National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-03-06


Witness. He asls ~ what vas received ana,
paid out. t-'s <
Mr.. NEAsrick. @ I ask you what propoet,su
Of th9t gross receipt was received lot Washing-
ton city, for thu equity and for Georgetown,
respectively. ask no question shout paying
QUIT A. WI give + 70 YOU new. thak, ex-
9. That = the receiptsi A. Yes, sir-
0eorgotows, eis, 27o.s5. Total receipts for tic
Q. Nov, Of that s1o5, 1sA15 tweaty parts 70
to the payment Of the teachers and thirteen
parts 60 to the payment OF contingencies. A.
Q. Can you state Row much of that has
been paid to teachersi A. No, SIR; not here,
Without reference to my books.
@ Nor how much hes been paid to contin-
gewciesa A. No, sir.
g. Canyon make Characterization now, 90 "a
to give the COMMITTEES the proportion Of that
$tO5, 600 due to tho teachersf A. will make
asnote Of It, and give tat some future time.
q. Are tho accountsof these respective echuol
funds Of the citiesofs6 Georgetown and Washing-
ton kept entirely distinctly A. Yes; they esch
of them have their treasurer. l 1--WE them the
money in bulk, aud they disburse t.
Q. The teachers are paid by whomi "A. By
the treasurer of Georgetown, Washington and
the county.
Q. By warrant upon the treasureri "A. ]
give them the warrant in bulk, and theysepa-
rate it to suit themselves, under the direction
of their trustees
Q. You do not give warrant for the teach.
ers and warrant for contingencies; you give
o warrant in gross? A. Yes, sir.
G. And the distribution of the payments ID
made by the tsz,steesi A. Yes, sir;.taey are
wholly responsible, or the superintendent
They might, for ali know, have paid It out
for buildings after It has gone from me- After
end. -
Q. The warrant is given by you in gross, with
out discriminating whether for teachers, con-
| tfngencies or buildingsi A. Yes, sir.
Q. And then 1t Is disbursed by the trustees
of the schoOlsa A. Yes, sir; It Is charged on
our books to the proper ifems-charged to
| teachers, contingencies and buildings; but after
they get the money, if they should violste their
| honor, as 1t would be
Q. How can It be charged by you to the
teachers, buildings and other things when you
give the warrant In the gross without discrimi-
natings A. We make the proportion.
Q. You give the warrant in gross aad then
apportion III 4. We apportion It on the books.
Q. You keep in your Office no check upon
the trustees 60 rs to prevent them from sp-
propriating undue proportions of the amount
they receive to one or the other Of these sub
divisional matters of expenditure A. Yes,
sir, We do. Before they can get the auditor to
pass their requisition ON me they must satisfy
the auditor what they are going to do with It,
and they produce their receipts. They get
their receipts before they get the money. They
take their receipts from the teachers before
they obtain the money. They bring theis rolls
to the auditor, and he eertifies that fifteen
thousand or eighteen thousand dollars Is due
them, and on that draw the warrant.
Q. Then does not the warrant specify for
what It is drawn, whether for teachers, con-
tingencies or buildingsi A. Not necessarily;
my books do.
Q. Then the only way we can get at the ap-
preparation of this money by the trustees to
the respective items of expense to which IL is
applicable is by inquiry from the trustees
themselves A. From the treasurer of each
district-each of the three departments.
Q. The superintendent of schools does not
make these draftsa A. No, sir.
Mr.. Merrick. That is all propose to ask
this witness.
Mr.. Mattingly. Explain to the committee
whether the amounts stated by you as re-
ceived from taxation for school purposes in
clude the abatement for prompt payment Of
taxes3 A. No, sir; It is the net receipts of
money.
Q. Is that amount liable to be reduced by
illegal assessments or anything of that kind
A. Not what l have received; the levy is.
What received was actual money; there is no
abatement about that; but when you calcu-
late the levy, then you have got to calculate
for the attachments we make, and for large
map Of exempted property in the city that IL
on the tax book; when VIC say that we have
levied one million seventy-one thousand nine
hundred and ffty-seven dollars and seventy
two cents during the last three years-when
we come to collect that, 8 per cent. at least
of It goes off for abatement, and then enother
large percentage goes off for exempted prop
erty like school-houses, police station-h houses,
and all that sort Of thing, that formerly be-
longed to come private party, and have been
sold in the meantime, and not been corrected
on the books; that amounts to q large sum.
@. You cannot tell, then, from an actual
tax levy the precise amount which the schools
would receive If tho entire amount of tax were
paid inf A. No, sir.
Q. Assuming that It would be paid inl A.
No, sir.
9. On account of abatements, Illegal assess-
ments and exempted property A. No, sir
that is one reason why we could not.
Q. Do the records Of your Office or Of the
money that is paid out for school purposes is
applied to the different branches; for instance,
school buildings, payment Of teachers, and
contingencies A. Yes, sir; the auditors Office
shows all that, and my own also.
Q. Are the vouchers brought from the audi
tors Office to your Office for the DRAFT or war
rant? A. No, sir. He certiaes to the requisi-
Q. Then l understand your practice Is to
issue the warrant in gross to the trustees of
schools, and you segregate It on your books,
showing the different items for which that war
rant has been issucd3 A. Yes, sir.
The Chairman: Q. Did understand you to
say that there is o large amount of property on
the tax books that is exempted from taxationl
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Does that result simply from the cause
you mentioned, that that property was once
Individual property, but has since been sold
for some public use, or such use as excmpts it
from taxationa A, Yes, sir, that is part of
It, but there is an UNCERTAINTY in the minds of
the assessors will felafe one case. All the
property of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Company is on our books, but the Baltimore
and OHIO Railroad Company contend that they
are exempted by their charter from the pay
ment of taxes. Our assessors say they arenot,
and therefore they keep their property on their
books. Another man owns building and
rents 1t to the school trustees, from whom he
receives rent. The assessors claim that the
man leasing this building is deriving profit
from 1t, and ought to pay the tax. But the
man says not. He says It is used for school
purposes, and declines, therefore, to pay the
taxes. This and number Of other cases illus
trate the point.
Q. In estimating the value Of property in
the District, for the purpose Of ascertaining
whether or not you transcribed the limit Of
the Indebtedness of the District, was this ex-
empted property computed or mott A. Yes,
sir.
Q. It IL provided in the fundamental act that
you should not increase the Indebtedness Of the
District beyond q certain percentage Of the ag-
gregate of the property in the District. A sub
sequent act Of Congress, think, repeals that
and fixes It at ten millions. A. We are not
allowed to assess beyond Q per cent.
Q. OF course, your per cent. Is levied on
the property, whatever It is, II Il is taxable.
Has the school fund any other source of reve-
nue. than taxationi Has anything else been
appropriated for school purposes-any other
fund or source of revenue been provided BY the
Legislaturel A. Thirty-eight hundred and
sixty-two dollars.
O. What fund was that A. That comes
from the fines received in the Criminal Court.
@. Fines here In the Criminal Court are
by statute to 60 into the school fund.- A.
Yes, sir.
Q. Is there any other source of revenuei A..
All Of It does not 60 there. do not remem-
Der what proportion, but see ON my memo
randum that during the three years we received
Is, S62-only about Q thousand dollars year.