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Show BOARD REJECTS PROBE-BY JURY Says It Is Powerless to Call Inquiry j I ,. A state auditor'! recommendation recom-mendation for a grand jury probe of state land board bond transactions will not be carried cut by the board itself, it was announced Friday. At roneluftion f nwotJnc the board ItMued a fttaOmrnt staying It regarded itatlf "poweri to aitk a Jury investigation of Itself. Meanwhile, th board apparently accepted defeat In an effort to reduce re-duce personnel t work on a special audit of board account!, the first phase of which contained the recommendation rec-ommendation for a grand Jury probe. After a clash of opinions on how much money the board has left for the audit, George A. Ftoher. executive execu-tive secretary, said a motion had been adopted to continue the work on the present scale, temporarily at least. Two phases of the audit remain to be completed ..concerning farm loans and a general resume. Rerommenda Prone The first, that recommending a grand jury investigation and charging charg-ing the board "financed" edeals returning re-turning profits to brokers, covered bond transactions. "I have been authorized to find the money to continue the audit." (Continaf r. - Tlfbtetn) i Column Ont BOARD REJECTS . PROBED Y JURY (Ceatms fleas Pass One) Mr. Fisher said. "I am confident that transfers from property income in-come will provld th funds." Meanwhile, th board, in on of th most scorching statements ever Issued at the eapitoL had answered the bond transaction audit charges. filfl. AnAUnr John W. Guy, un. der whoa direction the audit is being made, met with the board late Thursday afternoon and opposed a board request" he reduce the audit personnel from five to thre per-tsons. per-tsons. "Outside Employe J. F. Tolton, board member, said ne of the audit workers wsj an "undercover" worker drawing 100 month. Mr. Guy confirmed the fact an "outside employe" has been engaged to gather Information. The board's reply to the audit report, released after Thursday's meeting, charged "falsehoods, guessing Insinuations, political propaganda and studied omission of anything favorable to the board." Disclosing it official reply, the land board opened with: This statement, by way of correction cor-rection of th unfounded Insinuations Insinua-tions mad and impressions sought tor's report on bond transactions of the state land board serving from 1MJ to 13T, is furnished for the information in-formation of the present board and the Interested public and in ths hop of informing th auditor on th subject sub-ject of security investment, concerning con-cerning which subject he shows a great need of education." Setup Explained Th Introduction explained that th signers of th reply, Jt F. Tel-. Tel-. ton, L. R. Anderson and George A. Fisher, were member of the board from 133 to 37, although Mr. Tolton Tol-ton did not begin serving until 1933. has been defaulted. This shows exercise of cars. Profit Feasible . Ths bonds purchased by this board and now held can be disposed dis-posed of at a profit to the fund of $90,000, or mors. This should Indicate In-dicate good business judgment "5. On bonds disposed of by this board, either In exchange for others directly, or Indirectly by sal and reinvestment, the net result has been a substantial premium on bonds disposed of. a profit over the original price paid and an Increased annual yield. This shows skillful hsndling of this trust In a difficult period. "This audit grudgingly and Indirectly In-directly indicates some of these facts and It dispute none of them." The reply charged that the audit, "by repeated statement and Innu- secretary of the board during that time. Sine arly this year he has served only as ex active secretary, under a reorganisation directed by the 1857 legislature. On of the most scorching statements state-ments ever given out at th capitol, cap-itol, th land board's conclusions that wound up Its reply, constituted a blanket denial of th audit sion th board went out of Its way to sell Its "high yielding" bonds. -Inference" Hit "The report generally Ignores that the bonds bearing higher interest rates were relinquished at a premium pre-mium to the state and seeks, to create an Inference that a loss of lncom resulted to th stste, which Is exactly contrary to th fact," said the reply. "Another totally unfounded Impression Im-pression Is sought to be conveyed to the effect that this board. In its purchase and sale of bonds, attempted at-tempted to favor and benefit certain brokers. "This board asserts that It never purchased any bonds from any particular par-ticular broksr when as good a bond ;ould have been purchased from any other broker or municipality or person at a better yield." charges. "Its (the audit's) studied omissions omis-sions of anything favorable to the board, however essential to a proper prop-er audit report, and Its falsehoods, half truths, inaccuracies and guessing guess-ing Insinuations, characterise it as a prejudiced political propaganda document It appears to apologise for being unable to charge anything any-thing directly against the board. Deals Are Intricate "Knowing that bond transactions are intricate and that bond figures, bond yields, bond bases and long terms aad short terms are difficult for the public to grasp and. therefore, there-fore, are easily misunderstood and aeadUrsablssS s salstntsrpreutlon, the audit goes to the extent of suggesting sug-gesting a grand jury Investigation Investi-gation with an apparent dream of publicity on which someone hoped to ascend politically over the reputations of msmbers of the board. The audit sums up, however, how-ever, to this: 'We could not find anything with which to charge ths board, kut maybe someone else Jan.' "If the auditor had found something some-thing which should be submitted to a grand jury, why did be not take it to the officers authorised to call for such an investigation? What object or purpose was sought to be served by publicly attempting attempt-ing to pass such responsibility back to the present land board, which certainly has less to do with calling a grand jury than the auditor himself, and without giving this board anything on which it could proceed in this matUrT Keply la Divided The board's reply was In thre . Jwrts. The first was headed "Usual and Proper Matters of Audit Report Re-port Omitted"; the second. "Matters "Mat-ters of General Insination Not Supported Sup-ported and Eelae," and the third . was that which attacked each of the 1 charge made in the audit report regarding as many bond transactions. The reply asserted, under the first part, that a "proper auditor's report re-port would show that: . "L All funds are accounted for. T AU bonds are en. hand safely protected, together with all Interest coupons, shewing due car for ths Safety of these securities. "S. AU funds invested by ths board In this period were securely and safely invested, without any loss whatsoever to the stats. Every investment was a good one. None |