33 FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT 



lieve he did the work; I beUeve he went on a drunk and 

 spent that money, and then put it in his bill." What assur- 

 ance have we that the money was paid out? It looks a very 

 difficult thing to get down in black and white so as to tell 

 what it went for. How are you going to know how he spent 

 that money, whether or not on a drunken spree? I confess 

 it looks difficult to me. 



Mr. Stone — There is an Association in this county that 

 asked us to be their Treasurer. We said we will be Treasur- 

 er if the President and the Secretary will sign the checks 

 with us, not leaving any possibility of making mistakes. It 

 is the same here. The law provides that for every dollar 

 paid out the President and Secretary shall sign the voucher. 

 When the checks come back we don't have a thing to do but 

 look them over and see if our signature is there. The only 

 trouble that can possibly come up is that the President is also 

 Inspector. It makes it possible for him to sign the order 

 that is given to himself, but still the other two have to sign. 

 We are not going to elect a man to fill the two offices, if we 

 do not trust him. 



Mr. York — I could have said there were 2,500 copies of 

 the Report, that would give some idea what I could have done 

 with that money. Everything should be itemized. 



Mr. Becker — I have all the bills at home in a book, and 

 could produce them. I did not think it necessary to carry 

 on this report how many days inspecting was done, and how 

 many copies were published. I did not think it necessary, but 

 I have the bills at home. 



Mr. Bowen — I think Mr. York is mistaken as to that bill 

 having been sent to the Secretary. The Secretary should 

 submit that bill. The Treasurer is not supposed to know 

 anything about that at all, all he has to do is to pay it on 

 the Secretary's advice that the account is correct. He finds 

 the bill submitted and approved, he finds the items are wrong, 

 then those things should tally up. The Treasurer should 

 make a report and have an itemized account of everything. 

 The business part is to submit your bills to the Treasurer or 

 Secretary and let them pass them to the Auditing Commit- 

 tee, and after that let them sign a warrant on the Secretary 

 or Treasurer. Then you have the whole business. 



Mr. Black — The business man should understand that if 

 we expect to get any money we must go at it in a business 

 manner. 



The Secretary — Why all this discussion? When our Re- 

 port comes out in print, and, before the legislature, some 

 member will say : "Why, they have been misappropriating 

 the funds we gave them — their accounts are all tangled up. 

 The Treasurer has no vouchers to show what he has paid out. 

 The Secretary has made no report of the money he has 

 handled, and the State Inspector went off on a drunk, and 

 misspent the money," etc. When the whole truth is, vouch- 

 ers for every dollar and cent that have been paid out have 

 passed through the President's and Secretary's hands, been 

 signed by them, and now are in the hands of the Treasurer, 



