Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-11-10

| "hto iCSdi uiilg tuC ulfpdiu dSSeSSuleuts
 was submitted to the department O l finance yesterday afternoon. Tn
 meeting was confined to the commis
 sioners and Colonel Burpee, but th,
 report has been made public an.
 enough of it is printed herein to show
 how far it comes from straightenin:
 out the tangle Indeed, Colonel Bur
 pee. who was more concerned thar anybody else, is sorry that it uldn't tiN
 upon some sum as being due to the l city from him, but it does nothing of the kind. On the contrary, it states
 that there is nothing to show that Col,
 onel Burpee owes the city anything, Colonel Burpee told Democrat re-
 porter to-day that instead of taking
 advantage of the report and telling
 the board of finance that he owed
 nothing, he stood on his original state
 ment that money is due the city from
 him, and that while according to agreement the finding of the commit tee was to be final and conclusive, he NOulu liOI tuhC VI lA5hAS but would pay what he believed was right. The colonel said that when le gets to it he will be able to tell ap- tproximately how much he is behind.
 T want to say," remarked the col onel looking like man from whom a big load has been removed, that you people down there have been eminent ly fair and impartial about this whole matter from the beginning. You stat ed the facts from time to time in an intelligent, impartial manner, but nev- CT said anything which showed dis position to attribute wrOngdoing i'll any quarter, and I want to thank yeu people for it now. told you on seS- eral occasions that 1 owed the city something on these book accounts. and I repeat it now. This committee
 was appointed at the suggestion Of the board of finance and they also se- lected the expert. 1 named somebody else, but they objected and MT Manrel was agreed upon. My idea was to See what he should find and then compare the figures with those of Messrs Lord and McEvoy, and then talk tue matter over and get onto common grounl, but the committee wouldn't have that. They claimed that this was to be final and took them at their word, but don't propose to take advantage or the position the report puts me in. You may say that I shall do just as l ln- tended to from the beginning, pay the city every dollar can find have be- longing to it."
 With reference to the report itself, 1t might be said that it is substantially the same as the one prepared by MT Lord and Mir McEvoy, except that the experts make it something in the neIghborhood of $1,100 less. All the money claimed to have been due by the former report is still out, but the question is, who owes it? Technically thn experts are. right when they say tfnt there is nothing to show that Col onel Burpee owes the city anything on these accounts, because ln the nrst place they never were charged agalnst him. Assessments of this kind are not the same as taxes, which are charged against the collector. 1ou never heard of such thing as the city suing man for taxes. Why! Because the city has no account with people for these bills. It deals With the collector. and the latter instead or the city gets after the delinquents. It is different with assessments. If they are not paid within year the eollec- tor turns them over to the city attor- ney. Some time ago the city attorney had them as soon as they were laid. The real trouble in getting at the facts is here: When the city attorney made returns to the treasurers he gave the name of each person who had paid anything and the amount, and also kept a duplicate copy in his own off, flee. These duplicates were destroyed in the Platt block fire, but the others were available in the City hall until a few years ago when fr was decided to give the collector of taxes the use of a big safe which had been used for yeirs hy the treasurers, and in clean. ing it out # appears that such state ments as Colonel Burpee had filed. TO- getbcr with lot of other valuable in formation. was destroyed, thus doing away with the last vestige of proof whi. h existed regarding tiiis whole muddle. As it stands tO-,lay. Colonel DuTrac is in a position to say. if yOu produce the statements which I sub mitted to you from time 10 time they will show that a great many errors must have been made in transferring the accounts, but the city isn't in pos session of these documents. The sum of 5000 or $10.OOO has been collected and property owners have receipts to show that they paid it to Colonel Bur pee or someone authorized to sign for him. AColOnel Burpee admits that some of this money has not yet been turned over to the city. hut he denies and has taken that stand from the outset that the amount Is anything like what the city's books call for. Whether this is tTue-or not. it might just as well be admitted that it is out of the question to prove it and the best thing for the city to do Is take what Colonel Burpee offers and aisate the balance. for it would be manifest " unfair to keep a cloud on a mans property for a bill when he produces 8 receipt showing that be paid if to someone authorized to receive it.
 It will be noticed that in reading the report of the experts the aGmis- sion is nfsdte that the books of the comptroller and treasurer agree. so that while Q great deal is said which would lead the unwary tO suSE@ct thar things were kept in a slipsnoi manner. fhiS sloo< not look like loose methods Boiled down. the whole thing might he disposed of in q few uorls. The key to the situation was