Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1900-10-29

vltsa me tlssssi scrutiny ~ ,as Fssasa
~ she examining hoard which viii
shaw that not n single DAY has been
improperly charged for,
"a to the typewriter. Tor the purchase
OF which the circular says there Is no
authority OF law the superintendent
could just as well be blamed for buy
ing pens. ink and paper. or q letter
book or l~etter-press. But the circular
ians have unearthed only half OF the
iniquity. There are two typewriters,
not one only. They were not bought
from Nestor Montoya, but from the
school directors In Old Albuquerque,
who had them as school property. but
had no use for them. and. worse than
all they are to-day actually worth
more han they cost.
The postage account Is not large. but
the perverted ingenuity of the circular
ians seeks to make II appear hat IL
must have beer all expended upon let
ters to twenty-eight teachers. giving
each one an average OF more than n
letter a day. II Is difficult to treat this
sort of thing seriously. and we doubt
very much II we are justified in doing
80.
We will briefly say that the superin-
tendent has n good deal of correspon-
dence with other people besides his
teachers. and hat all OF his postage
stamps are not used on letters. For in
stance. when the school elections are
held, he distributes poll books to all the
IL. att. ,Ar,.rH tho nail In VaaYEFA
contrast TO the practice of his prede-
%cessor. who distributed such things by
special messengers at a very large ex-
pense and without authority Of law"
His correspondence includes many
communications to the directors of
every school district under his charge.
lie receives and answers many letters
from publishes OF school books and
from publishers Of school furniture and
apparatus.
but why waste time on these insignl-
ncant details2
The circular points hat there has
been an increase In the annual tax levy
since 1896. but with the ~inaccuracy
characteristic Of the whole production,
its authors manage to make three blum
ders in stating the levies for the differ
n years. They say hat the levy for
1898 was 1875 when It really was 3.72.
They give the levy for 1898 as 4225.
when 1t really was Ass. For the pres
ent year they give the levy as 5.33,
when 1t is really 5i5j. They would
have the public believe that all of this
increase In taxation Is due to the pres
ent county administration suppresslng
the fact that there has been since 1896
a large increase In the amount OF the
territorial levy and some increase in
the amount OF the city tax. over Meth
err of which can the county officials
exercise any control. Tn high rate
this year IL due In part to the fact that
former levies for county purposes have
not realized enough for county ex-
penses. and In part because no tax was
levied last year for interest on certain
bonds, so that a double levy for that
purpose Is made this year which will
not be necessary hereafter. Since 1896
the levy for territorial purposes has
increased six and three tenths mills,
while the city levy has increased nine
tenths of a mill. making an increase of
~ for which the county Is in no way
responsible.
as 10 the statement about interest on
the county bonds, II Is sufficient to say
that there L. not to-day unpaid a sim
gle dollar OF interest due on any bond
of the county of Bernalillo.
The allegation that the republican
assessor has reduced the valuation OF
property In the city this year 5000. 900
for political purposes" Is without any
foundation whatever. but we are told
that II has been taken from the
county records" We must nav a diff
ferent set of county records from those
examined by Mr.. Dodd, because we find
that tho valuation Of property In the
city OF Albuquerque for purposes OF
taxation In the year 1899 was $2.0l7, $685.
i5, while In 1900 II Is 81, $50. 1880. The
difference is SCI, 437.45. A little error of
something like $3.50, 900 is a mere. moth
ing to an earnest Albuquerque demo-
crat. when he sits down to write a
campaign circular However, n II were
true that the republican assessor hdd
reduced any mans valuation for polit-
ical purposes, no matter how small the
reduction. we would be the first IA
condemn him. When we recollect tina
the San Felipe hotel, destroyed by fire
In August, 1899, was included In the
valuation OF city property in that year
and was not included this year, we car
account for a large portion of the re-
duction In vaue, without imputing i'm.
proper motives to an ASSESSOR cluse chs
Is a republican, Hut we can not TX
pect u democratic executive committee
to see things that way.
AN seems infected that the infected
spy.
As all looks yellow to the jaundiced
eye"
The last thing which we feel called
upon to notice Is the statement that
the county commissioners had an adj
vantageous offer to fund the county
bonds which would have greatly re-
duced the annual interest charge. bu
which was rejected for reasons-pre-
sumably improper-"known only to the
commissioners and the district attor-
ney." The fact Is suppressed that this
advantageous offer was less than par,
and the reason for its rejection was