The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-04-13
NOTHING N THE CHARGES
Mr.. Halls Accusations All Fall
to the Ground.
BOOKS IN FINE SHAPE
That Il, Both the Tax Books and the
Books Recording Their Purchase and
Distribution-of 90. 1000 Only Ten
Are Unaccountsd For.

The committee of the board of school
trustees appointed to investigate the
charges preferred " o. M. Hall rs to
alleged discrepancies between the amount
Of money expended for free text books
and the number Of books received, held
a meeting last night and mac a most
thorough investigation, resulting In an
absolute and complete refutation of every
charge and insinuation made py Mr. Hail.
c. r. HawIey. a member of the commit
tee, did not attend the meeting and the
work devolved upon A. T. Morgan, M. j.
Burke. Superintendent Hendricks and
Clerk Thomas Richards. The committee
first checked up all the books purchased
by the district. numbering q. 1000. and :'en
checked up the receipts Of money paid Ia
different publishing houses and found
them receipted in full for the amoun of
the bills. They checked up the number
of books received with the number OF
books reported received by the clerk. and
found them correct. They checked the
number of books sold with the amount OF
money received for them and paid into
the county treasury, and found the bal
ance of the books to be in the different
schools and all accounted for according to
the last weekly report of the teachers.
OF the 5000 books purchased, at a cost
OF SlO,UuD. All Dull ~ were Accounted LOT.
and the value of the 10 lost books is S1.70.
According to the records. they could tell
exactly what books were lost and in what
rooms they disappeared.
The district has probably the most thor
ough and complete check on its books of
any school district In America. and the
trustees regarded IL as remarkable that i'm
seven months use of &c. 900 books only 10
are missing. The system of register and
check was originated by Superintendent
Hendricks and Clerk Richards. BY 1t
every book Is numbered and registered
and every teacher makes a weekly re-
port of books in her room. The board
has reports from different cities in the
country where they have free text books.
A number report losses in one year of
Is to 80 per cent. none less than Is per
cent, and one city reported an almost
complete loss in one year.
THE splendid showing in Butte" said
Clerk Richards, lis entirely due to the
enforcement of the rules governing free
text books and the careful watching of
the books by the superintendent, princi-
pals and teachers. All have worked faith
fully and earnestly for the success of the
system and the preservation of the books.
The present condition of the higher grade
books. after seven months services, is
good, and indicate they may last for
three or four years. The primary books
are somewhat the worse for wear. but
are good for another year at least"
1.-THE records are all here" said Mr..
Burke. when the investigation had been
concluded. land a grand jury would have
no trouble in checking them up. and we
nave no fear that a grand jury investi-
cation would result as a similar investi-
cation of the old boards methods did
Mr.. Hall had also made the charge
that the Butte schools used many supple
mentary books. 1t is therefore interest
ing to note that while Butte uses only
one supplementary reader. CHarper's).
cities like Los Angeles and others use as
high as II and IL supplementary readers.
The committee will make it's report to the
next meeting of the board which will be
held on April q, and it will doubtless be
an interesting one.