The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-01-05
TOWNSHIP TRUSTEES.
One of These officials Replies to Crit
icisms by other Writers.

To the Editor of the indianapolis Journal:
If one from another State were to read
the Journal for the last month he would
think hat Indiana had the worst set of
robber officers ever known in the persons
Of township trustees. rivaling the famous
Tweed ring of New York. 1t seems there
is nothing too bad for them to do. / often
wonder how many of these prolific writer's
know the difference and how applied and
how obtained between township and tuition
tax or any other of the various township
funds. . was discussing with a man the
much-talked-about graded school in recent
numbers of the Journal. and asked him if
he knew the difference as to the different
funds. He admitted that he did not. and
he was a good strong average man in gen.
eral intelligence. | would like to ask some
of these prolific writers the same question.
There are plenty of people who are good
at Directing, but are as barren as a sand
hill when it comes to a remedy. There
seems to be a widespread belief that when
the State Association of Township Trus-
tees meets on the Nth and 18th of this
month they are going to hatch up some
additional gigantic robbery. L see by a
Journal of recent date that some paper of
another State has already called the at
tention of its readers to the doings of the
trustees of this State. SO you see the efforts
of these writer's are already calling atten-
ton to the trustees of Indiana. There are
i'm this State over LEO trustees, and L
venture the assertion without fear of sue
cessful contradiction that a more con-
scientious set of officers. considering the
number and the responsibility, cannot be
found in this nor any other State. The
great mass of the trustees of the State
realize their power and are doing their
best TO exercise it SO as to bring about the
greatest good to the greatest number of
citizens, and will continue to do their duty,
Notwithstanding all of these adverse criti-
cisms. So much in defense of the poor
trustee.
AS TO publishing these reports, ! do not
believe the average trustee has any objec-
ton to publishing statements showing what
he has done with the townships money,
but how to get at the matter was what
puzzled us and others. Under instructions
from the county attorney the trustees of
Rush published "a short apitulation of
their work for the year. With all of the
fuss by the people about the extravaganza
of trustees. not one man in my township
said a word to me about it. This shows
how much interest they take in the ex-
p~enditures of the trustee. The law says
that any citizen of the township shall have
access to the books at any time, but not
one citizen has ever demanded access to
my books. If this power is to be taken
away from the trustees, who are you going
to give it to? 10 the Circuit and other
courts and County Commissioners says one
writer. And who has more power than
they, pray tell. L see by the Journal that
the commissioners of Marion county gave
two lawyers So 900 out of the county funds
for legal service, which is more than all
the trustees in Rush county get for a
years work, any one of which did vastly
more work than did the two lawyers. In
fact. it takes a smarter man to be a good
township trustee than it does to be a
lawyer.
AS to the poor. 1 wish there could be some
way devised to take care of them with less
expense and with more satisfaction to the
taxpayers. rs far as the trustees are con-
cerned. the great bulk of the money that
is spent by them for the poor is spent by
the trustees of the towns and cities. /
know this by my own county. The trustee
of Rushville township spends more money
for the poor than all of the trustees in the
county put together. / know this by the
report he makes to the county Commission
ers and by the quarterly reports. 1t is not
his fault that the expenses are SO large;
let the law tell him what to do. / do not
see how We are going TO help spending
large sums on the poor unless we can do
away with them, but the poor you have
always with you. One thing ought and can
be done, and that is let the County Com
missioners, wherever they think the trus-
tees expenditure for the poor is too high.
cut il down.
L see by Saturdays Journal that there
was to be an effort made to give the high
school another boost; also. a free library
in every township i'm the State; also, the
State Board of Agriculture wants the
Legislature TO appropriate S35, 900 for a free
State fair; also, the State University at
Bloomington wants $3.50. 000 for a new build
ing. and | do not know how many other
demands are in sight. There are the penal.
charitable and r~eformatory institutions of
the State and the salaries of our State
officers: also, $1,000 Geo TO pay the incoming
Legislature. besides county and township
taxes. Where is all this money to come
from with corn at IL and Is cents per
bushel and everything else that a farmer
has TO sell al corresponding low figures?
G.. ". LOONEY, Jr., Trustee.
Rushville. Ind, Jan. 4.