, 1876-10-01

person making the loan Us coll atcral. but in thu
cases referred to we're never sold.
In the fall Of 1868 Cook County requested
bids for the permanent location OF the Normal
School. Among the competing points was our
school district. The School Board then consist
ed OF a. ID. Hogle, Genus Coleman, and myself.
70 better enable us to accomplish this object,
We obtained the passage Of law by the Leeis,
iature authorizing the Board to sell bonds and
use the money II aid Of the project to the
amount OF some $4,000 or $4,000 While
every citizen was clamorous tohave us go to the
full extent Of the law, for fear Of losing The
school, We accomplished the object, and used,
as near as can remember, less than 5000.
Neither the Board nor the Treasurer
considered that the money raised By the sale OF
those bonds was in any sense school-noney, but
to be used BY the Board as In their judgment
should seem best to secure the object for which
It was raised Consequently, the smount going
to the county (S25, ,000) was paid directly to tha
County Treasurer, and the balance to inlivid-
uals for land, and other expenses, such as drain
age, grading streets, perfecting titles, paying
visors at their numerous visits, attorneys fees,
etc; also in carrying out the agreement mads
BY the Board and Citizens Committee
to furnish suitable boarding facilities for
Nichols, William Fl. Brooks, John Rabcr, 4. G.
Warner, and others, and were appointed by the
citizens in mass-meeting. 1t Is proper to state
right here that put ii more than half OF my
kIl4G LUZ }EfT Ill accomplishing tue OplccE, aud
that, while the Board had full power to pay, I
never received dollar for my services from any
source whatever, excepting always the valuable
library with which few Of the citizens sur
prfsed me after the school was located. At the
time, MIR. Coleman Was President and Mr.. Hogle
clerk, and large share OF the Normal bonds
were signed By them. During the period re-
fer1ed to BY that article the Board @urchased .
lot and erected thereon the brick building near
State and Forty-seventh streets at cost Of over
Int md f1r ~
house; also, two frame buildings,-one on Fifty
first street, the other On Burnside strcet,-at
cost Of nearly 81, 600.
The lot and nearly all Of the buildings near
bonds. Every item for which money from the
Normal bonds WIS paid Was entered on the
records, which we're consumed in the great FIRE.
In cndeavoEing to call to mind what amount
WAS expended for that purpose, am impressed
with the idea that it was about S42, ,000. / gave
memory, the items fOr nearly that amount
Ny reply, then, to the question, ssWhere ia
the 3S8, ,0OU raise1 on Normal School bonds!" Is
summed up as follows: First, my emphatic de-
ond, OF the sS8, paid by the Treasurer, as
claimed by the IIns<s' article, some 80, 600 was
paid for short loans, s,-th1rty to ninety days and
interest, ,-s3 600 for the two frame schoolhouses,
SCI ,o00 for the lot aud building near Forty
seventh street, and say $4,000 for Normal
than the books show we ever had. This is how
we handled the money.
As to the legality o. It, by referring to the
proper authority, you can learn that to exchange
bonds for buildings and lots Is directly within
the province OF School Boards; snd as to the
Normal money, as I said before, neither the
Treasurer nor the Board supposed it proper for
him to handle it. Afterwards we became so
nearly satisfied that he was entitled to his co1it-
mission that we paid him. Here you have the
facts. II any one doubts, let him examine the
books without the MD OF anyone whose mali
cious spirit will surely lead him astray. AS to
Mr. Wentworth's having any OF this money, not
dollar was paid him, except In ac-
cordance with the agreement to assist
him in providing boarding accommodations,
he having made more liberal proposition, be-
cause OF his interest in the success Of the school,
than ne could get from any one else. believe
now, and have, that Mr.. Wentworth never re-
ceivcd the full amount TO which he was entitled
under fair construction Of the understanding.
The amount was made up by the payment Of
several different bills for furniture, stoves,
hardware, crockery, carpenter-work, etc, and
did not exceed, according to my best reco:lec-
ton, 81 1,500 1t WAS just as much a contract
with the county rs the money or the land, and,
had it required three times as much to ill it, the
Board would have acted accordingly.