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Show mm given fjluditor'' Edmunds Remiss Re-miss to Councilman's M Silly Attack. tJCUT FROM UNDER VCBER FROM THE THIRD jfe Ridiculousness of Mr. Igtrom's Wail Is Con-.'ilfcisely Con-.'ilfcisely Set Out. w 7l purpoBO of showing to what 55fca kins will cause somo to go, and for the- reason that tican party has nothing to oon-M oon-M Tribune published in full Tues-oiiig Tues-oiiig the wail, or so-called iy report," of Councilman of the Third ward, in op- BJL to the report of Special fj. William Edmonds, on tho id account. ft Course They Squirm. Oh hport, while absolutely un-, un-, Tas a severe arraignment of tho tfj jdininiatration, and it is not sur-in sur-in a sense, that Mr. Fornstrom colleagues, who were members .ministration, squirm when the urned on. JKJmundB, who was employed by ittee on finance of tho City bllgtb compile the report, has re-, re-, CMr. Fernstrom's attack as fol-fHer fol-fHer dato, July 31. . gnjifceply of Mr. Edmunds. .fEditor Tribune: Dear Sir: I Ballpoint of porsonal privilege. As today's Tribune, tho honor-'Mfcabor honor-'Mfcabor from the Third, P. S. -.'.if, has turned tho search-i-lhls intellect on me, and it is ft on me to make a few remarks. 1 first place, Mr. Fernstrom rred to the report I had tho jijpreBent to tho Finance commlt-iie commlt-iie Salt Lake City Council, as iHu.cal document," aud appoars to Torlng to disparage the report Recount. It Is somewhat difficult "Just exactly what is meant by , document." If the gentleman rjUst the facts contained in the re-6e re-6e ruffled his political feelings, ''must he solf-ovldcnt that ho . Iblame the facts, and not me. ijMSeem to be a case where facts '"fetrorn refuse to mix. If this is fithat tho distinguished member jttl that can bo said on the point aJb bump of gratitudo must bo in,, 'undeveloped condition, and his Tvjls prove 1L ijShould Bo Thankful. VfjLOl censuring the Finance corner corn-er my appointment to lnvesti-'W lnvesti-'W condition of tho water and ,'lnd funds, as he docs, he should fitly thankful to thom on account jwl being the "commonest kind JjljCeepor, a man without busi-tperience," busi-tperience," etc., which tho Imi- gentleman describes me to Sheen able to discover so many ,5le and reprehensible lrregu-!Jn lrregu-!Jn the engineering department, ,3.the name of all that's political, lKa real expert have discovered? wover, Mr. Fornstrom meanB ijjcepted the apolntmout with tho fading, either on my part or on ?7.6f anyone else, that the report rbe written for political effect, aTs guilty of giving utterance to a jt which is distinctly and era-ay era-ay untrue, and I venture tho as-Jjiat, as-Jjiat, deep down in his own inner illness, Mr. Fernstrom is perfoct-"jJof perfoct-"jJof the fact that the statement gummate and unwarrantable fab- Cltatement Is Eafutable. jftatement Is refutablo from tho aevidence of tho document itself, "absolutely nothing in the re-jJch re-jJch anyone (excepting a" man Jjihavlng the truth known) could Smlsconstrue as matter written Ileal purposes. That 1b accounted .fjh'e simple and sufllclent reason 3Ka not have the Idea in my mind Jilting tho report. Extrlnsically, yWlaro these, and I refer to Mr. feFerry, chairman of tho Finance We, for confirmation: "When Mr. i'ered me the appointment, I ln-ti ln-ti there woro any proconoeived tOlthe minds of the members of tho wcominitte as to what tho roport 'Contain, and said if there wore, JRwIsh the appointment; that un-iKojld un-iKojld undertake tho work cntiroly "JCuntrnmmollod, I would have to tfhje honor 3rry Informed me that all the of the Finance committoo fjh'e actual facts In tho case aud ffibuld bo left for mo to disclose mjn that assurance and with that jjadlng, I accepted the appoint-flhhave appoint-flhhave to state, with all tho em-mam em-mam capable of, that from tho Started tho investigation, up to 7ml submlttod tho report, I did ubb the subject matter of tho ffith any member of the Finance tJjia, with the single oxception of Sjg Mr. Fernstrom, on one oc-jjB oc-jjB to some matters which tho tfsyoro not clear upon. WWinor Details Left Out. jSbcen trying to got up a "cam-wumont," "cam-wumont," I could havo expatiated Mot the minor details of the in-Mpn, in-Mpn, but as I was not, they wero Kloned In the report, nor are thoy d here, for fear of hurting Mr. Fms feelings still further. Jlug, to Mr, Fernstrom's remarks lllscrepancy in the accrued intor-jlto intor-jlto tho city by tho United Stales f& Trust company, during the Jlf, which ho claims to have dis-slthat dis-slthat I lack common sense, I cau Tfthat if he means, by. "common ?ttio kind he Is displaying In Ms on this point, I am thankful, In-1 In-1 I do not possess any of It. My Bgure was computed to the dale Kon tho trust company was do-u do-u tho local bank hero; it would Jy be three or four days after )ro tho draft was paid In New therefore Mr. Fernstrom's "cora-7Jo" "cora-7Jo" Ib In Imminent danger of con-irhen con-irhen ho says I computed the in-mfo in-mfo tho very minute the money "IJlved In tho Treasurer's office PMko City." Another Hot Shot, rnstrom's common senso shows jfher Bigna of being afTocted by Ut hot weather, when he says I Jijaded that engineering instru-puld instru-puld bo charged to the con-Und, con-Und, "becauso there was u pos-Ihal pos-Ihal the Instruments might not IK 0r dCSlr0y6d'" 1 dW "0t rooommend that tho instruments bo chargod to tlio contingent fund. What on earth Is tho sense of charging them thoro? I reoommended that thoy bo charged to tho instruments and toolB account of tho engineering dopartment, and I did bo for tho reason that tho city would then havo a chook on them. Tho way tho engineering department chargod them to tho bond fund, loaves it perfectly easy for thom to bo stolon, without any one being tho wiser. Mr. FeruBtrom'a unmltlgatod ignorance, as displayed in his "roport," both of the variouB ao-countB ao-countB of tho city and of tho plain language lan-guage of my report, la only equalled by the Intense admiration he appoars to have for tho document ho calls a "mi-norly "mi-norly roport." Used Elegant Language. Again, Mr. Fernstrom absails me by directing di-recting attention to what ho Is ploased to call my "sublime and stupendous gall and stupidity" mark the chaste and elegant ele-gant language of this1 Salt Lake City CheBterllold. Has the Statesman from tho Third ever heard of a boomerang? If not, he may be surprised to learn that he threw one that time. The above beautiful beau-tiful and loving expressions are used in connection with tho comparative figures given In my report, showing that tho engineering en-gineering charges on tho Big Cottonwood Cotton-wood conduit, during 1904 and 1905, wero. proportionately, 700 per cent greater than the engineering charges for the first half of 1900. I havo to confess my surprlso that the member from tho Third understood under-stood sufficient of my roport to get evon this flguro Into his hoad. Porhaps tho phenomenon may bo explained by keep-lug keep-lug in mind Mr. , Fernstrom's statement that ho neglected his religious dutleB to got up his "report " However, while ho, In a moment of Inspiration, aotually realizes rea-lizes that tho figures represent 700 per cent, he totally falls to comprehend why the figures wero given. Why They Wero Given. Thoy wero not given for tho purpose of making any invidious comparison between be-tween any past, present or future city administration. ad-ministration. They wero given for tho sole purpose of showing, us tho report states, In such unmlstakablo terms that even the brains of this member from tho Third ward ought not to misunderstand them, the extreme improbability of all tho special pay-roll charges to the bond fund being properly chargeablo thorc. That the engineering department made errors in charging tho Big Cottonwood conduit with all tho amounts shown on the special pay-rolls, is demonstrated by tho fact that the engineering charges wore 7P0 times greater than thoy have recently re-cently been. This was tho point, and the only point I desired to establish and I am wondering if oven now I have made the mattor clear enough for Mr. Fernstrom's Fern-strom's mind to grasp. "An Absolute Necessity." Mr. Fernstrom, in a deliciously Ingenuous Ingen-uous way, says, relatlvo to tho Incidental expense account, shown on the roport: "The records In tho Mayor's and City Recorder's oillco will show that every dollar of those expenditures was an absolute ab-solute necessity." Mr. Bill Nye ato breakfast once at a roadside hotel and the proprietor chargod him 55 for It. On Nyo's asking why he was charged such a price tho proprietor pro-prietor leaned over confidentially and whispered: "Say, pard, to tell tho honest hon-est truth, It's because I need the money." Every cent of tho $5 charged to Nyo was, therefore, "an absolute necessity." ne-cessity." Mr. Fernstrom, whoso political career Ib, of course, without stain or blemish, nsk3 why I did not state that Interest was paid to the city, by local banks, for bond funds on deposit, during 1005 and why I did not also state that the money I Is not at present drawing any Interest. As a matter of fact, I state both circumstances, cir-cumstances, explicitly, in the report, so tho question becomes moro than superfluous. super-fluous. Can It possibly be that Mr. Fernstrom Fern-strom thought that if ho had been in my place, ho would not have mentioned theso facts and that consequently ho took it for granted I had not done so? There are several other Items In Mr. Fernstrom's "report" and, considering that ho took so much trouble to draw it up, It seems almost a Bhamo to ignoro them, but as they aro all on the same broad-minded, philosophical scale as those already noticed, I must reluctantly reluctant-ly forogo the pleasure. Youra very truly, J. "WILLIAM EDMUNDS. |