The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-12-09
M'CARDY SMOKED OUT
STATEMENT ABOUT THE APPAR@
Z ENT TRANSFER OF $s9,2OO FROM
THE SCHOOL FUND
HIS REPLY TO GEN. POPE ALSO

READERS or the Globe Are Lett to
Determine Whether the Comp
trOlIer's Explanation Answers the
Apparent Showing of His Books,
as Examiner Ekman Finds Them
Puts 1t Onto the Late Mr.. Roche.
City Comptroller McCardy objects that
his communication In reply to Public Ex-
! aminer Pope was not printed in the
G e of yesterday, in connection with
the narrative of the 200 expended from
the school fund in 1892. which. according
to his own system Of bookkeeping and
Interpretation of the charter should not
| properly have come out OF the school
fund. Mr.. McCardy's statement was, in
substance. given in the G o b Of yes
terday. but in order that there may not
be any bubble about the matter the
comptroller's statement is herewith given
in full.
1t does not take much space. Some
people might think it was rather a con-
tradiction than an explanation, but Mr..
McCardy styles it an explanation:
Replying to yours Of the I'd inst, in
which you say that Mr.. Ekman assumes
| that we have incorrectly charged the
that this sum should have been charged
to another account, [ have the honor to
say that his conclusions are not justified
by the facts. We simply complied with
the law.
That was his explanation to a state
officer seeking information. The readers
of the G o b 9 can judge for themselves
what kind of an answer it is to the
| showing of his books as indicated in Mr..
Ekmans report. When the comptroller
read the article he prepared and gave
! out the following to the Dispatch. which
| he claims Is reply to the indication in
| his books that he had charged the school
fund in 1892 with $4,000 which should
have been charged to the certificates of
| indebtedness fund. The public can also
weigh this additional explanation and see
| what it makes out Of 1t. Here it is:
LAS Gen. Pope. through his alleged ex-
| pert, has taken up one Item in the school
fund and gone back to the year 1872, at
| the commencement of my administration
| as comptroller. and at the very inception
| of the Bell charter, under which we are
now operating. must take up matters
| as l find them there also.
John w. Roche was city comptroller
! at the time the Bell charter was adopted;
| he soon afterwards died. The charter re-
| quired very radical changes in the man.
| agement and status Of the various Oper-
! ating accounts. 1t was a very difficult
matter to adjust and harmonic the ac-
counts with the laws Just enacted. But.
understand me. we do not intend to at
tack dead men, We leave that to others.
1.-The statement made in the report dis
plays a vast amount of dense ignorance
of the charter and the facts.
las a matter Of history and fact.
House File No. 722. which is chapter 6,
Laws of 1891, being an act to amend the
charter of the city of st. Paul, and known
as the Bell charter. among other things
provides that said city is hereby author
lied and empowered to issue its certif-
Gates Of Indebtedness for the purpose of
taking up and redeeming certificates of
indebtedness of said board Of education
sum to be used for the support of the
free public schools of said city prior to
July l, 1891. in the sum of $500, 900
You will observe that this $3.50 600 is for
! two purposes-taking up floating indebt.
| edness Of the board of education and
| partially maintaining the schools for a
certain period. Prior to the adoption Of
| the Bell charter, the board of education
| was a corporate body with power TO issue
bonds and certificates Of indebt ednasS,
| By virtue of such power, and prior to the
| adoption of the Bell charter it had is
| sued certificates Of Indebtedness as fol-
lows:
| labor claims, $500; for current expenses
| and repairs, $500; for miscellaneous eX-
! penses, $40. 900; total, $216, 300
These had all been issued in the
a
1892 and following. When the money had
| been received by sale Of this S3-1 COO OF
| certificates of Indebtedness, july /. 1884,
| the proper thing to do wouI9 have bcen
| to reserve $4,000 of 1t and interest to
| meet the old obligations of the board but
| it was not so set aside. The whole
amount was credited to the board OF
! education, and when L took change or
! this office in June, 1892, This state Of af-
| fairs existed
This $S9,2OO of certificates which ma
| tured in 1892 was charged to the &C.
| count where the money was.
1T was not until late i'll the fail OF
| 1892 that We were able 70 straighten up
| the books and strike a balance. aud as a
| matter of fact the school FUND was cry
| considerably benefited, for the Whole
| sum of the $216.2O was lot chat..ed to
| that fund. The balance over ara above
this $89. 200 was provided for by the com
mon council.
Gen. Pope's report taxes exception to
| the investment of idle funds in our tan
| chapter 5, section So. of The Garter of
| the city of st. Paul. which orbils trans
| fer Of funds from one account to an
| other or the borrowing OF funds of one
account by another. He old not read
| all of the charter. That provision has
| been faithfully adhered to. II is not
transferring funds to invest therein our
tax levy certificates, nor IS it a violation
Of the charter, because chapter s. Sec
| ton SO, Immediately following the provis-
| ion quoted, also has this provision, 'eX-
/
| by this act
This act authorizes the issue Of tax
| levy certificates to be ISSUED i'll antici-
patton Of the collection Of taxes, and
this act especially provides that sur
| plus cash in any fund may be ;IIvcste ed
temporarily in the purchase of GER
| tificates of any other department
| HE finally stated that it was Illegal
| to invest 5000 Of school hoard insurance
! fund in tax levy certifi Gates.
| 81 also as plainly as now. stated that
| it was legal to invest this 5000 0r any
/ other idle fund in the city treasury in
| our tax levy certificates. Head rbe books
| The law is plain. BY so doing q large
| amount of money was saved To the city
| In interest account alone.
! Take the Broadway bridge fund. for
| instance, with a credit of $50, 900. This,
! with other sums amounting to about one
| quarter of a million dollars, which We're
| lying idle in the treasury. were thus in
| vested, as has been stated, and saved
| a vast amount to the city.
| "Of course, when these certificates thus
| invested became due, they we're raid just
| the same as though they were in the
| hands Of a private purchaser, and the
| money credited back to those same
| funds.
Gen. Pope's forces have been Put on
! the wrong trail and have been led into
a hole, simply because OF ignorance Of
the Charter and the resolutions Il the
| common council"