Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-07-07
UNIFORM CITY BOOKS
New Law Which Went Into Eff
feet July 4 Will Have I'm
portant Effect
MAKES STATISTICS RELIABLE
Information Heretofore Difficult to
Obtain Regarding municipalities Of
the State Will Be Readily Accessible
at the State Auditors office-capi.
tai News.
MAKES STATISTICS RELIABLE
Special to Tilnes,Repuhlican.

l Special 10
| Des Moines, July THE municipal
accounting system OF every city in the
state of Iowa will be revolutionized
by the law that was put in effect last
Wednesday, It VIII not be in full effect
and force till next April, but is rec
ognized by everyone who has made
any examination OF it as being one
| of the most important measures put
on the statute books last winter. Re-
suits will not bs seen for some time
but in the end this law will tend to
eliminate a considerable amount of the
of the state. The law calls for uni
form accounting system and was urged
! on the legislature by the Iowa munic-
! pal league. Auditor Carroll is now
engaged in making up a list of the ex-
perts who will be called in to devise
| the system by which the accounts in
all the cities Of the state will be
| kept
! Further than this the law calls for
the auditor to examine at least once
in every two years the accounts of all
| the cities of the state of over 5000 peo-
pie and report. The same scrutiny of
| the transactions Of cities will be made
that is made by the bank and insur-
ance examiners and this is what will
tend to eliminate the graft in cities.
Auditor Carroll has not yet taken up
the matter of appointing the examine
ers of city, accounts, but will for a
time use the regular employees of his
office in that work.
While a part of the law is in effect
now, some sections will not be in effect
till next year. The examination Of the
accounts of the cities over 5000 may be
commenced at once. The auditor must
appoint commission of not less than
five or more than seven to devise a
uniform system of accounts following
especially the classitications and def
nitions of the census department at
Washington. This commission will be
appointed at orce SO that it can get
to work on the system. The cities
of the state are required to begin the
use of this new system April /, 1907,
and the system must be adopted long
enough ahead to allow the book COM
panies to print the books required for
the new system.
At present every city has system
Of it's own. Since there is no uniform
ity in the systems it is impossible to
gather statistics giving collective infor-
nation for all tie cities of the state.
State Dairy and Food Commissioner
Wright, in addition to having supervis-
ion over the food supply of the state,
must also look TO the purity Of it's bev-
erages. He has charge of everything
designed for human consumption and
the enforcement of the, law is giving
the department some occasion for deep
thought. For the past three months
the dairy commissioner worked more
under the pure food law than under
the dairy commissioner law in order
to get the new law which went into
effect July A, working we'll. Little has
been done on the liquor question but
now the question is confronting the de-
partment. Under the new law the
dairy and food commissioner has au-
thority to enforce the pure food laws
on all the whiskey and beer sold in
every saloon of the state. If the liquor
lis not what it Is claimed to be or con-
ttains any injurious substances such
as coal tar dye, it can't be sold
1t js claimed by some that whisky is
manufactured out Of alcohol with
sprune Juice and some coloring matter
that battles the taste of the most pro-
fessional whiskey guzzler. Under the
pure food laws the sale of such an ar
ticle for whiskey Is unlawful and the
person selling 1t IS subject to heavy
fine. If a bottle Of whiskey is mislab-
eled the person selling 1t is liable to =
heavy fine. Under the pure food law
beer, whiskey, gin and every other
beverage must be pure the same as
food.
The worry that Is caused in the
dairy and food commissioners office is
due to the fact that liquors have not
figured prominently In that office hare
tofore and 1t Is now necessary for the
departm ent to make a close and careful
study Of this important commercial ar
tfc1e preparatory to the enforcement. OF
the new law.
State Superintendent John F. Riggs
will not press the matter of building
a school building for San Francisco out
of contributions Of the school children
Of the state for the present. It is i'm
possible to do a great deal till fall
when the school opens and the matter
will not he pressed then except to take
it up with the school authorities. A
number of school boards over the state
have a stringent rule against school
children making any contributions for
any purpose for certain well known
urged to break the rules of the school
boards but in this extraordinary cir
cumstance It is believed school boards
will allow the rule to be disregarded
for a time A number Of western states
have planned TO club together to erect
one building and have asked Iowa to
join. Prof. Riggs believes that when
school opens in the fall there will be
sufficient contributions from the school
children of the state to erect a build
ing complete.
State Superintendent Riggs has adj
vised school boards over the state to
pay secretaries the full salary tho they
have worked but ten months Under
the new law secretaries are elected the
first Of July instead of in September.
The report Of the secretary is made
early in the year and there is nothing
to be done from July to September
For this reason boards have been ad-
vised to pay for the full year.
The commercial cluh of this city NAV