You paid $68.00 to run the local, state and federal government in 1922. Directly or indirectly it came out of your pocket. The people earned $65,000,000,000.00, but the government took away $7,000,000,000.00. The cost of the federal government to each man, woman and child was $29.00 last year. As recently as in 1916, it was only $7.00. The war is not over; each one of us pays $10.00 a year interest instead of the pre-war 24 cents, and each person is loaded with $200.00 of the huge federal debt. Among the immense government departments, the veterans’ bureau takes 18 per cent of the expenditures, close behind the navy department with 21 per cent and the war department with 20 percent. State and local government got $39.000 of the $68.00. The average citizen paid 183 percent more to the state in 1922 than in 1912, 141 percent more to the county and 80 percent more to the city. Debts for these divisions, plus the federal government, saddle each worker in the United States with $780.00. Each eleven of these workers over sixteen are supporting one public employee—and it is costing out many wage earners over ten years of age some $91.00 a year to support these 3,5000,000 public employees. How can it be stopped? Ray Emerson, son of Mr.

After two or three attempts to take his life, P.P. Grindstaff, an inmate at the county farm, was adjudged insane before a commission of Drs. E. E. Colby and R. B. Osborn at the courthouse. It is not a settled fact at this time which state institution Grindstaff will be placed. Last week he had slashed his throat with his knife, inflicting three bad gashes. Sunday he made another attempt. He butted his head against a stonewall until his head was badly bruised and finally finding that a hard way to end life, he waded into the river trying to find a place deep enough to drown himself. Frank Richmond succeeded in getting Grindstaff out of the river and he has been closely guarded since that time.

Probate Judge Case reports that marriage licenses have gone begging over the past week. Too much snow, he says, yet one couple came in on the train to have the knot tied. Ezra George Herman of Harlan and Laura R. Harsh of Downs were married in the Judge’s office last Saturday.

Walter H. Brown, son of Riley Brown of Stockton, is one of the charter members of a new national fraternity recently organized on the Washburn Campus, Phi Phi Phi. This fraternity was first organized in Chicago at Northwestern in 1908. At the present time there are chapters at the University of Illinois, the Armour School of Technology, and the University of Wisconsin. Walter is a member of the Glee Club, and the official organizer of all lettermen, the W Club. He won his letter in football his freshman year. He is one of the largest men on the Washburn football squad and will probably make a name for himself next year. It has been predicted that he will fill the shoes of Rusty Cossman, Washburn’s famous tackle of a few years back. This is Walter’s second year at the college.

Stockton awoke Sunday morning to find one of the worst blizzards raging for several years. All day long the snow continued to pile up, drifting badly and putting business and traffic almost to a stand still. The rural route men and two stage routes have been unable to combat the drifts until Wednesday when Mr. Cox made his first trip from the west since Saturday. The storm is apparently general over the state. The fall of snow at Stockton is about ten to twelve inches. At Phillipsburg the snow is reported fifteen inches with Osborne and Hays reporting ten inches. While the heavy snow is hard on the livestock in the open, it is a “boomer” for the wheat.

The Missouri Pacific has been doing a fine freight business from this point for the past eight months according to a report by agent J. I. Wilkin. The raiload shipped out 550 loaded cars from Stockton during that time. Of this total number of cards 219 were loaded with corn, five of wheat, 86 with livestock, 175 of various grain, such as barley, oats, kaffir, sudan grass, milo, etc., and 65 cars of other merchandise. Only 235 loaded cars were received, being 25 cars of livestock, 52 cars of coal and 57 of oil and gasoline, and 101 loaded with lumber, machinery, automobiles, potatoes, flour and the like. A total of 1,054 locals cars were received—containing one small box from Woodston to almost carloads of merchandise. There were 413 cars localled out, usually loaded very light. The passenger business has not fared as well. The ticket sales are about $150.00 a month in excess of that of a year ago. Many Stockton folks going to Kansas City buy tickets as far as Downs and there buy for the Missouri point. This works a hardship on the local station, as only local sales are considered in deciding what service can be profitably supplied on any branch line.

It was an enjoyable and enthusiastic meeting of the county Republicans held in the assembly room of the courthouse last Saturday afternoon, All but three of the twenty-two townships of the county were represented and the party spirit prevailed. One of the purposes of the meeting was to name delegates to the state convention at Topeka and also to the district meeting to be held at Colby. The Topeka meeting will be represented by O. O. Osborn, Mrs. R. J. McClay, Anna Glick Eades, J. W. Smith, L. L. Marshall, M. S. Graham, Chas. Miller. The Colby delegates are M. S. Graham, N. F. Hill, W. F. McNulty, Gerald McClay, Miles Hindman, C. C. Bray and Ed Thyfault.

The following article was clipped from last week’s copy of the Topeka Daily Capital: “Few politicians have ever heard of E. Bartholomew. Few newspapermen have for that matter, yet it is a well known name among botanists around the world. His work and writings in one department of botany is authoritative. He is a America’s greatest collector of fungi, more commonly known as rusts. He is a Kansan, he lives on a farm near Stockton, Rooks County, the same farm on which he settled when he was a young man. He was not college bred. He knew no Latin or German. He was just a young man who came to Kansas for a home.

The editor accompanied Harry Eades on a drive to the Frank Fuller farm, northeast of town last Thursday evening on business. The Fullers have a nice, valuable farm with good improvements and well stocked. Frank has a nice bunch of cattle and hogs and with his other farm work keeps pretty busy. Mrs. Fuller has nice flocks of white Leghorn and Rhode Island chickens and Mammoth Bronze turkeys that are good paying sidelines for the farm.

The board of directors of the Rooks County Fair Association announced the dates of the 1924 Fair on August 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th. It has been sort of a set custom for a number of years to hold the Fair during the first week in September, and there are many contending features that cause some interference. The schools of the County open during the first of September and also court convenes that week. The Board has considered these features and decided the last week in August would be a more congenial time. The Fair officers are planning some fine things and their slogan is, “Bigger, Better than Ever,” which can be applied with more enthusiasm than ever before. A representative of the Western Managers’ Vaudeville association met with the Board and contracted a number of free entertainment acts. This is the same company that furnished the acts at last year’s Fair.