The Rock Island daily Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1872-1873, 1873-04-14
The State made to pay Double Price
for the articles.
THE COMMITTEE CONDEMN THE BAD
MANAGEMENT


/
to condemn and good deal more to praise
/ The following are extracts which will be
of most interest.in this vicinity
. One of the gravest charges made a
gainst the prison authorities was in rea-
ton to the sale of property alleged 10 be
worth about SIS, 900 to Morris Rosenfeld
Of Moline, ILL.,, fir the sum OF $1,000
Touching this sale your committee took a
large amount Of evidence. much of which
was conflicting in its character The
property consisted mostly of articles deem
/ ed unnecessary for the management By the
investigating committee Of 1871 anon.
which was large number of wagons.
parts Of wagons and wagon material, and
old machinery, &c The value Of this
unnecessary for management material
remaining ON hand at the time of this sale,
Sept /. 1872, as invent0ried by the invcs
I tigatinc committee Of 1871, was S4l .u96
/ So This amount includes all property
transferred from other departments of the
prison to unnecessary for management }
The sale of this property To Morris
HASeutield was approved by the commission
erS july 3d. lN72 The employees whose
duty it was 10 ship the property. were in
struc;ed by the warden not to take any in
voice Of the same, which proceeding was
contrary % the inyariable custom of the
/ prison in making sales of propertv
previous to that time The written CON
tract with Mr. Rosenfeld and the accom-
panying memoranda constituted. however,
a partial inventory of the property. No
prices were fixed for the different articles
or kind, OF property. but the whole was
in "a INN = %
SD 40 from the invoice prices. Itap-
pearing in evidence that Mr.. Rosenfieid
had disposed OF but a small portion of this
property, a subcommittee two Of whom
were wagon manufacturers of large expe-
rience, was appointed to visit Moline and
make personal examination of the mate
rial in question, and ascertain its value
This subcommittee reported 'chat,the sale
for the sum Of $4,000, as made by the
said warden, was good one for the inte.
rests of the state
/ The majority then proceed 10 say:
"The inferior character of much of the
/ property and the fact that a considerable
part thereof was second hand and worn
machinery, makes it very difficult to arrive
NJ an accurate estimate of its real value
Although the evidence aud the report Of
the subcommittee indicate that the sale
was fair transaction for the interests Of
the state, yet your committee cannot ap-
prove the loose and uubusiness- ike manner
in which the sale was made Notwith-
standing the Jumping character of the sale
an invoice should have been made Of the
property, with prices affixed a. per invoice
of ISL and the proper entries made on
the prison books
Your committee find that the rouImiS>
toner's and warden, in September last, pur
chased at private sale the law clearly in
dicating that large purchases Of supplies
should be made by public letting of con
tracts a bill of clothing shoes, boots, etc
bearing date of Sept -. 1872. of Morris
Rosenhed, of Moline, ILL.,, bills being made
out in the name Of Housemann < May,
Grand Rapids. Mich The principal items
in this bill were 72J suits of discharge
clothing, at IS per suit, s., 500; loo pairs
blankets at IS, $500; 3,4DO pairs army
sewed shoes at 81 per pair, $4,000; Dot
pairs army sewed boots at 81 per pair
$1,000, 100 dozen wooden shirts at 81.
per dozen. 81 800; 45O dozen WOODEN sock,
at s. per dozen 1880. The total amount
, of the bill being ST. ,467. These goods
when received at the prison, were not open
ed counted, and checked from the bills il
t the usual manner, but stored in the old
chapel building without examination. I've
, hundred of the suits Of discharge clothinl
consisted of coats, pants, and vests, while
in j25 of the suits army blOuses were sub
o stituted for coats. After mature consid
f Grafton of the clothing purchase your com
mittee conclude that taking the averag,
value of the entire lot that - per suit is
fair estimate. A portion of the committe,
estimated the average as low as 81, ant
others believing that 50 per suit would b,
q a fair average value Many Of the good
I in this bill OF clothing are Ola poor quality
and unfit to be given to discharged con
4 victs. The price paid for the shoes. boots
q blankets, and shirts, on an average, wer
r proportiunately as Instantaneous to tn
G state as the rates paid for clothing.
n In the bill above referred to, boot
and shoes to the number of 1869 wer
o purchased on Sept %, 1872 and on Jan
T. =, 1873. $50 pairs Of boots and shoes wer
: bought of May Brothers Rock Island. III.
making within these three months tota
purchase Of $50 pairs Of boots and shoes
3 The books Of the prison show that 10
I, twelve consecutive months, December IS7
. tn November 1872 inclusive, 800 pairs O
= boots and shoes were issued to the con
!. victs A purchase of three years suppl
of these goods, even at lowest marke
/, prices would have been bad management
Il of the penitentiary finances.
+ The purchase Of these goods was mad
&c by the warden, andapproved of by the flu
N board OF commissioners, and the interest
Of the state were thereby unquestionabl
/ grossly neglected. ="
&c The books Of the prison for 1868 sho,
, a number OF erasures and charges lalway
} reductiOns) in the account containing Nj
Reds purchases from the prison; thi
u was afterward explained in the eyidenc
e of William Riley, who was then boOkkeeT
d er as being caused by an understandin
: that prison employees should have goods .
:, cost, and by mistake Mr. Reid accour
II was charged up at regular retail price.
le A Sl3 item reduced to 81 "a So charp
l., cut down to $50 an $50 purchas
4 changed to SAT, and an occasional item Ell
- tirely erased, can hardly be consistent
'' explained on the above theory. Freauer
70 erasures marked as errors, were noted i
is the account of b. DOrnblaser then wardeI
/ The books Of the prison at that time wer
p, poorly kept and in bad condition genel
y ally, as stated in the report of the invest
q eating committee of 1871"
'e An expert employed to examine tn
lr books reports that they are now kept in
&c thorough, systematic, and business-lik
OF manner. - The majority finally conclud
r that the present general management G
sh the penitentiary is of a character to mee
On the hearty approval of the people" TIL
err committee report that the prison as no,
or managed Is not only selfsustaining, but
b. run at profit to the State The report
signed by all the committees except Yves