Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1898-10-28
A VERY IMPORTANT OFFICE.

AAoitS uuu CISOuhily iuJClGSO0A III VAAC
defeat OF the present auditor, who has
been oneo the most competent officials
the county ever had. The duties of
the auditor are manifold, his work is
complicated and his responsibility
great, a fact which any experienced ac-
countant or book-keeper will admit.
Scarcely II session of the legislature is
held without h is given some new du-
ties to perform, with no additional
compensation. Tho last legislature
enacted Il Law creating II county board
Of education and establishing a uni
form system of text books. Under
this law the auditor is made ey-officio
clerk of this board, is required to at
tend all meetings, to keep an accurate
record of the proceedings aud given
supervision of the text book business
throughout the county; orders all
books and keeps an account with each
text book depository-all this without
extra pay. He looks after the loaning
of the permanent school funds, draws
al mortgages, notes, cupons, etc., and
notifies all m%ortgagors of interest CON-
ing cue. lie has charge of the leasing
of Nil school and endowment lands in
the county, draws all leases in dupli-
cate-for which u fee of 10 cents is
charged and this is sent to the Land
Co.nmissioner-aud keeps a record of
all leases and collections, all without
any compensation. In reference to
this the commissioner Of school and
public lands in a recent letter says:
~ realize that this work has become
quite burdensome to the county audi
tors. believe they Should be allowed
some compensation for the same and /
wonid be willing to loan my might in
the heNt legislature to see that they
are paid"
The county auditor has general SUI
pervision of all matters pertaining to
annual and general elections, sees to
the publication of all notices required
by law, the printing of ballots, the or
dering of all supplies, poll books, etc,
and directs the delivery of the same to
the various polling places. There is a
vast amount of labor connected with
this work, and the responsibility is
great, as all must be done according to
a complicated system of election laws.
In addition to all these duties the au-
ditci Keeps a duplicate account with
the treasurer, is clerk of the board of
county commissioners-in short it is
the general business Office of the coun-
ty. Quarterly statements of the finan-
cial condition of the county must be
made-and it may be said that it re-
CURED several weeks of arduous labor
on the part of the present auditor to
check up the records OF the county
from its organizationtotLo present for
data for the statements as are now le-
gal'y published every quarter. This
was labor that WIS estimated by Il for
mer democratic deputy county auditor
in a letter to the state auditor Tor pub.
lie eHaininer) to be worth at least $500.
The present auditor did not ask for
and received no extra compensation
for it, aud in fact it was not his duty
to do the work that was left undone
years ago. Former Public Examiner
Hemingway speaking of tho den j
tailed auditors and t%reasurer's quar-
terly statements as now published by
this county, said: "They are the most
perfect and complete quarterly state
ments published by any county in the
state. Any one of ordinary intelli-
gence can ascertain from these state
ments the exact financial condition of
the county. If 1 were again public en-
aminer I would endeavor to have this
form adopted throughout the state"
The attention of the editor of the
Times-Herald is particularly called to
this statement OF MIR. Hemingway,
for it may save him from making him.
sell ridiculous With more foolish ques
lions. And speaking of the public en-
aminer reminds Us that if one half of
what that paper insinuatcs were true,
the present state examiner, Maris Tay
lor, now tile fusion candidate for state
Treasurer. would be most culpably
gniiCy OF not promptly taking action
in tie matter. But Mr.. TAYLOR was
here recently ana after examining
hoth tho t~reasurcr's and auditors Off
ces found them ia excellent aud salts.
~tactal. cuiidition-aud he is OF the
Times-Hera,d' own political faith. and
| lis LIS duty to report apytbinr that