Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1872-04-27

V0'H 4. II0OeffSon--I treas, jSchO0t Bodrd:
DEAR Sm-You will see that address you
as the Treasurer of the School Board, as it is
with your official character haye to deal
assure you, was well pleased and somewhat
surprised, when | read your report OF the T.
nancial condition of the book busibe ss In
looking it over carefully l could not help how
ever, feeling of pity coming over me, when
thought of its being the report of so able an
officer as | had always supposed you TO be,
upon subject of SO much interest to your fel-
w.ciuzens. With what pleasure you meet,
an old customer. ut the end of the year, one
who has dealt with you during the year, as he
enters your store and asks TO see his account,
You take him to your d' SIX, open your ledger,
and turning back thence 10 your day book
you show him every ilem, together with the
day and date whcn each article was bought :
and when you have thus carefully looked
over your looks, you turn back agaia TO The
ledger and run up the columns of figures, for
fear you might have made mistake when
you run them up before. When everything is
shown to be correct, and the customer shows
by his actions that he is we'll pleased with his
account he pays it. going away with the
conviction upon his mind that he has been
dealing with an honest man. This, ceftaiply,
is a SOURCE nf great comfort to you.
Now, II is Just such Il settlement as this we
had right to expect OF you, us you have
been, it appears, handling our money as Treas
vouchers from the School Board. We wanted
you TO show us, in your statement of account,
the exact condition the book fund was in at
the commencement of the fiscal year How
many books had been bought, OF whom they
were bought, how much was paid for them,
together with the draw backs, il any, and the
time when they were bought We also had n
right to expect of you n full statement Of the
price at which they were sold, the amount
still outstanding and not collected for books
sold. The amount of books on hand at the
end of the fiscal year, with q statement of all
money received from other sources, if any
then with a balance Struck, we could all see
for ourselves just how you had done your
business. Had you made such a report, it
would have been much more to your credit ms
Bonk-keepcr and Treasurer of the School
Board, than the oney Oh did make.
hope, for yoursake, you will make bet-
ter report when yoa gfye us a statement of The
management OF the'school fund in the school
Department. Please make iiplain, as many
of us are not vcrsed in commercial phrases,
such rs bills receiveable and bills payable !;
tell us just what You paid0qt, TO whom paid
and what for. You might have called in
question my right, In ti.e dFst plaer 10 call
upon you for these reports, but as you did not,
and have aiEeady commenced making them.
hope you viii go through, and make thepi
thersagh and complete
There is another feature of yeuF report
to which l take exception, and that is
where you make so free in calling my article
an "uatruthfui and unfair tiFade,p aud that
the 800 transaction was your Owr, with
which the School BoaFd had no more TO do
than ''Argus' has to do with ruth and las
tice" You seem to make free witlLmy char
acter for truth, and try TO mislead the peoples
mind away from the true issue between us, by
calling me nuntFnthnl" &c. This may serve
TO crafty your feelings, bat II Will not do in
this discussion, This is bOpest, earnest work
with me, and the less you have to do il repre-
seniiHg me by such terms as are used by men
occupying lower stations in life than you do,
the more respectable your communications
will appear, and the better will be your intlu-
ence. Every word / uttered in my article
was sincerely believed by me, and that belief
was based upon what believed " bea knpwl-
edge Of facts gained from sources regarded
as perfectly reliable, and will say here,
have yet TO. learn that ihey were not, lf you
are selected on the part of the School Board
to conduct this discussion. l shall expect you
&c be gentlemanly and not, In the absence of
argument, resort to language beneath the jposi,
tion you occupy, and the importance Of the
subject matter at issue between us. / will
now take up the points In your article, where
in you deny the truth of my inquiresv-for
they were nothing but inquiries, and you
could have answered them without so much
effort to prove them false; You say there
was mot one penny used in the book concern
in the past and current year" aud YET you
show hooks on hand amounting TO s291 now
| would like to ask you in all oandoF, who are
the owners of these books, and whose money
was 1t you originally invested in the book
businessP Are they yours the .Superintend-
ents, or do they belong to the School Board?
If to the latter, then 1t seems TO me. that there
Is and has been some of the public money
used in the book business. How is II that
aOui1 aav in .VOur arlifslF in Vinry of these
facts, that there had mol been used In the book
business any OF this money during the past
years Now. sir, wish you 10 explain TO me
OF what use Is the accumulation of these
hooks TO the tax payers of this school district,
whep you have no authority 10 law 10 inyest