St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-04-27

REM, and that was all. This payment was
made, as Mr.. REM books show, in two sep
arate installments. The first was Aug. 5,
1879, an amount of So, so, which left
just w, 600 OF the leash balance" to be ac-
counted for A verbal statement was made.
however, by Mr.. McCardy to the comptroll-
er, Mr. Roche, that this so, 600 had been sent
to New York to pay interest on bonds, in
which case 1t 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 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 So, 900, 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 80, 1878 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,
lllc DtSlllcSS UIcdStlItI VI uilc UOdiu 10 tA-
amined, in 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 $182.61. 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 Oh behalf of the old adj
ministration of S47.61. This left according
to Mr.. MerTiam'S 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
in which these accounts can be settled.
FIVE HARD PROBLEMS.
1. On the hypothesis that Secretary Nc
Cardy's published statement is correct
Treasurer Merriam and lie owe the board Of
education So, 900 minus S47.61, or 81, 952 &c.
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
$47.61.
3. 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 absurdtm-they can't by any
possibility be made to agree.
There jS but ono Othar hyDOtbociS IN
which an explanation can be based-that
McCardyS oral and Merriams 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
statement, he found 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 a
part of the balance" referred to in Mr..
McCardy's report.
One other point regarding this report re-
mains to be noticed, and that is the first
item in the SecretaryS statement under the
head of 'liabilities-board of education,
$50, 937." If this means anything. it
means that the board of education owes the
board of education $50, 1887. 1t would be
interesting to know when this debt will fall
due. From bookkeeping point of view
this is an absurd item, put i'll 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 a much more accurate statement, and
one which would have looked better for the
credit of theboard of education.