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Show PEOPLE AND THINGS BY REX HILL SILLY SEASON As Governor Bottolfsen says, "the Silly Season in politics is here." We can -exact most any sort of assertion, accusation or other statement. By election time the man in the street will be pretty well calloused to such stuff. He takes much of it with a grain of salt and many persons become disgusted dis-gusted to the extent of paying no attention at all and they either don't vote or rely upon the advice of some friend who does take an interest in such things. Last week the writer stated that he intended to discuss some of the issues with facts and figures. In attempting something like this it is hard to know just which part will be the most interesting and which part is the most important. A few days ago Governor Bottolf. sen made a talk at Meridian and anyone hearing him speak was impressed im-pressed with his sincerity but at the same time could not help but -object to his numerous statements of indirection which did not answer an-swer any questions and inferred an inaccurate picture. In speaking a good word for congressional con-gressional Candidate Henry Dwor. shak the governor said, "Let's not swap Henry for "Two-gun" (nick, name for Ira H. Masters). There are too many fellows running around with guns on their sides now. Instead of having so many "Two-gun" fighters, let's have a "Two-fisted" fighter like Henry Dworshak." This statement is not only below the dignity of a candidate candi-date for the high office of governor gover-nor but attempts to infer that Masters is some sort of gun man. Anyone who knows Masters realizes real-izes the absurdity of such a statement. state-ment. Gas Tax Money The governor made some other assertions which are worth perusing. per-using. He stated, "For the first time gas taxes have been allocated back to the counties for building farm to market roads." He is correct cor-rect that this is the first time gas tax money has been diverted to the counties. It has heretofore been used for the building of highways and farm to market roads by the state IN ADDITION TO THOSE BUILT BY THE COUNTIES. He refers to the $1,000,000.00 per year paid to the counties from the gas tax to make up for a loss of revenue rev-enue due to the reduction in automobile auto-mobile licenses. Most of this money was used for county road building and repairs, for paying indebtedness indebted-ness which was obligated with this source of income in mind and for the payment of interest on such debts. Actually the counties get less under this plan than they did before. No one objects to the $5.00 license li-cense on cars but lets be honest and not try to create the wrong impression. By diverting this gas tax money which has heretofore been used for state highways and farm-to-market roads ,the highway department has not only lost this $l,000,000.O, but has also been unable un-able to use it to match federal funds on a 40-60 basis. Thus they have lost $1,500,000,00 per year in federal funds, making a grand total to-tal of $2,500,000.00 per year which otherwise would have been available avail-able for the highway department to spend on roads. Is it any wondei our road program has been neg, lected? General Fund Deficit The Governor continued his informative in-formative talk by saying, "For the first time it has been demonstrated that government costs can be reduced re-duced . . ." Such an assertion in spite of the fact that state taxes on homes, farms and other property proper-ty were increased $1,000,000.00 per year by Bott over the last Demo, catic administration of Governor Barzilla Clark. In spite of the fact that on January Janu-ary 1, 1939 when Governor Bottolfsen Bottolf-sen took office there was a cash balance in the stale general fund of $940.550. IS and on October 1, the state general fund was in the red showing a deficit of nearly $1,000,000.00. In spite of the fact that the state debt; bonds, treasury notes and o o registered warrants has increased from $1,701,844.00 on December 31, 1938 at the end of the last ad-ministration ad-ministration to $2,154,772.00 on September 1, 1940. It is not the writers desire to just "find fault." It is, however, I the writers desires to point out untrue un-true statements made by candidates candi-dates for office. In this same connection Chase Clark, Democratic candidate for governor slipped on one accasion to the writers knowledge when he said, "we all know that no roads have been built during the last year and a half." What he should have said is that roadbuilding has sharply declined under this administration. ad-ministration. Yes, the silly season is here. , The writer of this 'column invites any criticism or correction from any reader be he Democrat or Republican. Re-publican. The next story will deal with a little different phase of the campaign and show the operation of state government. |