Morning journal and courier., 1882-04-13
The Northrop Investigation.

What the Committee Ftnd-A Recom- mendation that the Office of Secretary be AbOiished-Loose Management of Educational Matters as Viewed by the Legislative Investigators.
 Following is the report of the committee appointed to investigate the official transac- tions of B. G. Northrop, secretary of the
 State Board of Education
 The secretary of the State Board of Edu- cation, Rev. B. G. Northrop, has devoted
 over 20 pages of his official report for the year current, now in press, to the unauthor- ized advertisement of 4O3 books which his ssn-in-law, MT. Dwight Holbrook, principal of the Morgan school Clinton, Conn.,, has recommended as pleasant and useful general reading for young people and teachers. MT.
 Northrop has also printed in said report the statement that two firms have kindly con- sented" to furnish the books in said list at 25
 per cent. discount. This official advertise
 ment is to the evident detrlment of other
 firms in the same business when competition
 was not invited, and who are ready to fur nish the same books at large discount No
 bonus or commission for such advertisement
 was given by either of these firms, and none appears to have been received by Mir. Nor throp, unless the following be regarded as an equivalent The publishers gave one each of the books named and large num-
 Der of other books of the same character to
 MT. Holbrook.
 SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT.
 Your committee during the ss-examina- ton of Mir Northrop became informed of certain other specific charges of corrupt and improper practices of the appointees of the
 State Board of Education, both of whom
 were present, were, after the first session of your committee, represented by able counsel, and challenged enquiry. Your committee did not feel at liberty to refuse to inform the
 Assembly on so grave matter, when the evidence of it was properly brought out in cross-examir ation connected with the sub-
 iect entrusted to their investigation. Your committee gave therefore a careful hearing on the additional charges developed in the hear ing undeR the resolution, and respectfully beg leave to offer the following supplemental report: From 1871 to 1876 MT. John G.
 Baird, clerk of the State Board of EducR- tion, received from O. D. Case, of Hartford,
 Conn.,, commission varying under differ ent contracts from 33s per cent. to 40 per cent. on sale made in the office of the State
 Board of Education of sets of maps pub lished by o. D. Case & Co.,, the total of such commissions being about $500. This was made known to MT. B. G. Northrop and to member of the executive committee of the Board of Education, both of whom remon- strated with MT. Baird and obtained his
 
 occur again" The duties of MT. Bairds position, which are of clerical nature sole ly, have, with this exception, been faithfully performed. The State funds distributed by Mir. Baird in his department of supplies are paid to schools in his individual checks. His accounts have not been inspected or audited for five years.
 Since 1867 the State Board of Education has not exercised it's discretionary power of control over the selection of text books for the use of schools, has audited or supervised no accounts for supplies furnished to schools, for the expenses of the office of the sec- retary of the board, nor for his travelling ex- penses; for over ten years the board has held no teachers institutes, but has allowed the secretary of the board to hold said institutes and to expend the stated appropriation there for, save such as may be inferred from the occasional presence of the members of the board at one of said institutes All appro- priations under the statute to meet expenses authorized under Title H.. Chapter I, Part VT of the General Statutes have been paid on drafts, signed John G. Baird, clerk, or Birdsey G. Northrop, secretary, and without any formal authority of the board.
 Since 1867 Mir. Birdsey G. Northrop, the secretary of the State Board of Education, has regularly drawn from the treasury in addition to his regular salary of $3,O0O the sum of $500 per annum for travelling ex- penses. His travelling expenses incurred in his official duties. and for. which he is by statute authorized to be paid, have been much less than $500 per annum, but as his accounts have not been audited, and he has kept no account of his travelling expenses, the exact amount of his dedication is not ascer- tainable. From his admission that he holds a free pass over most railroads in the State except the Consolidated, to which he pays $104 per year over all it's lines, it appears that the defalcation must be proportionately l large MT. Northrop claims that his travel | ing expenses since 1867 have in the aggregate | of fifteen years exceeded his allowance of $500 per annum, while he admits that in | most years they have been less than that sum, and credits himself on the general account l with the unauthorized trip to Europe, sev- eral visits to the centennial exhibition in | il 1876 and with attendance up- on an alleged education society in Washing | ton and the representation of Connecticut in | the Congressional lobby.
 Mir. Northrop has habitually paid members of his family unauthorized fees for clerical assistance at forty cents per hour, amount ing from $75 to $200 per annum. He has received more than $500 per annum for lec- lures delivered out of the State to the neglect of his duties within the State, and has re- ciprocated by inviting to this State and pay ing them State moneys for lectures at State persons whose position in other States is similar to his own. He has absented himself from his office for five-sixths of the working days of the year, and estab- ished himself in a so called house office in Clinton, and directed his business correspondeuce to be addressed ]