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Show SUIT AGAINST THE GRAFTERS. County Attorney Lyon has filed his suit to recover for the taxpayers of this county .o727.."i0 illegally paid to the Smoot "Mouth" for advertising tho delinquent lax list last December. The allegation in the complaint set forth tho fact that the law requires bids to be submitted (among other things) for tho county advertising, and that this was not done, but that the money was paid out without bid and without con- I legal, and the money should properly bo returned to tho public treasury. According Ac-cording to the Salt Lake Herald, the advertising was also illegal because, as the Herald says, the "Mouth" did not print the list in all of its edition, but only in a limited part of it. If this is true, the advertising itself was illegal, and any sales of property for delinquent taxes made upon such advertising would be illegal sales. Wo do not ourselves claim to know as to this point, but fake' the Herald's word for it, supposing it to be true, aud supposing that that paper pa-per would not mnko such a charge unless un-less it wns satisfied of the truth of that charge. And so tho whole amount paid to the "Mouth" for that advertising is an illegal payment, according to tho law as construed iu tho complaint. The law seems to be reasonably positive in this point, and to forbid any such graft as was worked in this case-But case-But even if it were lawful to adver tise that list without contract or bid, it clears was unlawful to charge more than tho fee sot down in Section of tho Now lieviscd Statutes, as the sum which the treasurer is authorized to collect col-lect from delinquents for such advertising. adver-tising. This amount is stated in the statute to be " twenty-fivo cents for publishing the namo and amount. . of taxes duo on each piece of proporty sold.' And the treasurer is required to pay this into tho county treasury. This payment is meant in ,the law to reimburse the treasury for the sum paid for such advertising, and it. is expocled to completely reimburse the treasury on that account. Manifestly it is the intent in-tent of the law to make the delinquent taxpayer foot the bill for his own delinquency. de-linquency. It is no contemplation of the law that those who have paid their taxes promptly shall go down into thoir pockets further for the purpose of paying pay-ing for tho delinquencies of other taxpayers. tax-payers. But nny other charge for advertising ad-vertising this list would compel the prompt paying taxpayers to do this. , Therefore, both because the payment was illegal in not having been made upon bids received and contract awarded, and because the amount paid for this advertising to the "Mouth" was more than double the maximum amount which can be charged and collected col-lected on delinquent account under the law, the whole transaction was fraudulent, fraudu-lent, and a robber' of the taxpayers; especially of those who paid their taxes promptly and have no right to bo called upon to pay anything whatever on account ac-count of the delinquent tax list. We do not sec how it is possible for the grafters to get away with this money. 11 is impossible that tho courts would allow any such theft as this, or that they could fail cither to compel the restitution of tho money or to punish pun-ish those guilty of graft. |