The School Tax Battle in Walla Walla

The Evening Argus, issued at the Union office in the interest of the Burford-Sawills machine, yesterday made a great crow over the result of the special school election on June 30th, declaring that it was the secret hope of the Statesman that the people of Walla Walla would turn out and vote to repudiate the expenditures which have been made in behalf of the children of the city. The Argus further said: 'Yesterday’s Argus called the attention of the public to the fact that the enemies of Senator Ankeny and Mayor Hunt might be depended upon to turn out and repudiate our school indebtedness. The Statesman's idea was that the Moore forces could rush the election as they did at the Commercial Club meeting and thus put the hated Ankeny crowd in a hole. While they made the rush in a body, they did not accomplish their disgraceful designs, owing to the alertness of the friends of progress, education and public honesty.' All of which is an unqualified, inexcusable, double-distilled falsehood, as the subsidized editor of the Argus knew when he wrote it. The Statesman never opposed the refunding of the old outstanding warrants. On the contrary, this paper advocated the change as being a good business proposition, saving the district from one to one and a half per cent interest. Now who in truth is it that is fighting the interests of the school children of this city? Who but the Ankeny bank, which has brought a suit in the federal court to escape the payment of the 5-mill school tax which all other taxpayers have had to pay? It comes with poor grace from such a source to use its two newspapers to lie about the Statesman and others who have always cheerfully paid their school taxes.