Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-12-27

and disbursements. Then h010 tCe,
the figures S372.2S obtained? To thi
question, propounded time and again
no answer has been given. and W
leave this section of the matter for tn
present. Monday. December 10th
was the time appointed by ordinance
for settlement with the collector, blu
for some reason unknown to the I'm
initiated it was decided to let the meet
ing of the council for that day go by
The law {Sec. 8, Ord. y says: "Ths
Collector shall make general settle
ment on the second Monday of Decem
Der, in each year, of all collections
made during the year; and at which
time he shall deliver to the Mayor an6
Council, then in session, complete
and correct list of unpaid taxes. to
gether with description Of the real es.
tate upon which taxes are due, and
unpaid" Notwithstanding this man.
datory provision, the meeting, al
above stated, was permitted to lapse
but later in the week a meeting was
called for the 18th, to enable the May.
or to resign, and the Collector was no.
titled to be present and settle. When
the time came, the Mayor resigned,
his resignation to take effect Deem
| Der 31st, and an election ordered to be
held that day to fill the vacancy; but
the Collector did not put in an appear
ance, being absent from the city.
Next day the question came up as to
whether an election could be called to
| fill a vacancy which did not exist at
| the time the call was made; and to
make all things sure, the Mayor again
called the council in session Tuesday
afternoon, when his resignation was
| rendered and received outright, and
the election duly ordered for the 31st.
This time the Collector was on hand,
but he said that he was unable to make
his settlement then because he had
loaned out portion of the city's mon
ey, and asked to have his settlement
continued to January! TO this the
complaisant authorities gave their as
sent. Why wasn't settlement had,
and the status of the city's finances
definitely determined, regardless of
the condition of the collectors pocket
book? If, when the balance due was
determined, the collector was unable
to pay over that balance. that would
come up as an after consideration; but
it was the bounden duty of the Mayor
and Council to have a settlement,
money or no money. We are informed
that this is not the first time there has
been a failure to make the settlements
required by law. There is a rumor
afioat that in the fall of 1898 a meet
ing of the Council was had for the
purpose of settling with the Collector,
at which he did not appear. Is this
rumor true? Is it true that after his
failure TO appear at the above named
meeting another meeting was called
for the express purpose of settling with
him, and on that day he went hunting?
1t is true that he has not mad. a BIZ
monthly settlement as marshal by law
for many months. Is it true that the
deputy Collector has the Collectors re-
ceipts for nearly five hundred dol
lars, and that there has actually been
paid into the treasury only one hun
dred and seventy-two dollars and fifty
cents since last April? What has be-
come of the BALANCED Why is it not
in the treasury, into which the law
says it must be- '.promptly paid" If
permitted by those in authority over
the officers? The Charter says that
1.-The Mayor shall take care that the
laws of the State and the ordinances
of the city are duly enforced, respect
ed and observed"-which injunction
applies to the Council as we'll in its
province. The REGISTER asks you,
gentlemen, have you seen that the pro-
visions of the law and the ordinances
in relation to the City Collector and
the City finances have been reinforced,
respected and observed?" If not, why
not? Our article upon these matters
of few months ago created consider
able heat because certain officials of
the municipality regarded it as an in
timation that they had been guilty of
corrupt practices. No such construc
ton could be fairly placed upon it, nor
nor was any intimatlon intended. We
did then, as we do now, charge laxity in
the administration of the city's fnan-
ces, which, if continued, must result
in corruption and also in disaster to
the city. We don't even now say that
the Collector has permanently mis-
appropriated the funds in his hands, or
that he will not be able to command a
clean balance-sheet when he does set
tie. But he should have been required
to do his duty according to law. As it
is, if, in the end, there should be
shortage, it is doubtful that a dollar
could be collected from the sureties, if
they chose to make it a test of law.
We hope that the resolution may DO
formed and hereafter strictly adhered
to, to rigidly enforce every law and
compel all officials to do their whole
duty to the city and the people, '.re-