The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-09-07
The School Fund Case.

The Ottawa Herald (Rep.) makes a
clear statement as follows:
The members of the state school
fund commission have published a
signed reply to the charges made in
reference to the Comanche county bond
deal. The Topeka Capital makes the
publication the occasion for a rabid de-
nunciation of the papers that have
commented adversely on the Comanche
county deal. This notion of the Capital
that Messrs. Burrow, Dayhon and Cole
man need the kind of defense that at
tacks the accusing side as viciously as
possible is in line with the long record
of mistakes which the Capital has made
in attempting to carry out its mission
as a Republican party organ. The dis
cussion of the Comanche county bond
deal is no occasion for the exhibition of
factional prejudice. If the claims made
in connection with the case are true,
then the Republican party will suffer
for the transactions of the three mem
bers of the commission, and every Re
publican paper which holds the welfare
of the party above factiosal advantage
will demand that the party's skirts be
cleared by the exposure of the wrong
doerS.
1.-The published statement of denial
from MeSSrS. Burrow DayhOff and
Coleman is, in brief, that the state
was not offered six per cent bonds by
any one having authority to sell them;
that the option of h b. Kelly had
expired at the time he offered to sell
the bonds bearing six per cent interest
in May: that Comanche county does
not owe the state any bonds that are
in default. It appears, however, from
a reference to the facts in the case,
that Mr.. Kelly first offered to sell these
bonds to the school fund in March.
At that time they We're six per cent
bonds and at that time Mr. Kelly
seems to have had an undisputed op-
ton on them. Also at that time the
state school fund refused to buy them.
The claim that the county did not pre-
viously owe the state school fund any
bonds of any kind is a subterfuge
which is hardly worthy the men who
use it
sThe fact that the bonds in question
are school district bonds instead of
county bonds does not alter the fact
that they are all defaulted in payment
of the principal, and that they reflect
the credit of the county. Mr.. Kelly,
serts that he offered them to investors
the country at as low a
figure as 9S12. At that time the bonds
bore per cent interest, but there were
bought these bonds at 6 per cent, in
accordance with the offer made in
March, it undoubtedly lost some $780,
600 in interest by buying them at "a
per cent.
1.-The statement of the school fund
makes no secret of the
fact that the bonds could not have been
legalized except by raising the valua-
clerks figure of 100000 to more than a
million, nor is it denied that the opinion |
Of Attorney General Coleman-a mem |
ber of the school fund commissioner |
the effect that the valuation of the |
state board of equalization should be |
the basis of value for issuing bonds, |
instead of the valuation of the county |
clerk, Overturns all precedents.
These are, in brief, the opposing claims |
in relation to the Comanche county bond |
deal. 1t had been hoped that the mem |
bers of the commission might present
some new facts to prove that the deal
could be defended on business grounds |
The party has right to expect this sort |
of an explanation. When it is known that |
the bonds of the city of Topeka sold at
per cent interest the same week the
school fund commissioners took Co 7
manche county bonds at AZ per cent in |
the face of Comanche county'S financial |
record, the voters have a right to expect |
that party newspapers leave off fancy |
name-calling and unite in demanding an |
explanation that convinceS the unpreJu- |
diced business mind that the Comanche |
county deal was a good business deal for |
the state