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Show GOV. SPRY CANNOT I ESCAPE DEPEAT H H I State Fund Scandal Will Defeat Him Article in Salt Lake Tribune Hj Points Out the Weakness of the Excuses Offered by the Hl Governor and State Treasurer for Mishandling H the Funds of the State. H The following Is reproduced from , H this morning's Tribune: H The semi-annual report of the state M auditor, published in July of this H year, showed two and one-half niil- H lions of dollars of state funds on H hand. H Part of this amount is in the cus- M tody of the state land board, upon M whose official transactions the public H has sought for light in vain. H Two Republican stnte senates re- M jeeted these appointees of Governor M Spry, who calmly waited until the H legislature adjourned and named H them anyhow. H Petitions and protests from all over H tbo state have been sent to His Ex- H cellency asking that other Republi- H cans be named on that board. But H the governor is as well satisfied with) fl the personel of the state land board' H as he is with the state treasurer. M What is the state land board doing M with the millions of dollars in Its M control? The state treasurer has told H us that his other funds, amounting to H n million and a half, are on deposit H in n few selected banks. H He acknowledges thai one-third of H the whole sum is on deposit in a H bank in which he is an executive of- H fFcer and the governor is a director. H "Under the law the state treasurer Hj lias no right to succeed himself So H Mr Kittson will have to relinquish 1 control of th0, state tfuncls. Will he? H ot 1L theJRepublican state ticket H is'-succcssfulHcMs now-a.' candidate M forsecretTneito statoahd 'support- H luff an amendrneiu to the state con- B Btitution which proposes to leave the 1 disposition of the state funds to the H ' state bo3rd of examiners. 1 The state board of examinars is H composed of the governor, secretary H of state and attorney general. H As an officer in the bank In which 1 tbG governor Is a director, the bank m v.-hich has the free use of more than H a half million of state dollars, he j ought to have some influence with B the state board of examiners H He and the governor, both officials of this bank, ought to be nble to se- m cure a continuation of the valuable H "' i .service which their bank has enjoyed I In the past At least a majority of the state board of examiners should approve of any plan they suggest. But the voter who Imagines that this proposed amendment says one word about the collection of Interest from banks is a fit subject for bunko work. The proposed amendment doesn't mention interest, or offer any other plan than the one now In force Bonds and the Bankers. We are told by state officials that bonds amounting to $5Gu,000 were issued is-sued last year, although the state auditor's aud-itor's report indicates that there must have been at least one, perhapB two, millions on hand when the bond issue is-sue was authorized. Then why should the Mate tond and borrow" S5U0,000 from the bankers? bank-ers? Is there any legitimate excuse for such financiering? Is there any excuse, in fact, .savo that the bankers wanted a little anore state money? Ixst us see The banks which were using state funds purchased these bonds. The banks took state money and loaned it to the state on these bonds at I per cent per annum. The state borrowed Its own money and now pays the banks 4 per cent a year for the use of its own money. Yet the men who engineered this bit of fancy financiering are now asking ask-ing for an Indorsement of their business bus-iness ya'lminjstratioii ! These bonds are mortgages on the, people's property They are a lien upon every taxpayer's home. They l have to be paid together with tho interest in-terest they draw The banks get thin Interest although It was not their money which they loaned. The taxpayers tax-payers of Utah pay this interesl al though the money is their own. Which System lo Bent? Although the state treasurer says that he has made money for the state under the present system, he declare that he favors a law compelling futun state treasurers to obtain interest on1 this money. If the present system Is satisfactory In making money for the state, why change? And, although the governor tries to show that the policy of charging the banks Interest on public moneys they use has not been satisfactory where tried, he nevertheless declares for the new plan. Having proved that a system is bad. he approves of It. Having stated that another system is good, he rejects it We are told that hope for a chango lies in tho proposed amendment to the state constitution Section 17, Article VII., Is to be amended so as to read as follows: "J7. The auditor shall be auditor of public accounts. The public moneys mon-eys shall be deposited bj the treasurer, treas-urer, under the supervision of -the board of examiners, and as provided by law." That is all there Is to It It provides pro-vides for nothing except the continued control of the state funds by two well known bank officials. Concerning Official Bonds. The state treasurer bays he Is at the mercy of the banks because no surety company will go his bond and' he quotes "Wesley K. King as saying so. As a matter of fact Mr King has not hesitntcd to solicit heavier bonds, under the same state laws, but where business methods arc followed. He secured a bond for the city treasurer of Salt I -alee City, higher than that of the state treasurer. The cltv treasurer requires interest on deposits His bond costs only $1,000 per year. The cltv's earnings are not large hecauso the surplus Is small, but If the cltr had the $2,000,000 the stato has on deposit it would be rece iving S40.000 per year, and the risk to bondsmen would not be increased a penny's worth. The city treasurer and the state treasurer operate under exactly the same law, and the same moral obligation. obli-gation. Hero is what Manager Wesley E. King, of tho American Surety Co., of New York, has written to City Treasurer Treas-urer Frank ftodbe, under dato of September Sep-tember ft. 1912: i "It ghes me a great deal of pleas-, pleas-, urc to advise you that our auditor, Mr. H. .1 Douglas, advised me after going through your books and accounts, ac-counts, that ho fou n '1 them in Just n little better shape than that of another an-other treasurer whoso offico he ever examined." Tbo state treasurer's bond Is $750,000. ' r City treasurer's bond is SSnO.OOO The bond of the state treasurer, on the lowest rate for the monev the banks got for nothing, co?ts the taxpayers tax-payers of tho state $10 000 00 per ! year. The bond of the city treasurer, a surety bond, costs the taxpayers of the cltv $1,000 per year. Under the proposed amendment, under any plan suggested, how can tho stato treasurer bo released from the clutches or the bankers'7 No amendment proposed, nor no law advocated by the governor and Btate treasurer changes the situation in the least in reference to official bonds If tho stato treasurer cannot give a surety bond now ho cannot under any legislation proposed. Moral Obligations Sufficient. Are the taxpayers afraid of the disclosures made possible only by a change of administration? The favored bankers dread a change and the officials aro qulto desperate 1 their efforts to pi event it. Aro the taxpayors of Utah going to invest In a little more political sawdust saw-dust and keep quiet for another four years'' Turn on tho searchlight. - oo |