they can be raised. Taxes are not arbitrarily fixcil bj county officials. Different bodies have a hand in the fixing of taxes. Local improvement district taxes are fixed by the local districts. Ir rigation district assessments are fixed by the assessment districts. School taxes are fixed largely by the school districts. County road district taxe. are fixed by the county commissioner in charge of the district, who alway. consults with the taxpayers of his district to know the needs and wishes of the district. County taxes are fixed by the coun ty commissioners, AFTER each coun- ty official has estimated his needs for the coming year, and AFTEK a full public hearing has been held on the matter of allowing the estimates, and AFTEK the notices of estimates baa been printed THREE times in THREE newspapers of the county. Not n cent of county expense money is fixed as a tax until the people of the county have had every oppor tunity of investigating and protesting the estimated expense. And do the people take advantage of these op portunities to help handl« the county budget? They do not. Sometime, v few taxpayers will come to thi open hearing and ask questions, but seldom does any taxpayer come to the meeting with a sound suggestion on a possible retrenchment. And the commissioners, having no other re course, make the county levy in ac cordance with the facts before them. State taxes are ordererl by th< state tax commission, and the count> has nothing directly to say about it, neither in amount, nor in the ratio which our assessed values shall be applied to the state demand. For a number of years the state tax com mission has walked over the county assessor's percentage, lowering it each time, which means more state tax. The total amount of state tax to be collected from the entire state each year rests in the hands of the legislature, a body controlled by King and l'ierce counties, generally with the willing assistance of Spokane county. ( an*.- of High Taxes The cause of high taxes lies largely An Exponent for Stevens County $2.00 Year in Advance; 5c Copy in the indifference of the voting and taxpaying public to the financial facts. A summary of some of the direct causes of high taxes might road somewhat H follows: I.' Excessive appropriations by legislatures which for years have been controlled by the big cities of the Sound. 2. Election of state and county officials on the basis of national po litical lines, rather than on the basis of individual honesty and ability. 3. Failure of the public to en courage and uphold an official who shows constructive ability, and readi ness to attack a capable official be cause of personal or political opposi tion. 4. Failure to vote intelligently on initiative and referendum laws which entail the expenditure of money. 5. Marked willingness to consider that public money is easy money and anybody's money, and to get as much of it as easily as possible. fi. Absolute refusal to study the financial side of civil administration, failure to confer with the elected offi cials on public questions, and a con tinual "passing the buck" to those elected to do the work. 7. Failure to put public business on the plane of private business in demanding that constructive work be dons now to save excessive expense* in the future. We Are Living Better With the increases of costs in all lines, we must expect increases in taxes, also we are continually asking for more than formerly. We are living better. We have better roads. Our schools are better. Public health is better protected. Life and property are (presumably) safer. These things cost money. They are demanded, and we must expect to pay for them. In humanitarian lines we are spend ing much mine money than formerly. ■Some of it is spent wisely and some is wasted. The number of indigents and their financial demands are in creasing. The wards in our state and county charitable and corrective in stitutions are increasing, and we are caring for them better than formerly. With the growth and spread of tuber culosis there is an increased inca pacity for work, which means that the burden of support rests continually heavier on those who are producers. The continued withdrawal of young people from the farm means that higher proportional taxation comes to those who remain on the farms if they wish to keep pace with the privileges of the city; and in addition, many of the ills which result from congested population are paid for in part by the people who yet remain in the rural districts and smaller cities. Are There Remedies? Taxpayers of Stevens county can not immediately change the taxing situation which has crept upon us with the years. Hut I here are .some remedies which can be applied now, and whirh will help some next year, more the year after, and in increasing amount in years to come. 1. Learn the financial facts re specting state anil county, and vote accordingly. 2. Watch the election of director! and the expenditure of money in local taxing districts, such as irriga tion district;, roads, schools, and lo cal improvement districts. .'i. In incorporated cities, help the eouncilmcn, who serve you without pay, in working out the financial problems of the city. 4, Start NOW on constructive lines of future saving. How It Can Be Done 1. Election of men for city, county or state office has no business to be predicated on national political party lines. Such forms of civil adminis iContlnuec! on next page.) Do you know why it's toasted To seal In the delicious Burley tobacco flavor, LUCKY STRIKE CIGARETTE