Arizona silver belt., 1904-10-13

to say is not indulged in now so reck lessly.
 In July, 1900, Treasurer Morehead made report to the supervisors which shows a cash balance on hand of $l0, ,76S.23, yet his cash book at the same date only shows a balance of $9,045.Sl. Plainly, the report and cash book were not carefully" compared.
 By this time, I concluded that while MT. Morehead is capable, and meaning to do right, yet he had put in no sys- tenn of protection, or checking to keep his accounts proven right, as he should have done, and he vcntured out on very loose methods. During all this time, the records disclose that he was carrying on the accommodate ing of officials with advances" of money. This grew to large propor- tions. He would then enter up these advances to Messrs. Stoneman, Thompson, Williams, Claypool, Mar tin and others, in the cash book, as a charge direct to general fund account. The statutes, in section. 39S, of Crimes Against the Revenue, expressly pro. hibit the treasurer or any other officer from loaning any part of the public funds, or letting same go out of his possession until legally disbursed ac- cording to law, ion legal warrants,) and the district attorney should have looked after this abuse of official pow CT, but he, too, seemed to be the lead ing one in the long list of advances so charged up to the general fund, as ap- pears in the cash bo ok.
 Upon asking Mir. Moorehead how he could 80 recklessly disregard and yio- late the law, he said he did not know that he was doing wrong; that he de- sired to accommodate the officers and members of the board, and others who had claims, and he let them have money, which was to be returned, and when so returned shows on cash book credited to general fund as advances returned" but no items appear though in some cases the amount so entered reaches between 5000 and 5000 at one time; and, R. J. Williams, whose quarterly salary was only S3l2.50, has charged to him items of over $400 at a time. l called his at- tention to Section of Paragraph w., of Chapter VII, where it expressly states that he shall pay out or disburse the public funds only on warrants reg. ularly signed by the chairman and the clerk of the board. He did not seem to know of the restriction before. Money was frequently advanced and similarly charged, as stated, on writ ten requests signed by two members | of the board. That, too, was plain violation, but nei ther he nor the mem- bers seemed to know it; and, such practices, done, as stated, in his good natured desire to please and accOmmo- date, were part of the lax methods have mentioned, and the results are deplorable, for it appears in the year 1902, that about 5000 Was so lad vanced' over and above the amount returned, or entered as returned.
 No verbal orders are contemplated by law, yet it appears that there were cases where money was paid out be- cause members requested it, in some instances verbally; and taxes were re. duced at settlement, in the same man ner.
 Tax receipts were issued many times in the name of party who paid the money, regardless of the assessors re- cord. This made checking very diff. fcult, and records confused. Rolls should not be cut or altered, as they have been. Sections 3904, 3905, 3906 3907 and 390S on tax collectors and reports have not been complied with at all. This is primarily the cause oi all the difficulties produced over col lections of taxes in Gila county, and cause the present troubles: reckless acts, without consulting the law as to duties and privileges are very easily noted
 A large number of blank tax re. ceipt-stubs appear. The only way to get at the facts would be to get up a back tax book for past years under the law, tnd demand payment of all whose names appear as not having paid taxes, and if they hold receipts 1t will be easy for them to show them, and the official who received the money can be charged up with same. "Wild" receipts from other than tax receipt books were issued, which add ed to the confusion and showed reck- less carelessness
 A large number of tax items appear to have against them the word sshop5 hut mn raturps nm thnsa hon r c