Tombstone epitaph., 1890-04-26
c. M. BRUCE

c. M. BRUCE-Dear Sir:-In re- sponse to your request for iniorma- Iicn in regard to mismanagement Of county affairs, accompanied by fragrant violation of the laws by those who were elected and sworn to uphold them, the following facts may be per tinent:
 The last legislature passed two bills -one "de6ning the qualifications of office holders and employees in public institutions; the other, 8 bill provid- ing for the care Of the indigent sick. In open and premeditated defiance of the first law, the Board of Supervisors have gone on employing and paying q Chinaman as cook in the hospital ever since they were aware of the illegally of so doing. Whether there are other illegal employees or not; l do not know.
 The indigent sick bill. is good one and, had its provisions been carried out in good faith. for the, ,so"o', -'-,onths 1t should have been in force, there would have ben d saving to the cs.un- ty of about $2,O0O To demonstrate this d retrospective glance is necessary.
 Prior 10 1885 Cochise county did, as did, and still do, all the other counties of the Territory, in regard to the care of their indigent sick, advertise for proposals and let the contract to the lowest responsible bid,ler. Whether this Is the proper system to follow or not, is not the question under discus sion. We are now considering econ omy, not philanlhrophy. At any rate, 1t has worked we'll and satisfactorily Tor the twenty-five years of our Terri turial existence.
 The average price paid for the care of the indigent sick, throughout the Territory-barring this county-is $1 per day per patient. Up to 1885, the price paid in Cochise county never averaged that figure. With the in coming of MT. Theodore White and Mr John Montgomery, in 1885, began the era of mismanagement in county hospital affairs.
 They concluded that the county should own and manage it's own hos pital. Accordingly they advertised for bids for a building. The contract was let for about $2,600 but before the building was finished 1t had cost about $7 ,000, and even then it was incOm- plete, subsequent expenditure of two or three thousand dollars being needed to make hospital out O. 1t. After completion they installed their "doc- tor" and by the close of the year the hospital and the care of the indigent sick, including cost of hospital build ing, had cost the taxpayers of Cochise co Inty nearly $l4,000; and this with an average of only ten patients per day for ten months of the year, which, as any one can see, made the cost per patient per day something like $3.50, as against 95 cents the preceding year. There has been no year since that, and with an average of only eight or nine patients per day, that the care of the indigent sick and the hospital has cost less than eight thous- and dollars; making grand total for the five years of $40,000. Had the old system been pursued, taking the average of patients as reported- eight or nine per day-Ihe cost would have been about $l4, 300; difference of $25,0O0; $5,000 a year added to the burdens of the taxpayers of the county to gratify the whims of MT. Theodore White and MT. John M ont gomery, the latter especially.
 When the present Board of Super visors became aware last Spring that there was law requiring them to act for the best interests of the county, they entered into conspiracy to nullify 1t, and have sVadsd it up to