Much Ado About Nothing

Tlie Adrián Press pushes to the resoné oí Superintendent Watfcin s. Manchesfcer, aml has this to say in liis defense : , "AVe can hardly tliink the Aun Arbor Oourier just fi.'d in defendïng the Ilegal apprípriatlom of $100 yearly $by the board oí supervisors, to pay Judge Kinne's expenses for ra lroad travel, siimply beeanse the Judge does not accept a railroad pass, or because Supervisor Wfufckins, of Manchester, who pi-otested against the raid on tlie treasury, has taken pay íor supervisor services, on days when he was not present. Washtenaw and Monroe each chipped in $100 to give tlie judge. There ie no authoi-ity in law to warrant the appropriation, nor ,is there any just'ce in it. The judge does not have to go to Monroe many times ',n a year, and tlie tare is a smuall item for ome receiving $2,500 for less thaji 200 days labor, witli about ix hours per day. AVe are not dn any way defsnd ng Mr. AVatkins f rom the charges made by the Courier, but because he has drawn pay to W'hich he is mot entitled, is no excuse for criticising lus objection to wrongfully takimg the people's money trom the treasury. Mr. AYatkm's objection to thi's raid on the treasury is rghlt, no matter how much in in line wrong he may be in anything else. Híb suggestion tliat Judge Kinne refund the money illegally appropriated, is pertineait, and should be beeded. It's appropriatlon vitiates tlie tax roll, and how could Judge Kinns render an impartlal Terdict in a uit befo re liim-, if this ques-tion shoiuld av'se ? AVhat would be his judgiuent should he be on the supreme bench ?" AVhat the Courier Ospeclally objected ■ to was tlie inconsistency of Satan in in attempt'ng to trebuke what he chose to cali sin. AA'e can liardly believe, however, tnat the Prees speaks caaididly when it refera to ''the illegal appropriation of $100." Tliere is nothing illegal about it, and the talk ot vitiating the tax i-olí is the merest bosh, bi-ought out just -at this particular time in the hope of having a dampening' effect on Judge Kinne's candidai-y . probably. Speaking of building and loan associa. tions the Farm and Fireside rnakes tliis excellent suggestion : "It is a wonder the farmers of a certain township do not organize their own society. Some of them are paying high interest for borrowed money, and each year sending the interest out of the country. Now, let fifty ör a hundred men organize a local society, pay in, say five dollars a month or more, and let those who have borrowed money take from the organization, pay off the foreifjndebt, and then keop ül the money circulating at home. The beauty of it isthatyoucan pay off the obligation, little by little, five dollars a month, may be, and scarce miss that amount, when to raise five hundred dollars would require great sacrifico in variousways." Our Dumli Animáis, ie th name of a Boston periodical, published by and in the interest of the Humane Societies. It can not be accused of ever dabbling in politics in any vvay, but here is a quotation from its columns that may, posaibly, interest the members of Con;ress down at Washington. An object lesson ; a practical resultofjthe impractical, business killing, cruel and inhaman tariff legislation : "One of Boston's most prominent wool merchauts, who is very familiar vrith the subject, tells us that the putting of wool on the free list by the last Congress is so disastrous to the sheep indnstry in Montana and the tenïtories, that probably hundreds of thousands of sheep, which will notbring the cost of keeping during the winter, will be abandoned this fall to piek up a living as best they may thfough the winter. If the winter sliould be an unusually mild one, some of them may suryiye, otherwise they will die, and the owners will have only their pelts. This is the prospect which awaits perhaps hundreds of thousands of sheep in the far West during thejeoming winter."