The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-06-04

ter as denunciation of the party in,
and, although between them there were
ms and outs. and the abuse continued,
no effort was made to settle the mat
ter. as there was too much politics in it.
Having ayowed my intention of entering
my office to separate, if possible, the
school matters from politics and de-
nomnationalism. 1 first entered upon
an investigation OF my duties under the
law and then, upon the performing of
them. l found that no attention what
ever had been paid to these matters in
the past, and, that being the case, every
move made by me was looked upon either
as a good joke, or, as an assumption
of undue authority, by the superficial
observer, Or with indignation and an
tagonsm, by those who saw the real
object of my course and the result If not
baked. The chairman of the retiring
board of county commissioners having
certified on the books of the county treas
urer that there was about $9, 600 of this
money, determined to bring the matter,
| If possible, to a settlement, feeling as
sured that the secret of the continued
non payment of this amount came from
politics, from the fact, that to pay it.
would require a larger assessment,
which would be fatal to any party in
power. l decided upon a plan of settle
| ment, which, while not immediate, would
place the matter in a commercial shape.
bring about gradual settlement and
4 thereby avoid the political dilemma al.
luded to. The board of directors of edu-
| cation endorsing my views, at the first
meeting of the board of county commits
| sioners l laid this proposition before
| them: Give to the board of directors six
notes of 81, 500 each, due one, two, three,
| four, five and six years after date, bear
| ing interest from maturity. They sat
once saw the point of solution, that each
note could be paid without an increase
| of assessment as it became due. and the
political fear removed. The commission
/ ers acted with great good sense and
| conservatism in the matter, felt the re-
/ lief of the financial burden taken off
them, and at once, accepted the PROPOSE
| ton. This amount, with $246 accumI-
lated interest, together with $69350 of
whiskey tax unpaid in 1897'9S, which 1
| a short time since discovered, has been
| recently paid amounting to $9,339.5 so
This money is now being used in build
| ing, in concentrated districts up to date
graded school houses, intended for ten
| grades and at least 200 pupils.
Judging from the 1927, S5457 balance on
hand July 1st, 1901, as reported by the
various school boards of the State, there
are possibly many counties in the State
| in very similar condition. If so, let
their superintendent go and do like
wise.
| There were other sources of revenue
| to which little or no attention had been
paid. 1 went before the county commits
| sioners and requested of them to unite
| with the board in employing an expert
| to take hold of the books of the criminal
| court. From this over $1,000 were got
| ten, in previously collected, but not re-
ported, and uncollected fines and for
| FIXTURES not reported and relegated to
| the past; this work is not yet completed
| In looking over the quarterly reports of
i the banks of the city of Asheville and
| the assessment reports of the city and
| county solvent credits, / found a great
| discrepancy. The list reported a little
| over 100000 for both city and county,
while the banks alone showed over ST.
| 100000 without counting mortgage loans
| and other solvent credits. The expert
| investigation added over $750.0O0 valua-
| ton, in this and other evasions. to the
| tax list. The registration necessary to
voting, in the past two State elections,
| developed many voters who had not list
| ed their polls, this same expert inyesti-
cation found here a good harvest for the
| schools, at $3.50 per poll. In these fields
| of work, investigating superintendent
will find a rich harvest
In 1899, in looking into the Constitu-
ton of the State, l found in Article TX,