Show I DEFENSETHAT FAILED I ATTEMPT TD CLIELUt THE C01UUS SIDOT2KS FAfcLS TO THE GROUND I The Figures Jussleil by the Correspondent Corre-spondent DamiisingPoints Carefully Care-fully AXolded In the Discussion of Jthc IIcrnldsIlsclosnrc3 The Herald congratulates tfie Tribune Tri-bune on th6 judicious manner In which Us Ogden department has avoided discussing dis-cussing the work of two of the members mem-bers of the board of county commissioners commis-sioners The Ogden correspondent I adopted theonly method possible by which the cause he sought to bolster up could receive any benefit whatever The fact that there was no defense must have presented Itself with great force to the writer and consequently he conceived and carried out the plan Qf publishing a mass of irrelevant ir-relevant facts and figures with a great show of Injured Innocence and pretense pre-tense of thoroughness In the vain hope that people would be deceived by the mass of matter into believing that a real defense had been accomplished when in fact one has not been attempted at-tempted The attempt will fall has failed in fact because > people will not be fooled by a mere mass of matter which is totally irrelevant Immaterial and I meant to be misleading > The Herald has charged and now charges again that the county commissioners com-missioners borrowed between Dec 31 1 1895 and Aug 3 1896 52500 Yet the I Tribune says the county is prosperous rind has been prosperous all the time The statistics and parade of figures arranged by the Tribunes inexpert accountant are not worth the paper they were written on so far as their service In showing the condition of the countys finances Is concerned The Tribune expends about half a column trying to show that there were reasons why a greatly Increased expenditure ex-penditure was unnecessary this year then devotes a lot of space to try and prove that the expenditure was not I made and next attempts to prove that though made It was justifiable But I for the purpose of showing the way in I 1 which the figures have been juggled The Herald here presents a section i clipped almost at random from the labored article JUGGLED FIGURES I Total estimated receipts159295 86 Less the actual disbursements I disburse-ments of Weber county from Jan 1 to June 30 as I shoWn by previous statement state-ment 5613222 I I Amount applicable to expense of last half of year 103163 61 I Less amount of notes outstanding I out-standing and which have I ben applied to the payment I pay-ment of expenses from July I 1 to date Oct 2f Utah National bank l0000 Utah National bank 10000 Wells Fargo Co 15000 D H Peony 5000 D H Peery 2500 Totals 42500 42500 00 j L I Amount that remains to pay I I I the expenses bf county I I from Oct 24 to Jan 1 1897 60663 6 I I To run the county to Jan 1 1897 i I two months and six days will on the basis of the usual expenses of the balance of the year amount to about I 13000 This taken from the 60663 leaves 47663 which is approximately the amount which will be turned over td the new commissioners on Jan 1 1897 less of course the taxes not paid on that date I WAYS THAT ARE DARK I The addition and subtraction of the I above is correct but notice h6w adroitly I I ad-roitly the expenses of the fore part I and the latter part of the year have been estimated The first estimate I closes at June CO while the second begins be-gins at Oct 24 This leaves the period between those two dates unaccounted between for In other words nearly a third of j I I the years expenditure Is totally ignored I Ig-nored I Furthermore no mention is made of the 25000 an extra 1000 having lately I late-ly come Inworth of registered warrants I I war-rants now drawing Interest because the I county has no money to pay them I Is clearly a waste of time to point out the other manifest Jaisrepresenta tons with which the Tribune article teems Those two corrections are nearly tiifficient to wpe out the boasted but fictitious surplus But the most serious phase of the Irregularities are the ones which the I I Tribune Ignores The treasurer Is i i made thft legal custodian of public i money He gives a bond of 80000 for i Its proper accounting The county j I f atog commissioners I whose aggregate bond is only 15000 saw fit to practically I depose him arid place the fundS in the II I hands qf other parties who give no bonds at all The Tribune could not i deny that Instead of attempting It I he recounts a lot Of matter about the excellence of the road up Ogden canyon can-yon and the fact that The Herald has praised it The Herald has never for I a moment disputed the excellence of the road nor the fact that it Is sL great convenience However it was an expense I ex-pense which the stringency of the times and the need of other sections I should have curtailed I Is true that a numerously signed petition asked that the road be Improved but not one of the signers thought It would cost I anywhere near 15000 nor need It have done so This is not meant a a reflection i reflec-tion on the ability of Commissioner Childs brotherinlaw who superintended superin-tended the work When given plenty of money he can make good roads This was demonstrated In the case of the North Ogden canyon road built last year at an expense of several thousand dollars The point emphasized is that the law was set at defiance by the commissioners commission-ers I Is admitted that William G Wilson has sold and received money for hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of lumber from the county THE LAW VIOLATED Section 39 laws of Utah relating to county governments says No member mem-ber ot the board must be Interested directly or indirectly in any property purchased for the use of the county nor in any purchase or sale of the property 1 prop-erty belonging to a ny county nor In any I contract made by the board o other oer I person on behalf of the county for the I erection of public buildings the opening I open-ing O the Improvement of roads or the building of bridges l L It will not do to say that the lumber I was specially adapted to the I needs spectly county and was lddS cheaper than other firms sold 1U The law says that officials shall not deal that way and the law should I haVe been obeyed These are matter too serious to be I dispensed with parading columns of i figures showing how much was turned over the county by thecoroner how much by the county to the coroner and uclI11 bYltl 1 similar cun Both the Ogden Republican papers I In their last nights issue copied bodily I much of the matter which the Tribune paraded with such show They copied I errors ancl all and do not need to ba I specially referred to bBj i I i |