26 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



comprise the whole of the per diem and mileage payments for the twelve 

 months ended November 30, 1912, and November 30, 1911." 



Under this heading I wish to advise that we furnished the engineers 

 with a detailed statement setting out the expense account of the various 

 members of the board for attending meetings at points other than at 

 Des Moines and the amount they would be allowed under the law. The 

 aggregate amount allowed by law, which is $4 per day and mileage five 

 cents per mile each way, in excess of the amount charged by members lu 

 1911, was $411.80; in 1912, $350.81. However, we failed to find anything in 

 the above paragraph setting forth the amount saved the state through the 

 generosity of the members of the board. 



"Conclusions and Recommendations — The Board of Agriculture is re- 

 sponsible and presumably accountable for assets of approximately $800,000 

 in value, and also for the administration of the State Fair funds, which 

 now amount to nearly $200,000 annually; yet, as this report demonstrates, 

 when called upon to render an account of its stewardship, it is a matter 

 of impossibility to prepare a true and correct statement of the financial 

 position without recourse to an appraisal and inventory, and in addition 

 the records of the administration of the State Fair are of such a nature 

 as to preclude any satisfactory verication thereof." 



With reference to the inventory, I am frank to say there has never 

 been an inventory or appraisal of the grounds and buildings, and for that 

 reason we have never attempted to show on our accounts the assets and 

 liabilities of the State Fair. The engineers would have you believe that 

 we absolutely had no idea of the cost of the permanent buildings or any- 

 thing else at the grounds; yet, under Schedule "1" on page 1956 they have 

 used the exact figures from our ledger account to show the total value 

 of grounds and permanent improvements up to November 30, 1912. 



One of the first things I told the engineers when they came into the 

 office was that I hoped they would recommend that the board employ some 

 one to appraise the value of the grounds and also the permanent buildings, 

 in order that we might show each year the exact assets of the department. 



Regarding the statement: "the records of the administration of the 

 State Fair are of such a nature as to preclude any satisfactory verification 

 thereof" I wish to say that this is simply a broadside, malicious state- 

 ment, without anything submitted to back it up. We found it difficult to 

 produce evidence that was satisfactory to these gentlemen in a number of 

 cases; for instance, they have stated previously in their report, under 

 the head of stall and pen rent collected, that the receipts were not properly 

 vouched, when we produced copies of the receipts issued to the parties 

 paying for pens, a committee book of the superintendent of the respective 

 department showing the number of stalls or pens occupied by the exhibitor, 

 and duplicate receipts from the treasury showing the deposit had been 

 made, all of which corresponded as to the amount. If this is not satisfac- 

 tory evidence to verify the collection in these departments possibly they 

 have grounds for making this sort of statement. 



We find the following statement regarding the accounting methods in 

 this department: 



"The accounting methods are of the crudest description and no com- 

 mercial concern could continue to exist under similar conditions. The only 



