Omaha daily bee., 1906-12-08

could be secured from them regarding these
charges, but at least Mr.. Mortensen has
not been backward about saying the school
is not being managed as It should be. II is
understood he could give some valuable in
formation to an investigating committee
l.. p. Ludden is secretary OF the board and
II Is presumed he keeps the records OF the
board at his home. Mortensen has always
been the leader OF the minority faction Of
the board and the majority has made no
bones about running over him rough shod
whenever he got in the way and he has
been on numerous occasions quite a
stumbling block.
Inasmuch as the normal school wants TO
double its capacity by building an addition
to the present building, there is no doubt
a thorough investigation will be made into
all the charges filed against the board and
the superintendent, as several legislators
have expressed themselves as being op-
posed to giving Kearney an appropriation
until the board and the superintendent give
a good account OF the last appropriation
and show conclusively that not a penny
of It was spent except for legitimate pur-
poses.
Reduction of state Debt.
The biennial report Of the state auditor
for the two years ended November 90 1905,
shows the warrant Indebtedness Of the
state to be $1.s16,6S3.8l a reduction during
the biennium of 1896 7SO.6l, the debt against
the general fund at the beginning OF the
biennium being s. 253 4O1. 90 The only other
interest bearing debts are those against the
temporary university fund. At this time
the outstanding warrants against this fund
I amount to $59445.47, while at the same time
two years ago this fund had standing
/ against 1t interest bearing warrants to the
amount Of SSl.s99. These warrants, how
ever. usually do not run more than a
month or two.
4 The bulk Of the reduction Is due to the
Sheldon l-mill levy, which brought into
the treasury S278 s46.sl. Without the Sheldon
act, under the present conditions, the re-
duction would have been only S7S,7s4. How
ever. there is due the general fund prac-
tically $1,000 from the Burlington and
! Union Pacific railroads OF their taxes for
the three years just passed. This is based
on % per cent OF the total taxes levied. the
| two railroads having paid 80 per cent tc
the various county treasurers. This IL the
amount due the general fund only on the
| 4k-mll levy, while figured on the 7-mill OF
| total levy for state and school purposes
/ the two railroads are behind with the state
| treasurer Sl27.500 The suit to prevent the
/ collection OF this amount however, is still
/ in the hands OF the court and Il may Of
\ may not be decided in favor OF the state.
| An analysis Of the interest bearing debts
/ seems to show that the last legislature
! instead Of holding down the appropriation
! in order to permit the Sheldon act TO per
form that for which It's author intended
IT, made the appropriation with the ides
that the Sheldon act would prevent
/ farther Increase OF the debt only.
Union Pacific Wins.
On rehearing Of the case Union Pacih,
Railroad company, plainun in error
against Henry Frickenscher and others. tn
Judgment heretofore entered ny the suprem
court is vacated, set aside and the judgmen
Of the district court reversed and the caus
remanded. FrieKenscher was one Of sew
eral defendants who sued the railroad CON
pany for damage By hre which. IL wa
alleged. was caused by the negligence o
the railroad company. The court says tn
misfortune OF the plaintiffs Is not beini
able 10 produce evidence 20 prove VIII
caused their damage. The plaintiffs mus
/ so trace the origin Of the fire as to shoy
that Il was caused BY the negligence o
the railroad company. II the evidenc
shows several prairie hrss o. dinSren