St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-04-26


made, as Mr.. REM books show, in two sep
arate installments. The first was Aug. 5,
1879, an amount of $2,4275O, which left
just So, 900 of the leash balance" to be ac-
counted for. A verbal statement was made.
however, by Mr.. McCardy to the cOmptroll-
Ell, Mr.. Roche, that this So, 900 had been sent
to New York to pay interest ON bonds, in
which case it was probably included as one
OF the disbursements as per vouchers. !"
This statement being only oral would not
be accepted as evidence, there being no
record to back it up. But it is charitable
to presume it to be truthful, as the other
presumption would infer a more serious
state of things than it is necessary to show
forth. With the admission of the truth of
this statement, however, we must cut down
both the leash assets" and the cash ''bal-
ance" by 1000, in which case neither the
assets and liabilities nor the receipts and dis
bursementS would agree. But admitting
the truth of the verbal statement of Mr..
McCardy this payment of the 50, 427.50 by
the retiring officers seemed at that time to
square their accounts with the board of ed
ucatiOn.
BUT A NEW COMPLICATION
arises when the report of w. r. Merriam,
the business treasurer of the board is eX-
amined, i'll the last item of which on Aug.
Is, 1879, about two weeks after the pay
ment above referred to, he acknowledges
himself indebted to the board of education
to the amount of $1S2.61. Again recurring
to history, Treasurer REM books show
that eight months after this and nine
months subsequent to the expiration of the
term of office of Treasurer Merriam, Mr..
McCardy made to the treasurer of the board
the final payment on behalf of the old adj
ministration of $47.61. This left according
to Mr.. Merriams statement $135 due from
him to the board, no part of which has yet
been paid.
If the reader has been able to follow
through the intricate mazes of this mixed
system of bookkeeping, he will easily see
that there are three OF four different ways
i'll which these accounts can be settled.
FIVE HARD PROBLEMS.
1. On the hypothesis that Secretary Me
Cardys published statement is correct,
Treasurer Merriam and he owe the board of
education So, 900 minus S47.61, OF 81, 952. 80.
2. On the hypothesis that Secretary Nc
Cardy's verbal statement is correct, his
leash balance and leash assets don't
agree, but he and Treasurer Merriam are in
luck, for the board of education owes them
S47.61.
8. On the hypothesis that Treasurer
Merriam's published statement is the only
correct one, he and McCardy owe the board
OF education S135.
4. On the hypothesis that the published
statements of Secretary McCardy and Treas
urer Merriam are both correct-but this is
reductio ad absurdum-they can't by any
possibility be made to agree.
5. There is but one other hypothesis on
which an explanation can be based-that
McCardy's oral and Merriam's published
statements are both correct in which the
same difficulty is encountered as in endeav
Oring to solve No. 4.
BUT STILL ANOTHER COMPLICATION
arises as matter of history. When City
Comptroller Roche became the comptroller
of the board he sought in vain for some
showing of the account of the board with
KountZ Bros, the boards New York
bankers. Sending to them for a
statement, he found a balance with
them to the credit of the board
of S57s.64. No record of this existed, or
at least was discOverable in st. Paul, and
the only tenable theory on which it could
be accounted for, inasmuch as no record of
it appears, was that the remitances to the
New York bank were treated as ''disburse-
ments as per vouchers" which vouchers"
were the cancelled checks that came back
and no further attention was paid to Them
Therefore this sum cannot be considered
part of the balance" referred to i'll MI
McCardy's report.
One other point regarding this report re-
mains to be noticed, and that is the first
item in the secretary's statement under the
head of liabilities of education.
SS2, 937." If this means anything, it
means that the board of education owes the
board of education $50, 937. 1t would be
to know when this debt will fail
due. From bookkeeping point of view
this is an absurd item, put in there proba-
bly, for the purpose of making the assets
and liabilities balance, which Of course they
don't in any kind of business. The item
should have read, ''eXcess Of assets over
liabilities, $50, 937," which would have
been much more accurate statement. and
one which would have looked better for the
credit Of the board of education.