The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1906-02-16

and have long been in our final rest:
we have spent considerable sums in and
around the court house, including a new
vault addition: and all these expendi-
lures have invariably and in all cases
been completed inside of the appropria-
tions therefor, and never until this win
ter has there been even a breath of scan
dial or intimation that the investments
were not wisely and economically made
and it has remained for an outsider to
make the charges which have not been
substantiated in fact. / believe there
is no member of this Board who really
believes there was any foundation for
the charges, real or implied, and yet I
cannot refrain from saying that | believe
the Building Committee made an unin-
territorial mistake when they advised a
firm that they were not taking bids on
the vault fixtures. In my humble opin-
ion the committees who are spending
the county money should always invite
the utmost latitude of competition for
the county contracts. In SO doing you
may be entertaining angels unaware, or,
as the case appears this winter, you may
be entertaining the gentleman with the
cloven foot. Ii the latter occurs he is
liable to turn and rend you, but in any
event the middle of the road is the SAT
est place for the sponder of the public
money, and publicity is the only safe
guard of a county official.
Permit me to call your special atten-
ton to the reports of the Auditing Com
mittee, who examine the accounts of the
county officers. They say the County
Treasurer and County Clerk checked up
to cent, remarkable fact and worth
remembering. | want to call your at
tention to the excellent financial condi-
ton of the treasury. Never since | have
been on the Board have we gone through
a year without borrowing money to tide
over to tax time: now, with every out
standing voucher accounted for, we have
S17,O45.52 in the treasury, and the Treas
urer reported that he had collected more
interest from the banks for past year
than his salary came to, a remarkable
record.
A word in retrospection and [ am
through. There are many faces here to-
day who will be here at the next meet
ing of this Board, but history shows that
twenty per cent. of us will not return, it
may be you or it may be me, but some of
us surely will not come back. Today
there is only twenty per cent. of the Or
iginal members on the Board now, who
were here when I came on the Board
two of them, Mr.. Ratheram of GAINESVILLE
and Simon Smith of Beloit, have served
nearly or quite twenty years, and are
growing gray in the service and are to-
day two of the most honored and re-
spected members of the Board. Some
of our members have joined the board
in the great hereafter of whom [ call to
mind T. B. Bailey of Beloit, who was
with us fourteen years: Almeron Eager
of Evansville, for many years known as
the watch dog of the treasury; Charles
E. Bowles of GAINESVILLE, ever vigilant
member and S. T. Merrill of Beloit, who
was connected with the Board most of
the time for eighteen years and always
one of the safest men.
Gentlemen, I thank youssfagain for
your courtesies and patience.
Sup. L. E. Gettle presented the follow
ing resolution and moved it's adoption:
Resolved, By the County Board of
Supervisors of Rock County, That the
petition of Pliny Norcross with reference
to the assessment of the dam in the town
of Fulton be withdrawn from the Com
mittee No. and disposed of now.
Adopted.
Sup. l.. E. Gettle presented the follow
ing resolution and moved it's adoption:
Resolved, By the County Board of
Supervisors of Rock County, That the
petition, request or claim of Pliny Nor
cross made at the former session of this
Board with reference to 1.-THE assessment
of the dam of said Pliny Norcross, 10
Gated in the town of Fulton, Rock River,
be rejected.
Adopted.
Journal of today read and approved.
Sup. Ebbott moved that Board adj
iourn.
Carried.
State of Wisconsin, Rock County-ss
I, Howard W. Lee, County Clerk of
said county, do hereby certify that the
foregoing is true copy of the proceed
ings of the County Board of Supervisors
of said county, held in the office of the
Clerk thereof, in the City of GAINESVILLE,
on the 18th, 18th, 18th and 10Th days of
January, 1906.