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? 4 -> V > THE FORT MILL TIMES Democratic?Published Thursdays. W?i. it. Bradford* Editor aad Publisher. The Times invites contributions on live subjects but does not agree to publish more than 200 words on any subject. The right is reserved to edit every communication submitted for publication. On application to the publisher. , advertising rates are made known to ? ? i ?i*> inlm aato.1 Telephone, local and long dlstunce. No. 111. Filtered at the postofflce at Fort Mill, 3. C.. us mail matter of the Herond class. THURSDAY. AUG. 4, 1921. What a humiliating spectacle is presented to the people of Illinois, and the balance of the country, by the governor of that State, I.en Small, dodging around from place to place to prevent the sheriff of Sangamon county, the county in which the capitol of the State is located, from serving upon him a warrant in which he is charged with stealing something like a million dollars of public funds while lie was State treasurer a few years ago. If the hi: lory of American politics furnishes another such case the leaves arc pasted together and it iimitiell iroiu view. Hill in an age in which many men put tin* posst'ssion of money first in the things of worldly importanee it is not surprising to find that now and then a man of questionable probity slips into exalted publie oftice. And especially is this likely to happen in the more populous States, which are filled to the hriiu with foreigners, tens of thousands of whom vote as the bosses tell them to vote, regardless of the fituoss of the candidate for the office he seeks. Ity and large. Small owes his election to the governorship of llli nois to the vote of the city of Chicago. notorious for its corrupt polities. There the mayor. Thomp son. who was accused of disloyalty during the World war. runs things with a high hand. He was Small's friend and is responsible for his election. The fact that Thompson, was considered proUernian during the war does not seem to have cost him anything in the esteem of most of the Chicago voters, made up of a eonglomerate mass of humanity the like of which is to he found no where else upon the faee of the earth. In the ruee for governor of Illinois last year the Democrats put up a man against whom no charge of dishonesty could he brought. I lad he been elected, as he should have been, the State and nation would have been saved this disgraceful spectacle; but lie went down to defeat as did hundreds of other better men than their successful opponents because he did not wear the Republican tag. Due thinir in conttec H 4 ! wrongfully accused of crime are seldom convicted iu Illinois or | elsewhere in this country, for that matter, and at most the cost jto the governor, if his skirts are clean, would be a little temporary inconvenience, out of which he (would emerge more popular than lever. Small does not want to j face his accusers iu court. li'O'.vi ever. Perhaps " there's a reason." j . . Ill the opinion. oT '1 he I imcs. I the York correspondent who at-i .tributes the lack of enthusiasm laud the decreased attendance at the Filbert nienie last Thursdav I to a satisfactory state of public i affairs is wide of the mark. The I people may not be quite so generous with applause for public | speakers as they were a few years j | ago and they may find less time to attend public gatherings than they formerly did. but in York county as in the other counties of the State dissatisfaction with political conditions is rampant, if reports are to be believed, and (unless there is a decided change' i in public sentiment before the! Democratic primary rolls round j I in August. maiiv men now'i . prominent in the conduct of the i Slate government will then wake i up to find that then* day of pub- | lie service is at an end. Whether the Legislature in conjunction' with the State officials is respon- j sihle lor the high rate of taxa- | tion. at which thousands arc complaining. is beside I he .quest ion. the people hold the men they send to t'olumhia to make the laws ami the men they elect to till tin* executive offices to account for public expenditures, and that closes argument on the question. This or that eommmu | uitv may tax itself however much I it will for school and road purposes and the amount neeess.n v l operate tin- Slate government may lie a minor pari ??1' the total, hut the fact remains that the : 1;iii(r to which the average citizen objects most is the State tax. As was pointed out jit Filbert, there has been a marked increase in tile cost of the State govern menl in the last six years. Much of the money spent for this pur poM? did not bring in the sort of returns the people were led to believe it would. l'raetieall\ everybody believes there are too many office holders in Columbiii ami elsewhere on the payrolls of the State whose positions could be abolished without impairing the efficiency of the government. I lie Legislature itself evidently takes this view of the mat let*, otherwise it would not have created a committee last winter to investigate the work and expenditures of the various depart incuts, with the view of feeoin no tiding that a place here and there be abolished along with certain unproduct ivc activities. Kre long we shall see whether the report of this committee justifies its creation, ami a tilth- la tcr we shall see whether the Leg islaturc takes the report seriously. lint meanwhile more tax ation is to be placed upon Unpeople if the State tax eolninis j sion is able t?i eonvinee the State j contingent fund eoinmittee of tin- 1 |""emergeney ' that lias arisen in*- i | eessitat in<r the printing ??!' a new form on w It it* li tin* taxpayer is t<> I return his property to the eowiii.\ i auditor. This foriu. we are told, j , v ill plaee upon the tax hooks iiiueh property whieli is now es- j | eapiu<; taxation altogether and will otherwise have the efl'eet of 1 etpiali/ino the rate at whieli pioperty of etpial value in the various seetions of the State is j 'returned for taxation. All of whieli sounds eouimendahle. hut the observation inijjht he made that the man who refuses to reI j turn his property for taxation on tin* blanks now in use hy the ; auditors is not apt to he seared into doino so when he eonies in III... ' I ... .... . ... ui < HI II HUM ?' f III IMM'il I C form of making liis returns. In tl.r opinion of many people enough money, with some to spire, already is collected to run tlie State government etlieiently. If more eare were exercised by the Legislature in making appropriations. the amount of tax money needed in Columbia eonld be reduced rut her than increased iroiu year to year. Hon with tin* eliarges against Small that would he surprising in some sections of the country hut not so in Illinois is that his ehuiupions apparently do not consiiler his guilt or innocense a matter of first iinportauee. Nowhere ilo these friends of the governor, so far as we have seen, sit iiji unqualifiedly the claim of irnoei use for him. instead they 1111'n upon certain Chicago newspapers and other public officials with the charge that they are atteuipting to ruin him because he refused to do their bidding, eonviiiiently overlooking the fact thai the thing of most interest to the respectahlu part of the country is to know whether lie stole the money. Meanwhile Small says he is going back to Sangamon county within the next day or two and claims that by virtue of his office he is immune from arrest. The sheriff takes another view of the matter and says he will arrest the governor the minute he sets foot in the county. Wt shall see what happens. If Small is innocent, the wonder is that he so strenuously objects to facing his accusers in court. 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