The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-09-12
How the Trustees Work Their Bill 3.

To the Editor OF the Indianapolis journal:
The exposure which your valuable paper is
making of the crookedness of township trustees
will doubtless be of value in correcting such
abuses Gigantic as the swindle appears from
information already obtained, it will doubtless
be seen in the end that the ''haf has not been
told"
The Canadian colony" does not at present
embrace all upon whose garments there is the
smell of fire. and the authorities should see to it
that "no other guilty man escapes" That there
is large volume of township paper" issued by
trustees without consideration, so far as
the township is concerned, now in the
hands of bona fde purchasers, there can be no
doubt. That there are third parties holding
paper for which there was consideration is also
true. But, whether township has, in many
instances, received full value may be seriously
doubted. That a trustee has a right, under stat
ute, to create debt binding upon the township
clearly appears; and yet it does not appear that
| he is required in settlement to make oath as to
| the amount of debts he may have created, and
| which remain unpaid. l learn, upon careful
| inquiry during two months last passed, that it is
no unusual thing for an incoming trustee to be
| suddenly confronted by debts created by his
| predecessor, and of which he had no previous
| knowledge One instance in particular l call to
mind where trustee was compelled to cancel
| order for needed supplies for the reason that
| he Unexpectedly discovered outstanding debts
by his predecessor, sufficient to absorb the full
amount of revenue to be realized upon the special
| tax levy.
Now, the knotty question for solution is, how
are we to distinguish between these out
standing obligations? Which shall be
regarded as lawful, and which unlawful!
For instance, it will not do to say that all obi
cations issued by Mr. Glover are fraudulent He
may have outstanding contracts just as regular
and legitimate as those of any trustee Indeed,
the writer knows of one order issued by him for
goods regularly bought and properly delivered
How, then, l ask, are to distinguish between
those obligations for which there was a proper
consideration and those where there was not?
Again, can township plead want of considera-
ton as against an innocent purchasers Whoare
the sufferers the taxpayers, the boIdsmen. or
the holders of the paper2
have remarked that it is doubtful whether
in many instances full value was received bv
| the township. A trustee recently gave his
official paper in settlement of a hill for desks
AS evidence of his liberality it is only neces-
sary to state that the agent sold to the trustee
Fifteen school desks at $50. $3.50 90
The manufacturers sold to agent the fifteen
school desks at So. 5O.-......- $3.50
Agents profit. $4125O
How much did the trustee get2 This leads to
the inquiry Have the trustees picnics to Chi
cago, at the solicitation of and upon transporta
ZION IuruiSHeu Dy q certain supply house,
thing to do with the payment of such liberal
profts2
Wonder if any of our county superintendent
ever received a communication about like this:
1--WE still extend our invitation for you and your
trustees to visit US. August 10 will be most con.
venent for us, but if Sd suits you better all right
Bring III your trustees Let US know the date most
convenient and we will purchase and forward your
tickets
If so. it would be interesting to know if it was
submitted to the trustees. If it was, how did
they receive it, How many of them voted to gof
How many didgoa Were you we'll entertained?
What was the character and quantity of sup
plies" purchased! That will do. Mr.. Trustee.
you can stand aside for the present while we
ask Mr.. John Ghast of Parke county. if he did
not receive from Mr. JONES' trustee an order
the dog tax fund for $28. so in payment for
three sheep killed by dogs. X
TERRE HAUTE Sept 10.