St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-12-25
The LAW AT FAULT.
A laundering System Which
Handicaps the Board OF
Education.
Funds Are Not Available I'M
til Long After Expendi-
lures.
Just What the Forthcoming
Financial Report Will
Exhibit.
Certificates Of indebtedness
and How They Are Held
by Banks.

An alarmist article was published
yesterday in morning paper-a foreign
paper, of course-lndicating that the st.
Paul board OF education was bankrupt.
The whole article is a tissue of exag-
gerations. as will be clearly shown IN a
few days, when the report will be pub
llShed OF special committee. A thor
ough Investigation has been made by
this committee iutO the financial con-
dtiOn of the boIrd; but in the mean
time the financial standing of the board
may be- given:
There is bonded indebtedness of
SS50.000. This was for the building of
schools, etc.
The certificates to-day in the hands Of
bankers amount To Si37.003. This money
has been solely expended in the liqui-
dation of current expenses.
The current EXPENSES of the hoard
are provided for in the tax levy, hut The
d tfieuity experienced by THE members
OF the school beard is this: That while
they have to provide money for current
expenses, they must wait year be-
fore the receipts from the tax levy can
levy for 1890 is not collectible until
after Jan. l, 1891. This is the fault of
the law under which the board operates.
and there is every probability that dur
ing the forthcoming session of the leg
iSlature some alteration will ue made in
the act. 1t is manifeStly prep0SterouS
10 expect members to conduct the board
of education with any senfblance of
economy when the money provided for
current expenses cantIot be Touched uu-
til months after that expenditure is in
Cured. AT present the hands of the
members are tied. Ii the schaols are to
BIZ kept open these certificates of in
debtedneSS must he given. The at
tempt, therefore. to accuse them nf gen
erai all-round protiigacy is absolute non
sense.
As stated. certificates of Indebtedness
in Jie hands or bankers are 1861. UUO.
The amount which the board will re-
ceve from this years tax levy, payable
after Jan. l. is s675.00J. 1t will there
fure. be seen that the board is within
$4,000 of the income. If the board
could handle the income prior to incur
ring any expenditure, instead of having
to issue certificates, there would to-day
be nit,ney in the treasury.
These being the facts of the case, the
dtliuiuS vi Tile lOiiONlu9 Cd!t Fedllty O6
estimated: "A depleted condition of
the school board treasury exists. and
was caused by great extravaganza" 1t
would be exceedingly interesting to
kliuw how the board could have pre-
vented depleted treasury. The seilouis
hat To be run; they could not be run
without money; this money was hot
outainable until all current expenditures
had occurred.
Hermann Scheffer,a recent acquisition
Oil tile hoard, who is very conservative
i'll his statements. StigmatiZed the arti-
Gle referred to as grossly exaggerated.
The inSiLuation that a CERTAIN bank was
drsiruuS OF perpetuating this certificate
plan was absurd. None of the banks
were particularly DESTROYS of doing any
thing of the kind. They merely took up
the certificates to assist the board out of
a legal difficulty. Nor did any one bank
attempt to muIopolze the business of
floating certificates. which are held by
the several banks aS fOllOWS: