The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-10-04
CACHE COUNTY FUNDS
taxpayer Tells Remarkable Story
Of Way Moneys Are Han
died There.

] To The Salt Lake Herald:
Ny home is in Salt Lake. but i am
/ taxpayer in Logan City and in Cache
county-a So mill taxpayer at that Now,
] m not saying any public officer IN tnaL
/ county is dishonest, out some of them DO
/ things Jhat one would expect dishonest
! men 10 DO. Al any rate, suppose we make
/ showing 20 the taxpayer who groWls ana
grunts and then pays everything but at
J Ienuon TO the public business
IN Logan the prOperty-Owner is paying
interest to a favored financial Institution
! on a substantial sum of money, and at
nlgh rate, while in the same bank con
Siderable fund belonging to the public
which IS paying this interest, is on de
1 post and receives no interest In return
/ mere IS a dlitereuce IN the name OF the
funds, that is all-but one account pays
/ interest while the other draws nCue-tnc
/ financial Institution prODeIs and the tax
payer groans and pays OF rs sold out.
! AS favor TO this financial institution
J the treasurers bond is fixed at Sl0,gH-
; Whlle at the time the bond was liked
4 me city treasury was said TO contain
I S63.QJ9 What good is that bond and what
! official dare defend such d proceeding2
/ lime ana again the subject has oeeh
/ called 10 the attention OF the city COun-
/ Gil. but their sage defense is that the mat
I ter does not concern them
] Logan City is paying the state OF Titan
$-lo-bo per month Interest on the electric
i ugnt bonds issued by Logan City. but It
/ recel"cs nothing from the money it has
! on deposit in q local bank. and the tex
\ payer Just growls and pays and rejOices
] at the success Of his party. I did? Well,
! L should say so.
The funds of Cache county are handled
/ IN the same charmingly cavalier man
! ner--tne institution in which they are de-
| posted paying no interest thereon. But
/ pOuucal debt is being met thereby and
( sun this ass Of a taxpayer viii do nothing
! DuI grcan and pay taxes. That interest
[ SNuLu nave been hdd on these funds an
! IN a position to know. but the official
/ contS1ny was deaf to the welfare of the
/ taxpayers so long as the interest OF the
rank satisfactory.
Logan school district is paying interest
on bonded Indebtedness OF S35.0JO TO S40
900, yet il carries. without receiving one
collar interest in return, large sums of
money on the books of the aforesaid
! financial institution and on which the in
! sLlutlon IS receiving golden return,
while the taxpayer still grOans and pays.
Bonds of the district could have been
/ purchased at a slight premium with the
surplus money. but that would have saved
the citizen and offended the financial in
sututlon and as between these two il is
| the duty of members OF the school board
10 share the noble sentiment uttered by
I Vanderbilt. who laCOniCally remarked,
, The public be damned"
! The spirit of easy virtue anent the
! handling of public funds which pervades
! natural ana inAyitable ff4iif 80 is IL he
| seen in the methods employed BIS treas
/ urers in the smalleC- towns and school dis
/ trlctS. Mark you, I do not speak OF all,
as 1 don know all, ana because I am
sure the method employed by d few is
/ confined to a few. but this sort OF a
/ micrObe has most astounding fertility and
| II something is not done thu pest will
I grow until there viii be a heap Of trouble
! on the minds of bOndsmen and the tax
payer vii have a few more groans to ut
For example, In a small town near
Logan the treasures near relative. who
was also his sole bondsman Ter would
! nave been had the bond been executed
/ property. wanted TO borrow some money
/ 70 finish paying for large residence ne
! was having built. He offered the treas
FOL aH1H Hfear
/ Tor the use OF the local funds. his areu-
/ ment being that if the money were de
| posted IN the bank it would command
( ~ per cent per anuum while he. would
! give per cent. Being interested in the
/ welfare of his bOndsman and relative. the
/ treasurer was qmckeued with understand
Q ing and made the loan. The thing leaked
/ out, however, and the near relative nut
/ the money back i'm the treasury and now
! The indignation of the trustees at the
I treasurer course would have been small
! compensation had the worst happened.
IN another small burg the treasurer
/ was under obligations political 20
trustee. The funds Of the burg were I'm "A
! bank, which we will designate as A. The
trustee, because Of the obligation to him
/ OF the treasurer, had the account tra-ss-
| Ierred to another bank b" for the pur-
/ tle trustee secured considerable loan
] because Of his good office I'm having zoe
! ISdSureT transfer the account frc'n oan!s
/ a. Inc treasurer himself. however.
/ needed aid He owed a note which was
/ secured by a mortgage and which was
/ approaching maturity-at another bank
/ = Ia order to secure long time ex-
( tension at a low rate OF interest the
/ treasurer Withdrew the funds from bank
! =, after they had been there for as
I many as three fun days. and deposited
/ them with bank &C." where tlcy are
/ still. Thus ali things work TO aivant-
/ age for him OF the thrifty and not over
! scruplous mind. The friendly trustee got
/ ms loan from bank 'B'' by having The
! pubic funds taken from bank "a" and
( by the same act the treasurer paws his
] d4u~pollucdl debt to the trustee Then
| When all this has been satisfactorily at
/ tended 70. the treasurer renews his loan
! gets a lower rate of interest secures "a
/ satisfaction, time in which to settle il and
| IN return therefor merely takes the pub
J nc funds from bank "B' and depCe;Ts
/ them in bank &C. OF course. the bank
/ OFFICIALS are spOtless and the treasurer
] IS exercising his rights. What did ne
I want ottice for. anyway
nave cltlZenS Of Cache county forgotten
! the burdens certain bOndsrneu are stfI
I bearing because one treasurer forgot tho
I fundsZ Pu"4iO
A TAX-PAYING GROANER.