12
Chas Skalla for County Clerk
Chas Skalla is asking tlie vot
ers of Red Willow county for a
third term and as he frankly
stated before the Republican
county convention at Indianola
Puly 19 a LAST term for county
clerk
A number of men in the history
of Red Willow county have been
selected for third terms It has
been the custom in the county
clerks office Hetherington and
Roper each had four terms
Green and Wilcox had three
terms each If any man in the
history of the county lias earned
a third term by hard painstaking
conscientious work by accommo
dating and efficient service it is
Chas Skalla the present county
clerk
Elected for the first time four
years ago by the slender major
itv of three votes against the pro
tests and opposition of a majority
of the business men who knew
the Qualifications required of a
county clerk and despite the fact
that his election was contested
and he had to expend over three
hundred dollars to defend his ti
tle to the office he took charge
of the county clerks office on
January 9th 190S and to put it
in a few words he has made
jrood
He agreeably surprised not his
friends who knew his integrity
and business qualifications but
his most bitter opponents the
men who fought him the hardest
He is supported for re election
todiv bv the biff majority of the
busin ss men throughout the coun
t and especially of McCook who
doekr him to b thJ best county
cl rk Red Willow county ever
had
It was not easy for Skalla to
accomplish this and enlist this
support ILe is not what is com
monly termed a mixer who can
make votes by a handshake and
a pleasant smile Nor did he run
after these men and ask for their
support He gained the good
will and loyal support of these
business men and the farmers as
well by hard steady work by at
tending to business by giving
every one a square deal by treat
ing his opponents as well as his
supporters not knowing any dis
tinction between friend and ene
my as far as the work of the of
fice was concerned
Seven oclock in the morning
has found Chas Skalla at his
desk in the office the first week
of his first term and he has kept
it up ever since not for a short
time before election but for very
near 4 long years and over 300
mornings in each year And very
near as many are the evenings
on which he worked until late in
the night over the countys rec
ords
Immediately upon taking charge
of the office he discovered that
no system has ever been follow
ed by any county clerk in cneck
ing the claims filed against the
county and of the warrants is
suedthat would provide for an
absolute check over all transac
tions At once he prepared a
form for a claim record and had
a new book made for this pur
pose Men who travel all oyer
this state and who have examin
ed this record say that it is not
excelled anywhere in the state
and only a few counties keep sim
ilar records He instituted a sys
emt of numbering all claims of
whatsoever nature filed against
the county commencing on the
first day of liis first term and
by the way the number on Oc
tober 2nd 1911 including all
road work claims was 6957 Af
ter numbering each claim in this
manner he entered the same on
the new claim record alphabetic
ally giving number date of fil
ing name of claimant what
claimed for and amount claimed
so that today any one can call at
tire clerks office and within a
few minutes learn how many
claims and the amounts of each
that have been filed by any one
individual in these four years Af
ter each meeting of the county
board Skalla takes all the claims
allowed by the board and checks
over the claim record and enters
the date allowed the amount the
claim was allowed at the fund it
was allowed on and the number
of the warrant issued on the par
ticular fund After the warrants
are either mailed out or called
for by individuals he again
checks over the claim record and
enters the date delivered or mail
ed out and the name of the party
delivered to No such or similar
record wa ever kept in this
county by any county clerk In
fact the commissioner record anc
the stubs of the warrant book be
sides the claims were the only
records kept before This claim
record has saved an immense lot
of time for the county board and
individuals who were looking up
claims because they can locate a
claim in a few seeconds and fol
low its whole history Keeping
up this claim record easily takes
one person two months time in a
year if all work would be done
at one time but it is certainly a
good investment of time
He followed up this claim rec
ord with a S3rstem of mailing out
warrants and checks for war
rants As soon as possible after
each meeting of the board he
sorts out the warrants issued at
that meeting To parties living
in McCook or vicinity he mails
a postal card printed for that
purpose as a notice To all oth
ers who dont get to the county
seat regular he mails the check
or warrant He takes all these
warrants to the county treasurer
and for those which are on a
fund that has money on hand he
gets a check For those that have
to be registered as many of the
road district warrants he lias the
treasurer register them and then
he mails out the registered war
rant Only a few weeks ago the
county board allowed a lot of
small claims on the bridge fund
This fund ds way overdrawn and
the warrants have to be register
ed One bank at McCook takes
all bridge fund wan ants at par
just for the 7 per cent interest
which they draw Skalla found
that he had thirty warrants on
the bridge fund on hand amount
ing to 29215 mostly belonging
to people dn the east end of the
ccunty and he knew that most of
them nedd the money He had
the treasurer register the 30
warrants then took the warrants
tc bank and sold them at
par They would not write 30
Jralts without getting pay for
the drafts Instead of doing this
he had the bank deposit the mon
ey in his name and called for a
check book no wrote 30 cheeks
and mailed them out and every
one of the 30 claimants got their
money in full Where ever was
the county officer who did this
for his constituents This work
of mailing out checks and war
rants takes a lot of extra time
but it is a great accommodation
to the parties interested who be
fore had to make a trip to Mc
Cook or send for the warrants
with a neighbor or write for
them Sometimes warrants stayed
in the office for years before
their owners called at McCook
for them The only exception to
this rule of mailing out warrants
are those held up by the treasur
er on account of delinquent per
sonal taxes and these cases are
very rare He has been criticiz
ed by some for the expense this
mailing out warrants incurs but
he thinks that fair minded peo
ple will consider the 2000 to
JriSUUU postage it requires a year
as well spent
The most important task Skallc
undertook was the Account
Ledger the keeping of another
new record Many were the ques
tions asked him as to the costs
per year for certain items such
as paupers county supplies of
fice expenses bridges elections
and others No way was there of
telling these and give correct an
swers unless one took the com
missioner record for a full year
read all the claims allowed and
picked out all claims that refer
red to the particular subject one
was interested in and after mak
ing lists of them added them
and looked up all these claims to
see if he was right It took a
man several days to do this on
pauper Dins ana wnen ne was
through he did not know how
many he had missed
Skalla soon knew that this was
no system at all and that some
record ought to be kept tliat
would provide for a better check
ing of the costs of different items
and departments He prepared a
form for a record and had a new
book made at a cost of 3600 He
then sorted out all the claims
beginning not with 1908 his
first year but going back nine
years further to 1899 the year
that the county records were mov
ed into the present court house
He gathered all the claims of
whatsoever nature for the one
year and added them Then he
took the commissioner record for
that year and checked all the
claims with it and added the
commisioner record and the fig
ures had to balance to the cent
before he went further He again
checked all claims with the stubs
of warrant books and again they
had to total the same figure Af
amount that was allowed by the
board each year -he commenced
posting the claims on this accounl
ledger He divided all claims in
90 different items and depart
ments and provided separate pag
es for each on the ledger We
cant now enumerate all 90 sepa
rate items but give the following
few Assessors salaries board
ing prisoners and juries salaries
of each office office expenses o
each office printing and supplies
for each office court house ex
penses repairing salary and mile
age for each commissioner court
costs witness fees jurors fees
road damages election expenses
light telephone water fuel for
court house insanity cases pau
per account county records road
petition expenses road work for
each commissioner and for each
road district and many more
He posted each claim on its
proper page on this account ledg
er entering number of warrant
and date allowed so anyone can
within a few seconds locate any
one particular claim the name of
claimant for what article or what
service and the amount Many
claims had to be divided into two
or more separate items and posted
on that many pages After all of
the claims for the one year were
posted lie added each one of th
90 pages and totaled them to
show the total amount paid out
by the county for each item for
that year
-
ter filing than they ever were
by any one in this or other coun
ties No man ever called at the
office or wrote to Mr Skalla for
information without getting a
detailed answer if it was possible
to get the information desired in
Ms office
About two years ago he spent
2 to 3 months reading all the gov
emment patents for the land in
this county and thus got the cor
rect acreage of each piece of
land within the county on the
assessment records Most of the
land along the north and west
line of each township falls short
and it will be assessed for less
acres hereafter He also secured
from the rail road company a
list of the acreage they have in
each section where the road
runs through and deducted this
from the number of acres in the
different quarters which makes
considerable difference to over
100 people in their taxes but
being only just and reasonable
Wlien he first entered the of
fice he spent several weeks checi
ing all papers and records relat
ing to road petitions and placed
them m proper files and soon
was better posted on all road
matters as well as county his
tory than any one else in the
county
In purchasing supplies for the
county he always tried to be ec
onomical getting the best for the
least money and not any more
Then he made a recapitulation supplies than were actually need-
in the back part of the same ledg ed
er carrying all 90 totals to this Mr Skalla has never made
page and totaling it and it had much noise over the reforms he
tn inanfti Tn n ppnt with tin or- iiihuuitvu in nis wiiiuu m
iginal figure as shown allowed h
the claims Then he commenced
all over again with the claims for
the next year It took all the
way from 3 to 6 weeks hard work
to thus check and post the claims
was unjusuy cruicizeu oy uiiuiv
who would have approved of his
work had they known of it It
is true that he kept two assist
ants one besides the deputy in
the office and that this is one
of one vear and he only could more than in most of the stir
work at it when the regular worl rounding counties It is also true
of the office permitted it as he that this is one less than was
never neglected his other work kept the last year of his
for this He has now compleed cessor ana not any more man
1908 or 10 full years and is
working on 1909 thus being with
in three years of the completion
of the record up to date
was kept in the clerks office for
long years In tact the com
missioner record will show for
the last 13 years where the
Mr Skalla is only too glad to ty board allowed at the
show this account ledger to any
voter or taxpayer that wants to
see it Any one who ever looked
at it is convinced that it is the
most valuable county record ever
made ind that it is important
tliat the work be finished and
then kept up Of course it will
be easy to keep up this record
after its completion by posting
the claims allowed after every
meeting of the board
For instance any one can call
at the county clerks office and
within a few minutes find out
who assessed any precinct for the
last 13 years and the amount he
received each year or who serv
ed on the election board of each
precinct each year for 13 years
If he cares to trace the pauper
bills he can tell how much each
individual received from the
county in that time A few doz
en other items could be mention
ed dn this connection
In addition to these records
Skalla has provided a warrant
book in which he entered all
warrants issued by liis office
since January 1908 and posts
them after every board meeting
keeping each fund separate and
any one can tell at a glance how
much was issued on each fund
each year or for the current year
After each settlement of the
county board with the treasurer
which is every 6 months all the
warrants redeemed in the six
months are turned over to the
clerk and Skalla checks them
with this warrant book entering
the date redeemed after each war
irant lie can this way tell what
warrants are still unredeemed at
any time He provided for a sys
tem of filing away the claims and
warrants that enables liim to lay
his hand on any one of them
witliin a minute if he knows the
number he is looking for and his
claim record account ledger and
warrant book give him either the
claim number or the warrant
number of any claim witliin a
second
No better system of auditing
claims and checking expenses was
ever kept by any county of this
state It is simply complete and
absolutely accurate
In all the other work connect
ed with liis office Skalla was
just as efficient and prompt All
branches of the work were kept
up and some say it is a pleasure
to look up records in the clerks
office The recording is attend
ed to properly and efficiently
and papers are returned to then
ter thus securing the correct owners as soon if not sooner af
in of each year to the clerk Mr
Green as well as Mr Wilcox one
deputy and one assistant pro
viding the fees of the office
would permit it and if either
of these gentlemen did not have
the assistant it meant that the
fees of the office did not bring
the money as they will say
themselves The assistants were
only kept when the fees collected
by the office permitted it which
meant when there was work to
do For instance if the clerk
collected 281800 in a year and
a neighboring county which kept
only one assistant m the cleric s
office collected 2120 it meant
that Red Willow county had 728
more work to do than the other
county Such was the case in
1910 as well as other years The
fees collected represent the
amount of work done besides
the extra work before mentioned
for Avhich the county paid noth
ing
The impression has been con
veyed by people who know bet
ter that Mr Skalla receives a
salary of 280000 The fact is
that the combined salary of the
office force is that amount pro
viding the fees bring it The sal
ary of the clerk is fixed by the
laws of the state The county
board cant raise him or lower
him a cent and Mr Skalla never
touched a cent of this countys
money that did not lawfully be
long to him
ne has made enemies political
ly as he does not allow any one
to think for him but has a strong
mind of his own and speaks
right out in meeting He is a
thorough progressive being one
of the pioneer insurgents in
this corner of the state and he I
says that he does not have to
hold office that bad as to be a
mummy He would rather have j
his say about public matters and
do what his conscience tells him
is right than to hold public of
fice But his activity in public
matters never interfered with his
conduct of the county clerks of
fice We defy any county in
this state to show us a county
clerks office better kept and
more efficiently conducted than
Red Willow county The vot
ers of this county regardless of
party affiliation will only honor
themselves by re electing Chas
Skalla for a third and final term
for the important office of coun
ty clerk and make sure that they
will be served as efficiently in
the next two years as they have
been in the preceeding four
Munsing
Underwear
1 OO Per Cent Right
JilMf
Kg -v i iKgftnttri
ward it Skalla s defeat which
now seems to be an impossibility
would mean that it is no induce
ment for any public servant to
devote his full time and energy
to the work of the people and to
do things absolutely on the
square as he has done
So well was his efficiency rec
ognized that while he had bitter
fights for liis first and second
nominations no Republican en
tered the primary contest against
him this year and he secured un
animous nomination of liis party
for a third term being the only
man who ever received a nomin
ation for a third term in tliis
county without a fight for long
years
Vote for Chas Skalla and
good clean efficient county gov
ernment
REPUBLICAN COUNTY CEN
TRAL COMjHTTEE
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No 2 Red Turkey wheat for
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Huber handles the Carhart
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Phone 5
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From
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The Home of the Hart Schaffner Marx Clothes
years
If merit counts for anytliing
and is entitled to any reward
tliis is certainly the time to re
A NEW RURAL ROUTE
After Several Years Effort te
Route is Granted
The postoffice department has
finally allowed the rural route
long since prayed for from Mc
Cook via Red Willow to Box El
der and return This route will
fill the requirements and prayers
of large number of patrons who
have for several years desired to
be supplied with mail from the
county seat with its best of mail
facilities Several inspections
have been made of this proposed
route and The Tribune congrat
ulates the patrons upon the final
success of the effort It is
thought the route will be ready
for operation about the first of
November
The McCook Tribune 100 a year
Heating Plumbing
MiddletonRuby
Are prepared to fur
nish estimates on
short notice They
keep a complete line
of Bath Tubs La
vatories Sinks and
other plumbing mater
ial including a good
line of lawn hose and
sprinklers
Phone No 182 - McCook Nebr
BULLARD LUMBER Co
Li
SELLS THE BEST
into and i on
PHONE NO 1
seHirfM
ajargy rxtTTZZS
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1 E