The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-05-19
CHoTEAU COUNTY AFFAIRS.
Taxpayer" Replies to Mr.. Barnard
Browns Gard of Recent Date.

OIIl Az AlHos
"a Taxpayer Replies to Mr.. barnard
Browns Card of Recent Date.
FoRr BENTON, Feb. l6.--[To the Indepen-
dent. MIR. Barnard Brown answers my
offer to wager him $1,000 that his report Of
the financial condition of Choteau county
10 grossly incorrect, by attempting to fasten
tho authorship OF tho article on a county
officer, and svading the issue by applying
such epitheta as warrant dealer" etc,
which might DO answered by a rstort in
kind, but I have Mother the time or dis
position to handy words. 1t his report is
correct, the question OF authorship OF the
wager makes no difference, and those who
know Mr.. Brown will accept his answer ~
= confession that his alleged expert report
will not stand an investigation, for there IL
nothing in his personal appearance, actions
or record hat warrants the belief that ne
would refuse to accept $1,000 on a wager,
especially when that wager calls in ques-
ton his competency az an account or In
The fact is, Mr.. Brown knows that he ia
incompetent to make a correct examination
of county affairs, and that his report on
Chotsau county affairs IS absolutely moor
rect in every way, manner, shape ano form,
for from the time that he closed his examl-
nation till to-day, he has never showed az.
Had his report been correct, he would have
personally come before the board with his
report; explained its contents to the COM
missioners; presented his bill for his ser
vices; got his pay and gone home like "A
man; instead of that he sends his boy down
with the report at the March torn of the
board, who showed it to his friends, had
several conferences with them and their
friends, and then disappeared after staying
here several days and nothing more was
seen of the report until it again appeared
several weeks later in the hands of Mr..
Browns attorney, who volunteered the in
formation that, III there was any state
ments in it contained that were incorrect,
the board could correct Them"
His alleged expert report makes no men,
ton of, nor did he examine the assessors
Office, nor does he mention the fact that the
board of commissioner have made no set
Element with the several road supervisors Of
the county, all of whom are receiving Off
GERS. and for auqht he knows to the con-
trary, may be indebted to the county sew
eral thousands of dollars, and he confesses
his incompstency when he says in his re-
port that he mado no examination Of the
offices Of the clerk Of the district court and
sheriff for the reason that ''the district
court clerk and sheriff both informed me
that their predecessors had not turned over
the fee books when vacatlng their respect
i've Offices" A competent accountant does
not need the fee books in order to check up
an officers records.
What confidence is to DO placed in an ex-
pert report that does not correctly report
the amount Of cash on hand? The fnan-
cial condition of a county is represented by
its indebtedness in outstanding war; ants
and bonds, less the amour of cash on hand,
and when a report does not show these cor
rectly it is worthless, and that is Just what
Mr.. Browns report is, for it represents the
cash on hand March l, 1861, as 1874, 749. 40,
when the correct mount is, 1874, GAS. 40. 1t
represents outstanding warrants on the
several funds as follows:
General fund, s5s,s2e1 1s s1ss7ssl ssast5
load dli iand.i VIZ i 1i's5!.9s H liysS:S5 Il
Poor fund.-. 1,3l0.s1 1.o2a.l7 IS 81
making a difference in these five IL, MS
alone of $1,490.61.
His incompetency is further illustrated by
correct, it is nothing but a mass of iumbled
up figures that furnish no means by
which al officer could correct his books and
thereby is worthless.
he reports vouchers representing about
SIG, 900 missing in the county clerks office,
which is untrue, as all Of them are now on
file, and three Of the vouchers that he re-
ports as missing were examined by him
self. His insinuation that the clerk has
been dealing in warrants is so false that it
to every sentiment of decency and Justice,
for had he asked that officer he would
have been told that the war
rants bearing his endorsement was ta-
ken on account or paid on peoples taxes
out of town. All that is said Of the
clerks Office can be said of the treasurer's
office, and respecting the charge that the
latter officer has charged commissions to
which he is not entitled, it is sufficient to
gay that the treasurer was then, and is now,
fortified by good legal opinion on that
point.
MIR. Browns incompetency, if it needed
further illustrating, is shown in his detect
ing, among the thousands of warrants
issued since 1883, one warrant for $36, not
commissioners, and could not detect the
present board of commissioners (his en-
ployers) drawing twenty cents a mile mile
age and pay for six, seven and eight days
services, when the law allows them fifteen
cents a mile and five days pay; that
he discovered that among the thousands
OF dollars drawn by county officers, one
officer had ovsrdrnwn his pay $31.1l and
could not detect such grossly illegal bills,
allowed by the present board (his employ
ers, as Nos. Oil, 5,112, $685., $3.50, $3.50
and others, aggregating nearly $1,000.
In order to make his report a voluminous
and pretentious document he reports the
condition Of twenty school district funds.
copied bodily from the treasurer's books. l
am told, making seventeen sheets of his re-
pOtNt AA ooAhS q SkANAAAS olAO W
a district that does not occupy u space of
four inches; gives a list of warrants in the
clerks office uncallod for March l, 1891,
and a list of warrants to be cancelled same
date, all Of which outs no figure in a state
ment Of the financial condition of a county,
is only used for 'stufling."
The written portion of his report is made
OF such phrases as peculiar methods"
in describing the clerks system of filing
raid warrants in the regular order of num-
bers and years when issued, instead of the
promiscuous Numbers and years when can
celed. and he finds a Significant fact'' in
the commissioners failing to cancel expired
at their September and December
meetings.. 1890, thereby making more than
the ordinary amount to be Cancelled at their
March meeting, 1891.
He also discovers that the financial state.
ments of the clerk have never shown the
true status, etc., and in this connection it
is proper to state that the clerks state
ments have, perhaps, not always been cor
rect. He has many duties to perform and
has to rely on the reports of other officers
are not always correct, but with all
&LoA I,~ --- NJ nn-.