The Opelousas courier., 1900-06-16

School Matters.

The report of the committee
appointed by the School Board to
examine the cash book of the Par
ish Treasurer, who is ex-fficio the
Treasurer of the School Board
and the custodian of it's funds, is
a very interesting document. 1t
is published in another column
and deserves careful perusal. 1t
threws food of light on seve-
raj subjects, the mystery sur
rounding which has heretofore
been impenetrable-the cost to
the taxpayers of the handling of
the public funds, for instance
and while all the light desirable
has not yet been obtained, new
that corner Of the veil has been
lifted we May hope that further
information will seon be forth
coming.
In regard to the compensa-
ton of the Parish Treasurer, we
remember that last fall or winter,
in a discussion which arose be-
tween a correspondent of this pa
per and correspondent of the
Clarion, the latter, who was un-
derstood to be one Of our leading
citizens and therefore supposed
to be we'll posted on the subject,
asserted that this compensation
was only $500 per annum, which,
owing to the responsibilities of
the position, was not considered
excessive. But this correspondent,
whose good faith we do not for a
moment question, was very much
mistaken, as we shall show lit
tie later. The fact is that he,
like the mass of the people, has
been kept for years and years in
utter ignorance on this point. For
many years the question has been
asked, but never autheritatively
answered, and such financial
statements as the Police Jury has
from time to time published have
shed no light whatever on the
matter. Finally, some years ago,
probably in response to renewed
demands for information, a ru-
NOR was put afioat-ne one ever
knew from whence it came-to
the effect that the Treasurer's S
salary was 5000, and the impress
sion generally prevailed, until last
fall or winter, that this was the
actual figure. Then the Clarion's
correspondent, in response to the
protest of the correspondent of
this paper against paying a treas
urer when the parish had fiscal
agent, asserted that the treasu-
rer's salary was only $500, and
that the law required that enc be
appointed. The report which we
publish, however, shows that
about 800 per year have been
paid for several years for the
handling of the school funds
alone. Now, if we add the
$500 Cor more) which is paid
fer the handling of the parish
funds, which are much more con-
siderable, and then do d little
guessipg-that's all we can do
as to the cost of the fiscal agency,
we may begin to get some idea as
to the cost to the taxpayers of the
handling of their funds after they
leave the tax-collector's hands.
This is too great leakage, en-
tirely too great, and eur lending
citizens sheuId al once take meas
ures, If necessary, to secure the
enactment by the General As
sembly, at its present session, OF
a regulation whereby this ~ @
commission, ON which this COM
pensation seems to be based, may
be reduced at least one-half. In
parishes having a revenue OF $2O,-
900 or $25, 900, ~ per cent COM
missien might be very well, but IN
large parishes like st. Landry l
per cent is ample.
We will refer to. ether matters
touched upon in this repert at
another time, and in the mean
while we again commend it to the
attentive perusal Of our readers.
eAA0-