Arizona silver belt., 1904-10-13

tion for honesty and good citizenship, and his good force of assistants will keep it so during his term. The money paid in by him through ex-Deputy Williams, though the receipt stubs are not to be found, presents the result Of not only being all taxes accounted for, but there is an excess of a small amount if the stubs ever turn up; and through the baok-taX record which will be spoken of hereafter, dtscloses that taxes were collected but not re- ported, that peculiar matter may ap- pear differently; but it will not be the fault of Sheriff Rogers, as far as his personal desire for honest, proper ac- counting is concerned. He Is entitled to the respect and confidence of the county.
 Proceeding under your orders to look into the past administrations, we then took up the records of the for mer sheriff, J. II. Thompson, and of Sheriff Armstrong, in the matter of collecting and reporting and account ing for licenses, poll taxes aud pro perty taxes. h the case of Mir. Arm strong, very clear and correct record is shown as kept by Deputy D. s. Heron, who with good sense and care attached his receipt from treasurer to each month's account of collections, thereby giving best evidence of faith. ful accounting; he swung his principal out clear. A faithful, honest deputy is a valuable matter for any public of ticial. l found pleasure in checking his book.
 In Sheriff Thompson's term, which embraced all of 1901 and 1902, as he had the great benefit of the efficient care and work of Mir. Hinson Thomas, though I checked the work with care and effort, while difference appeared between the amounts of taxes shown on tax rolls, and marked by treasurer
 
 eyS paid in by sheriff, when the items were thoroughly tried aud receipt stubs checked, it was shown complete ly that while the deputy sheritfs are assessing property, and, as required by law, collecting tax on personal property at the time, they have to col let at the rate of the last previous year, and it was less than the rate made by the board of supervisors af- ter equalization. And when the tax rolls were made up the writer calcula- ted the taxes at the new rate, and so put them on the rolls, and made rec ord thereon that the several taxes paid to sheriff were paid to sheriff, but as sheriff did not, and could not, have collected at the new rate, the differ ence was all accounted for, after care ful investigation of each item and re- ceipt stub, thereby leaving Sheriff ThOmpSOns accounts clear. h the matter of the collections on mixed property, as above described, I pre- pared a list, which l submit herewith, under your orders, giving the names of payers, and amounts of tax, during his term, in same manner and under same ideas as in the case of Sheriff Rogers. As appears ty the said list, the amounts collected by Sheriff Thompson and deputies during his term of office are little over S2O,OO0, on which the 5 per ceAt will amount to little over 5000, and in case of Sheriff Rogers the amount collected in 1903, in that manner, is $1O,5S5.4S, on which the comm isSion of per cent is the sum of $529,25. The largest item in each Of these is the tax for each year on the Cid Dominion Cop per mining properties.
 The statutes d5iine the properties on which the sheriff is required by law to collect the taxes at time of aS- Sessing, for protection of county iu- terests, and the board has the oppor- tunity to consider and properly deter mine this matter, which ought to be met and determined according to law and with justice to all concerned, as it is important
 The thOroughness with which the reports from the sherilI's office are now prepared and rendered promptly by Deputy Thomas is worthy of atten- tlOn and COmmendatiOn, and the iin- portant point of getting and having such, which will go long way toward keeping everything up snug, and the board informed fully. If every officer will follow the same lines, and the clerk of the board be thereby enabled to keep up his ledger and show the re- turns from each office, so that a con- parison can be quickly had, and the board will be in position to prevent any derelictions,or or dangerous holding