The Saint Paul globe., 1904-01-15
FARMERS QUARREL
OVER ACCOUNTS
Bookkeeping of Treasurer Mills.
of Live Stock Breeders. Is
Sharply Criticised.

~ 4
The fight on Treasurer =. c. Mills, of
Austin, which made Its first appear
ance at the state fair meeting, was
again taken up at the annual meeting
of the Minnesota Live Stock Breeders
association in Minneapolis yesterday
afternoon.
Mr.. Mills won the day, after his sys-
tenn of bookkeeping. had been assailed
by Prof. Thomas Shaw, of st. Paul,
and l.. D. Baird of Austin. The dis
cussion also resolved itself into a criti-
cism Of Secretary Shaw's methods.
The real fight on Mr.. Mills was made
during the election of officers. All the
old officials had been reelected, but l..
A. Huntoon, of Moorhead, was nom1-
mated in opposition to Mr.. Mills. Mr.
Mills was elected by vote of Ia to IL,
and then he offered his resignation
Harmony was restored by laying this
upon the table.
Books Are Attacked.
The first indication that everything
was not right became evident after
Mr.. Mills had read his annual report
This showed balance on hand year
ago of $1,O5343. The receipts for the
year were Dl,HOJ.JO, olld tiiC NhrNAASNS
+. $169062, leaving balance of $604.74
Charles Kenning, of Osceola, said
that this did not show the true f1nan-
cial condition of the society, but that
if the truth were shown, the society ls
in debt.
Mr.. Mills explained that this was
true but that his statement did SHOW
the true condition when the books were
closed last Monday. Since then num-
Der of bills have been allowed by the
executive committee.
Mr. Mills said the day of closing the
fiscal year had never been established,
and he had, therefore, closed it at his
own accord, just previous to the an
nual meeting.
While a number of bills were still to
be paid, Mr.. Mills called attention to
the fact that membership dues would
be received in the next few weeks, and
about Sept. 1, the $1,000 appropriated
annually by the legislature would be
available. He considered the financial
condition of the society as good.
Mr.. Shaw Protests.
1t was then decided, upon motion of
Secretary Shaw, that in the future Of
ficers of the society should not present
bills for attending the state fair and
annual meetings, which has been a
custom in the past.
L. D. Baird criticised Mr.. Mills
books.
"It is the sloppiest set Of books I
have ever seen," he said. Il like Mr..
Mills, but when a man can't keep set
of books with twenty-five accounts
that cannot be audited in half an hour,
something is wrong"
You are false to the core" hotly re-
Joined Mr.. Mills IF l can't make my
books understood to anyone in five
minutes, 1 will be willing to quit"
Cosgrove Reelected President.
The Minnesota Agricultural society
and it's auxiliary bodies held their final
sessions yesterday at the Masonic Tenn
pie. The society held it's annual meet
ing yesterday morning and elected the
following officers:
President, c. N. Cosgrove. LIE Sueur;
first vice president, B. F. Nelson, Min
neapolis; second vice president, Ches-
ter r. Smith; secretary, E. w. Ran.
dali. F. j. Wilcox probably will be ap-
pointed by the board of managers as
treasurer.
OF the board of managers, N. S. Cor
don, Crookston; j. c. Curryer, Man
kato; J. M. Underwood, Lake City, and
L. D. Baird, Austin hold over.
William E. Lee, Long Prairie, whose
term expired, was reelected by accla-
nation; Col. w. M. Liggett, dean of
the state agricultural college, was also
reelected with little opposition