Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 October 1910 — EXHIBITING BAD TASTE [ARTICLE]

EXHIBITING BAD TASTE

For the Republican Organ in this ' County to Kick on State Accounting law. The Rensselaer Republican has been very bitter in its opposition to the state accounting law, a non-partisan measure passed by the last legislature, and has resorted to much falsehood in misrepresenting the action of the law thus far. The Democrat has exposed some of its erroneous statements heretofore, and while this paper has not as yet said very much in indorsing the measure—preferring to wait until the law had been in operation for a longer time—we have felt that it would prove popular when fully understood. While the expense of first examinations are necessarily more than the future examination of the books of public officials will be. because of the fact that heretofore books have been kept in fiiost any old way. the officials are now started out on a uniform system of bookkeeping and with all books kejSt in the same form the future examinations will be a matter of but very brief moment.

Besides, many of the little things, public money paid out for this and that without any \ arrant of law or justice for it, which have been passed over without public comment by the examiners, where no evident intent of wrong-doing was evident. and the officer’s attention called to such illegal and uncalled for expenditures, aggregating thousands of dollars the state over, will hereafter be cut off entirely. < * . But, so far as Jasper county is concerned, the people certainly have no kick coming over the operation of this law, and the fact that four republican officials, past and present, have been found short in their accounts aggregating over $3,000, ami that no democrat has thus* far been reported short—and a part of the time we have had 8 of the township trustees- —makes the Republican’s attacks on this law seem ail the more ridiculous. The examiners work in pairs—one democrat and one republican —and in the examination of the township trustees books in this county John G. Davis, former clerk of the Newton circuit court and for many years a prominent, republican, was one of the examiners These.examiners found and reported the following shortages: Fred Kaivh, trustee of Walker tp., .... ....... $7Bl .H» S. 1.. Lure, ex-trustee of Keener tp., ........ 775.71 A. A. Fell, ex-trustee «>f Carpenter tp., ..... 1125.71 Louis Paulsen, ex-treasurer of Wheatlield town... 07.50 Moses Leopold, ex-treasurer of Rensselaer 70.71 Total 3,157.12 Some of the above amounts were errors in book-keeping, some was money lost in the McCoy bank and some for money lost in the Parker bdnk- at Remington. But every one of the above happen to be republicans, ami one is the present chairman of the republican county central committee. George M. Wilcox (rep) and Joseph Stewart and John Bill (dem) were also among those who lost township money in the failure of the McCoy bank, but they made the Ibss good, and their friends argue that if it was right for them to pay —and they were entitled to np legal exemption from such losses—it is right for the others to pay. Regarding the howl that has gone up in Newton county over paying the examiners the Republican has had much to say. Only last Friday it published the following;

Judge C. W. Hanley this Wednesday afternoon granted an injunction against the auditor of Newton county paying the bills filed by the accounting board in Newton county for the payment of the examination of the books and accounts of the town of Morocco. The injunction was granted as the result of a suit started by the town through Attorneys Rodgers & Rodgers. The injunction is temporary, pending an investigation of the case. Two members of the accounting board spent some 45 days on the Morocco town books, involving*an expense of more than S9OO. The town board and citizens generally objected to the money being spent when they did not ask for the inspection. Several other towns in Newton county also objected and the injunction will probably hold good as applied to them. One of the republican editors is understood to correspond for the Indianapolis Star, and a dispatch was sent to that paper, we understand, along the same lines. Friday’s Indianapolis News, however. shows how utterly false and misleading this statement was. in the following words:

William A. Debority, chief of the state board of accounts, denied yesterday a story sent out from Rensselaer to the effect that the examinaion of the records of the town of Morocco had cost S9OO. An examination of the records in the- office of the state board showed that the examiners had spent six days at the work, at a total cost tol the corporation of $l2O.

A dispatch from Rensselaer stated that Judge C. W. IJanley had granted a restraining order against the auditor of Newton county, id which Morocco is situated, preventing him from paying claims lodged against the corporation for examination, The dispatch had it that the claim was for S9OO for forty-five days’ work in the examination of the records. The state board had not heard of the injunction proceedings

and was not prepared to say what action would be taken to obtain the

pay for the field men. Now, in view of the shortages found in Jasper county, all among republican officials, would it not be in better taste for the Republican to tell tile truth hereafter in speaking of this accounting law or dry up altogether?