The democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-04-22

or, that We have not pointed to II Jingle ins
lance where he mis.sta;cd facts.
The net under which the school commit
tees throughout the state were appoints
and acted, Ia entitled IAN act 10 provide 70
the settlement Of the aeeOun is Of certain Of
fecrs and persons for school monies in thei
hands, or under their control" The nc
itself required the committees appointed un
der il simply to SETTLE with all Officers haT
ing school mouics in their hands or undCl
their control, either before or after the pas
sage Of the net. Therefore It was not out
proTince or our duty as members Of thC
committee for Lewis county, to brand any
OTHER US delinquent. We have never done
SO, nor are We going 10 do so now.
We take II to lie SGlf.evident that public
officer, having charge Ofpublic funds, aud
having the disbursement thereof must do
one Of three things ;-lle must diSburSO
more, less, or exactly tho same amount Of
money In his hands so liablI to be diSburs.
ed. Upon his conduct in these particulars
depends he state ofhis accounts. fhO has
done the FIRST the public bccOpcS indebted TO
him, and the balance Of accounts Is in his
favor. lfhe has done The second lie Is in
debtcd to the public-the balance Of aC-
counts Is against him, and with that balance
he Is chArgeNble. 1.-The has done the third,
the officer ind thepublig are Squnre-thcrc
iSnO balance one way or tho other. The
very object Of settling with hm,is to nsctr-
tain the state Of his accents, TO see in W hose
favor the balance, ifany there he exists.
The settlements made by this committee
were made Tor this purpose, and were made
with all officers by making all proper char.
gcS aud allowing all proper circuits. In some
instances the public was found indcbteG-in
SOME the officer, and In others no balrncc
was found either way. In all cases the facts
wctC reported as found. Thiswas eur whole
luty-.nothlnS more nor lcSS-Rnd this duty
We performed, Wehave been thus minute
In order to show this man Chaliant, II pos.
sibla, the nature Of q settlement.
About the 18th ofSepicmbcr, 1871, at tho
REQUEST of Hon. c. s. Lewis, state suprrin.
,endcnt OF free schools, we forwarded 10 him
At Charleston a short account OF our labors,
which account Is IN tho following words
"a complete statement made up from the
various statements and reports Of the com-
mittee for Lewis county, appointed and act
ing under Gutl Ority Of the act Of the Lcgis-
lntuto entitled An act 10 provide for the
settlement Of the accounts ofcertain officers
and persons for Echool monies 10 their
hands or under their control, passed Feb.
28th, 1871, showing the amounts found DUE
AND OWING from each officer and person with
in said county, on ACCOUNT or Sucn SCHOOL
MONIES, together with tho names OF such Of
ficcrs and persons, and the year for which
the liability occurred, Ia the different town
ships, separately" (llereiOllowS II list Of
these officers aud persons which the COM
mitse does not think II necessary TO insert
hrie. The statement then 6oScs US fol-
lows Tile committee have completed
settlements with Ill persons known to have
had charge ofschoOl MONIES Ia said county,
except Jesse Saith, treasurer OF building
fund for Jane Low township in 1865, with
whom the committee have not yet been able
10 complete settlement This report was
signed by W. G. Bennett and John liusscy,
Il majority Of tho commitiec-Prof. Queen
being absent at the meeting of the commit
Ice when the report was made out. We
think that every tlir.mindtd man will say
that lis just exactly the kind of u report
we should have made, and We now for the
third time deny that we ever reported any
school officer as delinquent.
In this connection we will notice Ghal-
fint's second critieism-That We did not
credit the treasurer Of the Weston school
district, in our settlement with him,
with the sum of S7lO "a, money on
hand and In bank, ready to pay over 10 his
successor when demanded, by which means,
lie says, "the delinquency would vanish, and
by similar process Of mathematics, would
vanish the vast sunI charged against the va
riouI township officers" We should rather
think they would. "By similar process OF
Mathematics would vanish all dcbis, pub.
lie or private. The magnitude Of this charge
IL appalling but We will Gndavor TO answer
It. We cannot think that when q balance
was found against an oiliecrlt was the duty
of the school committee 10 report such bal.
anccto be in bank, ready 10 pay over, or to
credit man with money in bank, or that it
was for the committee 10 know any such
facts. Our acquaintance with gcntlcmen's
private bank accounts was not so familinraS
that of this man ChAlfant No pCcu liar Ideas
OF a settlement induced auy officer 10 request
US to report such a fact, and no such re-
quest would have been acceded to II made
Such mode Of settlement would have been
Just as supremacy silly as Chalhnts article.
Another fact In reference 10 this matter may
be here stated No such item was ever re-
ported against the treasurer Of the indeRn-
dent school district Of Weston, but the BAL
ance ofS7lO "a referred to by him Is the az.
grcgRte ofal balances found against ALL the
OFFICERS II the aforesaid district, tho balance
against the treasurer being only SlG6 O5-
consequently he could not have known, A. d
he did not know, that the treasurer had any
balance Of S7l0 gain bank, ready TO pay
over To his successor, aud when he says that
he had, he Is simply suffering from the effects
Of too lively Imagination. Nor could he
have known that the other officers Of the
district had the balances found against them
In bank, ready To pay over. Such was not
the case, the remaining officers Of the dis.
trict positively declared to thi, committee
that part Of the balances found against them
they never would pay over. These facts are
only mentioned 10 exhibit the perfect rerk-
leEncss and ignorance with which this mau
III IL = l. = -. II