“The October 19, 1916 edition of The Eureka Herald article related to county funds: Just as a shyster lawyer, who has a bad case, abuses the prosecuting attorney and the prosecuting witness to detract attention from the real issue involved, so those who would defend the present board of county commissioners in the extravagant expenditure of public funds fear to discuss the issue involved and resort to pettifogging. ( giving too much attention to small, unimportant details) Their latest turn to hide the facts is to accuse this paper of wanting the county printing. It is a poor excuse, but anything seems better and safer to them than to discuss the merits of the controversy. The Herald wants all the printing it can get in a legitimate way, just as a merchant wants all the trade he can get, or the farmer wants to raise bigger crops, but the people of Greenwood County are not interested in our welfare, nor in the welfare of The Eureka Messenger or any other newspaper, and they care little who gets the county printing or any other public work so long as the rate is reasonable and the service satisfactory. Now that we have frankly explained our attitude on that question, we want the commissioners or their spokesman to be as fair with the public and answer a few questions which we believe to be highly important at this time.
Why is it the commissioners have expended in three years and six months $243,092, almost a quarter of a million dollars, which is $64,189 more than the previous board spent in a similar period of time? These figures are taken from the records and can easily be verified.
Why is it the commissioners have found it necessary to spend thousands of dollars of the taxpayer’s money in pauper bills in addition to the maintenance of the poor farm? Why should good for nothing loafers who pretend they cannot get work to do, ask their families to apply for aid when there is work in abundance for every man who tries to find it? Should those men be permitted to eat the bread the taxpayers earn by hard labor or should they be put in jail for vagrancy while their families are being fed? Why shouldn’t such men be fined and made to work out their fines on the public roads?
Why is Greenwood County bankrupt? The Eureka Messenger, which is supporting the county commissioners, in its last issue said: “True, the road fund has been exhausted.” That is an acknowledgement that the county is bankrupt so far as that fund is concerned.
The Messenger gets confused however, when it attempts mathematics. Last week it said: “At the present time there is in the neighborhood of $40,000 in the hands of the county treasurer. There is also due this fund from the townships $3,430 which would make a total in the fund when paid in of $6,930 instead of a deficit as was predicted some time ago.” Those are its exact words. There isn’t the change of a syllable or a figure. If there is $40,000 and the county receives $3,430, how does the Messenger arrive at the startling conclusion that there will be $6,930? Get your last week’s Messenger and read what it said. It deliberately juggled the figures to deceive the voters. There is absolutely no basis from which the Messenger could deduce such reasoning and it knows it.
This morning, The Herald got the exact figures from the records at the court house on both the general and road funds of the county. There is in the general fund $3,891, with $1,655 due on warrants that have already been allowed by the commissioners but have not yet been called for. This leaves a balance in the general fund today of $2,235, with all bills contracted since October 1st, and the bills held out by friends of the board at the recent sessions unpaid.
In the road fund this morning there was just $21.78 with more than $100 due on warrants that were allowed by the commissioners at their recent session, and nothing to pay the October bills. The records are open to anyone who cares to examine them and the above figures are correct.
If there is sufficient money in the treasury, why did the commissioners vote not to meet in November for the payment of bills? They have been meeting monthly, why skip November? Here is their order passed at their meeting October 2, 1916; “We, the board of county commissioners of Greenwood County, Kansas, in regular session resolve not to meet in regular session until December 4, 1916, W.D. Laird, Chairman.” If there is plenty of money in the treasury, why did they decide not to meet in regular session until after the election?
Why were bills held out by friends of the commissioners at the October session of the board if it were not to deceive the people and keep the general revenue account from being exhausted the same as they acknowledge the road fund is? Why do the commissioners not ask us to give them the names of some of their friends who held out bills?
Why have taxes increased in this county year after year when property valuations have not increased? The commissioners have had charge for almost four years. They should account for their stewardship. We ask these questions in the kindest spirit and if they will answer them, we will submit another list of question for them to answer.
It is because of conditions such as outlined above that the voters of the county are demanding a change. This paper but reflects the public sentiment that is prevalent in every part of the county. The county wants relief. The people are not stingy, but they know when things have reached a crisis. The present board stands convicted of extravagance and incompetence. The issue is clearly drawn. For once the people will vote for their own interests. The only thing to do with a cancer on your hand is to cut it out or watch it grown and not complain. Greenwood County is going to vote for a change in county management and serve notice on future boards that extravagance will not be tolerated.”
Comments from both papers continued for the next few weeks until the election in November 1916. There were two commissioners running for re-election, incumbent A. Holmes, who won and incumbent Lemons, who lost to L.A. Ladd. There had been much to talk about the last few months in the coffee shops of the county leading up to the November election. Now that was over and more attention might have been focused on the oil exploration in the county.
