Political Oratory on the Grange Lawn
Sixteen candidates for office take to the Finley schoolhouse lawn for a polite political debate and an ice cream social.
Sixteen candidates for district and county offices did battle in their own behalf before an interested crowd on the Finley schoolhouse lawn last evening. Down in one corner of the lawn, sheltered from the scene of the forensic conflict, members of the Finley Grange served ice cream and sherbet. The meeting was exceptionally free from exchange of personalities or attacks on the other fellow. Perhaps the most notable campaign speech was that of Sheriff C. E. Duffy, who has no opposition for re-election; he wasted no campaign thunder but instead informed his hearers that the delinquent personal property-tax list had been turned over to him and requested all delinquents to pay up promptly to save collection costs.
“The foliage of the school house shade was riddled with the vibrating shafts of political oratory.”
Public political forums in rural settings remain a bedrock of Benton County civic life, though the specific 'campaign thunder' regarding property tax collection serves as a reminder that the sheriff's role as a tax collector was once far more visible and direct than it is today.
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