Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1860-07-23

The Board seem not 10 have ninea fancy
tor new studies or modes of teaching. but
they are quite original in their system Of
Keeping books and organizing pnbiic schools
heretofore II has bet n absolutely essent al
to have Day Book as beak ct criginai en-
'ry IN which tn show the history Of every
Transaction, and law ers in Court have locked
toit as the basis and origin 0f accounts.
1e -fugy merchants OF Nashville. why do
ye not throw aside FOUR useless Day Books,
and follow the plan of tine Board, au5 make
yoar first entry III Journal iorGl witilo1t any
reference 10 any source from which the entry
me: in oiher words Journ&Iise from a bum
die Of vouchers that ate not numbered, aud
uany OF them not re:eiptcd, and no mark en-
ths III to show that hey have been appro .ed
10y the bos.rtil L. > often convenient to keep
"a Day 30 pk in Journal form, and thereby
dispense with Journal, but dispensing With
the Day Book Is certainly novel. Is II pos
sibl. tie c1maIittee can he III earnest III tell
ing as these accounts are kept with system
aud reguiarit!!" The people who have read
the po,iiiye Mariner III which the committee
speak Of the correctness of these accounts.
will be surprised to learn that they examined
the accounts more rapidly than they did pu-
pills, which il will be rrmemb red was one
per minute. Packages of vouchers for the
last five years business were brought TO tue
committee, neither package of which was uB-
tied, and but three bills drawn out OF one OF
the packages, two of which were not recoIpt-
ed. This con stituted the examination OF
the vouchers as made i'll my presence. tile
vouchers being the only basis of the whole
business, urged upon the committee the ne
cessity of examining them in detail, and /
asked to have it done in my presence. The
Board objected that it would take too long,
and said that they could go to the Record
er's Office at any time and examine them
again asked the privilege of being present.
| am told they did not go there TO examine
them. 1t appeared to me that the committee
sought information from the Board and Mr..
Pearl, rather than from the written records.
1t appears to me that this was rather a
hasty way of examining and reporting on an
expenditure of above S200, 900 of the peoples
money. From whatever point, L view these
or any thing connected with these schools,
something remarkable presents itself. 1t Is
remarkable that this committee, appointed
to investigate the management OF the schools;
should examine, not the written records OF
the schools, but my articles as II they consil-
tuted bill of indictment and that their sole
| object was to quash it, in order TO control
the public mind. 1t is equally remarkable.
that when / have specially pointed out pr
ticular accounts, giving names, items, &c,
to PROVE what said, that they evade all no.
tice of items thus specially pointed out ; nay,
more, put my finger on the item in the min-
utes of the Borad July 18th, 1860. The bill
of Crosby, Nichols & Co., of Boston, for
S9208, ordered TO be paid. Received pay
ment j. F. Pearl" and with my finger still
on it, invited the special attention of the
committee to it, and explained (as have
done in my articles Nos. and 6, which see,)
that this did not show that c., n. IL Co., bad
received their pay. The order in no way
connects the account with j. +. r., and he
does not receipt il for them, but for himself.
Hence it presents legal evidence that it has
been paid to the wrong man. 1t Is OF no
avail for the Board to say Ii was right to pay
it to j. F. P, because in law verbal evidence
cannot set aside written evidence. To justi-
fly this Mr.. presented a receipted bill OF T.,
n. & Co., against himself This did not IN
! the least improve the matter, as it showed no
connection between 1t and certain account
the Board say they owe to G. n. & Co. 1t Is
ouly further eYidt nee OF the iTreguiarlty aud
confuse on with which the accounts are kept.
If the Board owed j. +. P, why did they
not say st? Ii they did not owe him why did
they ply him? If they did not owe {. n. u
Co., why did they say they d? AMI thereby
cqiire the Recorder to Issue IL check frG :.
when there was no onc here II receipt for
them. | defy the COMMITTEE Al .ne ard
to show from the records tDaJ i. q. IL Co.,
have received their pay. the report Say :
.'the committee have examined The sub CT,
The accounts. Every account" ,go S through
the following prore,s:' Il: Is hrot presented
to the Board.' IF it j. not known 10 be
correct 10y the members IL Is Ieitrrcd TO IA
committee" Have tboso va gar UttSiders, thd
people, any right 10 ''knJw iron The correct
ness OF accounts that il is correct or are they ~
oe told, wcure theBoard AID you lave no right
10 10, into it, What business have you to
meCiGle with it. III found to be correct II Is
allowed aud entered OIL the minutes Of The
Board" This would convert the minutes OF
the Board into Il Lay Book. Now, DEFY the
C committee 10 point to one single account that
is entered on the minutes OF the Board. Tie
auth Ration for paying certain accounts,
= entered thcrc. but not the accounts
themselves. Ii is no place for entering
accounts. When the check is hauled
to the party entitled 70 it, his receipt Is
taken for it upon receipt book kept ior
the purpose. " | defy the committee 10
point out on said receipt book, receipts tor
ORe-half the sums paid except iOr tnilionl
in the last two years. Good people ''be not
deceived" Take neither my statement uor
that of the committee. but go and examine
for yourselves, and see who is right. Ask
the Recorder for the check book, look ct all
the checks for The last year, excepet for tu-
ition. aud then look for a corresponding re-
y
find who is right. Hunt for the receipt OF
C. N. & Co., paid Jany. 25th 1860. 1t, Ike
many others is not there. Reader, where dU
you think you will find il? II is on the minutes
of the Board. and signed j. F. Pearl" This
plan of receipting resolutions is a novel fea-
ture in Bookkeeping. Turn to the first page
of the Journal and read. "Sundries DR.. to''
&c, and then from the entry, seek to find
where these "Sundries" are detailed.
l. = i al.
to it" Tie records contradict this. - =
Nearly az! the checks given fog the wages
of teachers are handed not 10 the parties en-
titled to them, but to ]. F. p, and his re-
ceipt taken, and not the receipt of the party
entitled to it as the committee say, and If j
F. p, should choose to take it to Canada, the
| city might have the privilege of paying it.
again. The city has only the receipt of Mr.
P, for most of the $4,000 paid to teachers
for the last two years. The death of teach
err may cause his friends to ask the city to
pay his salary, and as the city has no receipt
| from him, and no authorization for paying it
to others, they of course would think the
city bound to pay it to his representatives.
This state of things may make fine crop OF
law suits. | am glad to learn that since
| began this discussion, the Recorder has intro
duced the very SOLITARY plan of making the
checks payable TO order Instead of the con-
fusion that now exists, how easy it would
| have been for the Board to keep Day Book
to keep all bills filed, rcceipted and number
ed, and the amount receipted in receip;
book, and to give check payable TO the Or
der of the Recorder. Financial transac-
tons of the Superintendent
pays dime for this, twenty-five cents
for that" but the committee do not allude to
| the items L mentioned in article No. C.
Patent ink-stands $40" How many? two
or 1000? From whom and where does he