The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-06-16
COURT SHOULD INTERFERE.
to show

When public officials are not able TO
discern the difference between interest
at Az per cent and interest at iia per
cent on an Issue OF county bonds, IT is
time either that they take expert ad-
vice or resign. Any person doing busi-
ness for himself without any better un-
derstanding of the relation OF figures
and OF interest on money would soon
come 10 grief. II he We're doing any
thing more than cultivating q cabbage
patch with the ground owned and all
expenses paid
When public officials are not able TO
understand what plain, straightfor-
ward bid Is and cannot trace down one
column the rate of interest and fol-
low out in the horizontal column the
amount that will be received as pre-
MUM, then 1t is time that some suffi-
ciept authority stepped In and took the
matter out OF their hands.
The County Commissioners OF Salt
Lake county make the feeble claim
that the bid submitted by the Society
for Savings at Cleveland. o., was ann
biguous and uncertain. But when we
come to the bid itself, we sec merely
that that ambiguity and uncertainty
referred to are In the minds OF the iC
norant and incompetent Commissioners
who had to deal with it. If they were
not able to figure out that difference
on an intelligent basis, the bond tables
would have easily shown them what
the amount is in case they had taken
the trouble to trace out the figures in
the columns and lines where they ap-
pear County Auditor Fisher and
County Treasurer Carbis had no diff
Guilty In reaching the correct conclu-
sion in this case; and either, and espe-
cially Auditor Fisher. is ready to give
the Commissioners the correct View Of
that bid, which was absolutely clear,
specific. and as free from ambiguity as
bid could possibly be made,
1t is astonishing that the Commits
sioners should not be able TO under
stand that the present benefit they
would receive on this bid would he
Sl0675, The amount of bonus Is car
ried absolutely in the figures OF bond
values at different rates Of interest,
and all they had to do was to multiply
the amount carried on each thousand
dollars by the number of thousand dol
lar bonds they proposed to issue If
they were not able to do this any little
boy on the street that they might have
hailed could have done 1t for them.
The Commissioners lay great stress
upon the bonus OF $500 which the Rol-
Inns company pay down, entirely un-
conscious In their silly ignorance Of the
Sl0,675 of bonus which the Society for
Savings was offering to them.
We say It Is remarkable that public
officials should be so absolutely incom-
petent and childish as to overlook the
greater for the lesser amount. Still,
when we consider that the Commission
ers are content to rest their case upon
the problematical resale OF these bonds
ten years hence at an imaginary saw
ing Of one-half per cent in interest. we
need not be astonished at any ridicu-
lous thing they might claim.
The illegal character of the action Of
the Commissioners in actually reopen
ing the whole transaction for verbal
bids by the representatives of such
| bidders as were present at the award.
was referred to by us yesterday. That
illegal act and the density the Com
missioners showed in ignoring the
larger premium and accepting the
| lesser, puts their action out of the cate
CORY Of sane fnanciering. 1t calls for
| the interposition of the courts for the
correction of this gross blunder, and for
| the purpose of taking the needless bur
! den from the shoulders of the taXpay-
ers which the Commissioners seem de-
| termined to impose. We imagine that
| the defense of the Commissioners in
| taking the absolutely silly and rldicu-
| lous channel as 1t does. must now be
abandoned by everybody There is alb
solutely nothing to say in defense OF
| their action taken, and there should
be no delay in appealing to the courts
TO annul the action which the Commits
! sioners are apparently determined to
take to the Injury OF the taXpaying
| public, of the financial standing of the
county, and of the good faith of It's
people.
IMPROVED TRANSPORTATION.