The San Francisco call., 1896-03-14

ton at the manner in which business at.the
Office i'll San Francisco has been managed, but
q secretary must be made OF sterner tuH than
Comrade Rock well If ne ia lied to catch some
thing of the spirit of neglect inattention 10
and ignorance of the regulations OF their
most res ponsible stations, which character
lied many of his sUperiors in office.
When during the course OF Mr.. RockwelPs
examination he was inquired OF concerning
plain and unmistakable failures on the part
OF the board of directors 10 comply with the
bylaws of the home in respect OF its meetings
and accounts and general business, he could
only reply that such matters were not IN his
department and were none OF his business.
When some OF the direc tors. VINO ought TO
have known better, were inquired OF concern
ing the requirements OF the bylaws they mad
only to answer that they had never read the
bylaws and did not know that such acts were
expected of them as the bylaws demanded.
The committee regrets that II is unable to
select any mem bers of the board OF directors
who have fully discharged the duties OF the
office TO which they were elected. While meet
ings OF the board have been held, those re-
Quired by the bylaws nave not been convened,
and the business OF the home has Deen prac-
tcally in the hands of a few. The board as
board has undertaken neither 10 control the
administration and discipline OF the home nor
the purchase of supplies, nor the expenditures
OF money, nor the auditing OF accounts, nor
any other matters essential to the proper con-
duct of the affairs and discipline OF the home:
and the committee feels compelled TO say that
much of the real responsibility and blame for
the acts and omissions of duty OF officers OF the
home must rest upon the board OF directors.
For this neglect OF duty and OF the require
meats OF the bylaws no explanation or even
apology has been offered beyond that OF ignor-
ance and the committee is OF the opinion that
public confidence in the administration OF the
affairs of the Veterans Home, which has GER
tainly been lost, can only be restored by the
resignation of those OF the present board who
were members of it prior 10 the recent election
and by the appointment or election OF others
in their places
The argument will be made that every
thing reported two years ago will be
equally applicable at this time: The in
vesfigating committee consisted of: S. j..
Loop (chairman), c. A. Fuller Magnus
TAFT, f. c. Thatcher. Jerome Deasy {sec-
retary).
The following composed the board Of
directors at the time this report was made:
W. c. Burnett, William II. Reddick, Sam
uel Deal, W. H. H. Hart, ]. C. Currier, E.
IL. Herrick, G. II. Stevens, NJ. D. Hyde.
G. w Arbuckle and H. I. Hobert. Of
this number W. c. Burnett, William H.
Reddick, j. c. Currier and G. w. Ar
buckle have continued as directors, and
the present board consists of: W. C. Bur-
nett, William II. Reddick, j. c. Currier,
G.. w. Arbuckle, G. A. Fuller, S. ]. Loup,
J. A Garrett, j. D. Barnett, G. W. Stroll,
C. A. Blinn and S. w. Backus.
General W. H. L. Barnes and Judge A.
J. Buckles acted as counsel for and as
sisted the committee in this investigation,
and General Barnes wrote the report.