Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-01-06

sidered--An Interview With a Member of
the Investigating Committee who Shows
Up the Weak Points of the Gorgeous Es-
adjustment Which Kerr and Bartlett
Conduct at the Expense of the State.
New Years day being good time for new
resolves, the Rev. Kerr and his associates in
the Insane Asylum apparently made new
determination. That is they renewed their
determination to 'stick'' in the asylum and
continue to pluck the State, and accordingly
On that day promulgated through the local
asylum organ screed notable for it's length
and falsehoods. AS it severely assailed the
recent Senate investigating committee, a
GLOBE reporter, meeting Col. Morton (who
served on the committee) yesterday, turned
his attention to that topic with the following
result:
Reporter-Colonel, have you seen the re-
ply of the board of trustees to your COM
mittee?
Colonel Morton Yes: read it New Years
morning.
Rep.-What did you think Of it?
Col. Mas an answer to the report of
the committee, it is superlatively thin. A
case of special pleading, backed up by
batch of letters from our best citizens, some
OF them dating back seven or eight years,
majority of them attesting the cleanliness
and good police regulations of the asylum,
which latter by the way was never brought
in question by the committee not one of
them amounting to row of pins as rebuff
ting testimony. The fact is, it seemed to be
the grand desideratum of the trustees to
wrapa huge pile of irrelevant matter together,
call it evidence, and then go for the Senate
committee on the ground that they were
prejudiced. Now, what should have preju-
diced the committee, or any individual mem-
Der of it? Speaking for myself personally,
l knew none of them with one single excep-
ton, and he I never met but once or twice
prior to the investigation. That is all hum
bug; the committee were not prejudiced,
they went to St. Peter determined to do the
State and the trustees justice, and if
you will read the testimony in detail you will
agree with me that if any injustice was done
in the report of the Senate committee, it is
not the management of the hospital that
should complain.
Reptile trustees claim that they were
not permitted to be present when witnesses
were being examined by the committee nor
were they permitted representation during
the investigation. How is that?
Col MI know they make such claim,
but it is not true in any sense. The COM
mittee sat with open doors except in one or
two instances where witnesses, for reasons
personal to themselves. requested exam
lnatlon to be private, and any or all of the
trustees were at liberty to come and 20 at
11poc1ra In addition 10 bio
in September, Mr.. Smith, our secretary, was
instructed to extend special invitation to
each of the trustees, which he did, the only
result of which was an insulting letter from
Trustee Brown, which was published broad
cast over the State. Two of the trustees
certainly Talbot and Brown), if not more,
appeared before the committee and gave
their testimony.
Rep.-What do you think, colonel, will be
the result of the investigation?
Col. M..-Well, that is hard to say, def
nitely. One thing is certain, however, it
will show salutary effect for
the time being, and permanently,
if the legislature heeds the recommendations
of the committee, and I think it will. The
fact of the matter is, we incline to extrava-
gance with all our State institutions. A lot
of good, liberal fellows are put in as mana
gers or trustees, and they are very liable to
vote money for expenses of one sort and
another freely. An exemplifcation of this
is found in the case of DR.. Bartlett, who was
entirely willing few years ago to accept the
position of superintendent with salary of
$1,000, and subsistence, per annum. Grad
ually they have worked this up to So, 500
and subsistence for himself and wife, al
though the purchasing power of money is
prnafnr hu @hor
when he was employed in 1869.
Mind you, DR.. Bartlett lives sump-
tuously and at an expensesto the State, in
Guiding his salary of, venture to say, $4,000
per annum. Now, in these times of financial
distress think we are paying too large sal
aries. do not believe there is professional
or business man, with possibly a very few
exceptions, whose income the past year has
been slxty-six per cent. of the same individ-
ual income SIX or seven years ago, and if we
are all compelled to economic in our pri-
vate affairs IS it asking too much of the
employees of the State to let their salaries
remain where they were, or is it fact that
it is none of the business of we that pay the
taxes how the money is spent?
Rep.-Kerr claims to have explained away
most of his DEFICIENCIES. How about that?
Col. M.-He has explained nothing that
am aware Of Mr.. Hurlburt, of Rochester,
ona of the experts who assisted Public Ex-
aminer Knox in his examination of Kerr's
accounts, and who, by the way, is one of the
best accountants in the West, was in my
office few days ago and said that the old
gcntleman's explanations explained nothing.
He can never explain to my satisfaction why
he changed the figures upon the back of his
pay-rolls, in every instance the change
inuring to his benefit and loss to the State.
AS remember it, with single exception all
the errors in his accounts, of every character
and description, were in his favor and
against the hospital, and because we recon-
mended that he be suspended from exercis-
ing the functions of his responsible Office,
we are accused of prosecuting the old man.
Suppose we grant that Mr.. Kerr is honest,
l do not believe there is business man in
either of the cities, St. Paul or Minneapolis,
that would place him in any position of
trust, for the reason of his utter incompe-
tency, and if this be true-and surely the
published reports of the public examin-
er and his experts warrant this belief-why
should he be permitted to administer
the affairs of an important officer for the
State.
Rep.-I notice, colonel, that the trustees
claim that the visit to Philadelphia, centen-
NAL year, was all regular-in fact a very
proper expenditure.
Col. M.-Of course they do; and yet there
is not scratch of pen, or was not when
the committee investigated the matter, to
show that the board had authorized Kerr to
go. Kerr, when questioned by the commit