Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-04-24
The Financial Statement.
Cost Of Publication, dc,

N~O ~ UOttCULtOV, CCCs
There: is, perhaps, some d,fferenc,
, Of opinion as to the wisdom of havipe
a full detailed financial statement Of
Morrison county published, consider,
ing the expense of so doing. The f.
nancial statement for the fiscal yea,
ending on the 28th of February last
the publication of which was finished
last week, was very complete; and, as
far as we could see, fully accomplished
the design Of the law on that subject.
While nearly all the persons whom
we have heard say anything about it,
approve Of the course Of the County
Commissioners in. ordering the pub
lication cf a full and detailed foan>
cial statement, very few expressed
the opinion that in view of the ex>
pense it was not necessary, and many
are of the opinion that it is a matter
which the law leaves discretionary
with the Commissioners. Now the
facts are, the Commissioners have no
discretionary power whatever IN the
matter, as the law specifically describes
what they shall do, and makes it im>
perative that detailed financial state>
be published annually, three times
successfully, in each county, and it all
so fixes the compensation that is to be
paid to the publisher, except in cases
where special contract is made to
the contrary. Section 103, Chapter 8,
the General Statutes Of 1866, is as
follows:
SECTION 103. The board of Commissioners
on the second Tuesday of March annually,
shall make a full and accurate statement Of
the receipts and expenditures for the preced-
| ing year, which statement shall contain a full
and correct description of each item, from
whom, and on what account received, to whom
paid, and on what account expended, together
with an accurate statement of the finances of
the county at the end of the fiscal year, in
cluding all debts and liabilities of every de-
| scription, and assets and the other means to
discharge the same, and shall within thirty
days, thereafter, have the same posted up at
the court house door, and at two other places
in their county, and published in some news
paper therein, if there is one, for three sue
| cessive weeks.
This law is still in force, and de-
tailed statement is accordingly pub
lished in every organized county in
the State. In Ramsey county, the
present year, a question was raised as
to the expedieney ofpublishing a de-
tailed financial statement, and the St.
Paul Globe, referring to the law on
the subject, says:
''Under this law every county in the State
publishes detailed statement. In Heunepin.
Goodhue, Washington and every other county
in the State (except Ramsey the name Of
every witness and juror is given and each
name makes full line, while in the Globe it
is compactly given with two names in q line,
com pressing it into the smallest possible space.
Instead of the Hennepin county auditor
| scorning to give these items he gives them all
and more. He gives the name and amount of
each one who received aid from the county.
In this county Auditor Davis has put in four
lines of the expenditure for the poor while in
Hennepin county it makes over three columns.
Iris is in accordance with the law quoted,
and Auditor Davis, in his effort not to "spread,"
has really failed to comply with the full re-
quirements of the law. 1t wculd have been
matter of economy to have printed the name
of every pensioner on the county bounty and
the amount paid, as the law requires, as hun
dreds of dollars would be saved if parties ex-
pccted to fave this fact made public. Ramsey
county is the only county in the State which
| has thus curtailed its report. Instead of find
ing fault with Auditor Davis for giving de-
tails, the real fact is that he has not given as
much detail as The law requires.
The legal rate for this publication is rs
| cents per square for the first insertion and 374
cents per square for each subsequent insertion,
or Sl.5o per square for three insertions.'
The Globe Of Sunday last says:
It seems that the question of how the Aud
itor should prepare the county financial state
ment was made the subject ofjudicial decision
few years ago. A controversy having aris-
en- in LIE Sueur county, the question was re-
ferred to the late Judge Chatfield, one of the
lost eminent jurists in the State He decided
that tho statement should embrace each order
in detail drawn by the Auditor during the
year. The intent of the law is to give this
detail in order to prevent the public money
being improperly expended in secret. The
only fault to be found in Ramsey county is
! that the law was not complied with, owing to
the desire to cut down the report,
Section l, of Chapter 102, Of the
General Laws of 1867, is as follows:
SEcrtoN /. That all advertising done for
any of the state departments shall be paid for
at the uniform rate of seventy five cents per
square ofspace (Which is declared to be equal
to the space occupied by two hundred and
fifty ems of solid nonpareil type) for the first
insertion, and thirty. seven 50-10O cents for
each subsequent insertion.
This is held by all lawyers as being
the legal rate for publishing official
notices and advertisements of any
kind, although only thirty>6ve cents
per folio is the rate fixed by the Gen,
eral Statutes Of 1866 (Chap. 70, Sec.
28) for subsequent insertions of such
notices and advertisements. For a
considerable time we fixed our charges
at thirty>five cents per folio for sub.
sequent insertions, but we learned
from leading lawyers in St. Cloud and
elsewhere, and from the custom in
other counties, that the acknowledged
legal rate for official advertising is that
fixed by the law of 1867, which al.
lows 373 cents per folio for subse-