NOTIFIES MEMBERS IN RHYME
County Clerk Charles Fischer has received the following verses from Monroe, Wis., where the poet, J.W. Stewart, is the clerk of Green county. The unique invitation is both good reading and timely. Few officials combine a love of statistics with the poetic gift.
NOTICE TO COUNTY BOARD MEMBERS.
You are hereby notified,
And this you must remember;
Go to your County Court House,
On the eleventh day of November.‘Tis a meeting of the County Board
And that is the opening day;
So be there promptly on time,
And hear what there is to say.No doubt you’ll enjoy your work,
while at your county seat;
May you have a harmonious session,
And have plenty of things to eat.In this notice that I give you,
I’ll try to give you the facts;
It may aid you in your work,
As well as guide you in your acts.Much State Aid Road has been built,
State expenses are also very high;
and when you pay your taxes,
It will almost make you cry.You may call this state progressive,
Or the land of milk and honey;
But to pay the running expenses,
You bet, that takes some money.We have a grand University,
Every state does look this way;
The property owners pay the taxes,
And the politicians make the hay.Over a million, from the tax payers
For this institution, it does take;
In the ways of using money,
It does surely take the cake.There are commissioners of all kinds,
And many systems, which are to come;
But the system for increasing taxes,
Has them all “going some.”All these things are expensive,
Still, it was voted, don’t you know;
But the payment of high taxes,
May teach us to go slow.This state is considered prosperous,
Will you tell me, what made it so?
Was it the State Highway Law?
Most emphatically, I say no!It’s the industry of our people,
Who toil from morn till night;
With the aid of the dairy cow,
That’s made them win the fight.‘Tis such men as, Moore and Babcock,
And the tillers of the land;
That’s made Wisconsin prosperous,
And not, our tax figuring band.We may be prosperous now,
But we’er liable to lose our head;
As we may be taxed to death,
And be numbered with the dead.Unless we make some changes,
I can see the handwriting on the wall;
That a new party, will take our place
About a year from this fall.Then come prepared for business,
At this session of the County Board;
And help reduce the taxes,
From the point, to which they’ve soared.Instruct the next Legislature,
Either by Resolution or otherwise;
To stop being so extravagant,
And to learn to economize.Elect good men to represent you,
From the district, in which you live;
Then let “economy” be their motto
Or any other, that you choose to give.I trust these lines will be read,
By people of every size;
Who should remember my motto,
“That it pays to economize.”Here’s to the State of Wisconsin,
Here’s to the County of Green;
Which is the greatest dairy County,
That the world has ever seen.Now remember my instructions,
And be there on the opening day;
I will now, bid you Good-bye,
As I have nothing else to say.– J.W. STEWART,
County Clerk.
Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) Nov 8, 1913
MEASURES NOT MEN
By Douglas Malloch
Let’s vote for men not measures, truth not laws,
Concern ourselves not with effect but cause.
The leader is the army, judge the court,
And matter more than rules of every sort.
Platforms and precepts and ideals and creeds,
What are they all unless expressed in deeds?
The greatest nation or the smallest clan,
The thing that really matters is the man.In men the land much always put its trust;
No law is just unless the judge is just.
I’d rather trust my fortunes to the wise
Than written wisdom that some knave applies.
A golden scepter is a tawdry thing,
However wise the law, if fool the king,
Men matter most, and so I say again,
Let’s vote for measures less, and more for the men.
Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) Dec 17, 1907
