The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-07-06
WILL INVESTIGATE.
The City Council Promptly starts
Examination of Overcharges.

subcommittee composed of L. A Ry-
der, S t. Howe and William Green
was appointed with a view to a
searching investigation of the over
charges for city printing which have
been made by the Topeka Daily Capt.
tai. the committee to select some out
side person who understands the
printing business to assist the ways
and means committee in the examina-
ton.
G. F. Kimball, the well known
North Topeka printer, was today Sc
lected by the special committee to do
the work as expert measurer for the
investigation.
The ways and means committee Will
meet this evening at the committee
room in the city hail to begin the work
of measuring the official publications
and the correcting of the bills The
committee viii meet every night from
now on until the work is completed.
Chan man William Green said today:
I'VE viii have our report ready for the
next council meeting"
When DR.. L. A Ryder called upon
MI Kmbau today, and asked him
how much he would charge to act
with the committee in the investiga-
ton, Mr. Kimbal said: 81, regard it
as the duty of any citizen to assist to
the best of his ability in such con-
ungency- l will make no charge for
my services
The whole committee will now be
called together. and a public investi-
CATION held, extending as far back in
the records as any evidence OF irregu-
Larity is found.
Little else is talked about in city
hall circles today but the State Jour
nails sensational exposure of the way
the city has been fieeced on its city
printing bills The unanimous Senti-
ment seemed to be that the city
-h fa1x 20 hfNxtr
much it has overpaid for the work,
and demand the repayment of the
money.
Mayor Bergundthal said: 1--WE
should go to the bottom of this mat
ter and compel the repayment of
every dollar enormously collected,
even if it takes lawsuit to get the
money"
At the council meeting, the Daily
Capital management submitted the
following statement, which was refer
red to the ways and means COM
nittee:
To the Mayor and Council:
With reference to the statements ap-
pearing in the State Journal this evening,
has been overcharged for the officiaf ad-
vertising published in the columns of the
territorial on the part of this company
We request your honorable body tc in
ital. and il it is found that we have been
overpaid. we will reimburse the city at
once; The accounts books and hles OF
the disposal of your honorable body Very
THE CAPITAL. PUBLISHING co.
ARTHUR CAPPER. President.
w B. ROBEY, Secretary.
The three members of the commit
tee on claims and accounts, who are
supposed to audit all the city's bills,
are busy now trying to sidestep the
responsibility for the hOldup. They
want to shift the blame to City Clerk
\ -
KID" all the bills rendered by the
Capital before they have been passed
by the committed Most of the time
of the ways and means committee last
night was spent in an argument re-
garding who is to shoulder the burden
of the city's neglect.
Il don't believe the claims and
accounts committee is responsible for
this" said Councilman Ryder. IF
any individual was conducting a large
business. he would have some clerk to
check over his bills, and pay those
which were correct If he should find
ness and had been paying out money
which was not due. he would hold that
clerk to strict account. Now the city
has discovered that its officers have
not been doing what they were sup
posed to do, and I think it is time for
reformation. I believe that the
methods of inspecting and checking
bills should be changed. and the city
pays are correct"
Councilman Green did not agree
with this view of the case He said:
The claims and accounts commit
tee is not free from blame in this
matter. The bills which were filed
by the Daily Capital for printing We're
not properly drawn. and the commit
tee should have seen to 1t that they
were. The bill should say what was
published. when it was published,
how many times it was published. how
many squares of space were used and
how much it cost Then besides that,
the publications themselves should be
clipped from the paper and attached
to the bill. 1 think this Overcharge
is doubtless an error. l do not think
Mr.. Capper or Mr. Robey would at
tempt to do anything underhanded-"
Chairman Nellis of the claims and
accounts committee said: 1t is abso-
lutely impossible for the claims ana ac-
counts committee to know that every
bill is correct If il comes up TO us
properly o. KID by the head of some
department. we can't go back of that
ascertain whether the street laborers
work the number of days or hours
that they are reported to work; we
have to take the 20 k of the head
the bill The same thing applies TO
nearly everything else These bills for
CITY printing were all 20. X. a by the
city clerk We never measured up the
publicatfo because we had the clerks
word for it that they were all right.
We also had the word of R. L. Thorn
as. of the Capital. who swore that each
bill was correct. I have been on the
committee only three months, and am
not as familiar with the work as hope
to be-"
1t was a splendid opportunity for
Councilman Griley to ride a favorite
hobby of his, and he did not neglect
the chance
L don't agree with Mr. Nellis, he
said. Il say that the committee should
20 back of the o. K. of the department
head. and demand at least that the bills
be drawn up according to law. We
have been paying police department
bills for several years which We're not