Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-12
Salaries of Teachers and
Others Temporarily Delayed.
CORRECTIONS NECESSARY
Inaccuracies on Part of Clerks of
Education Board.
DISTRICT FORCE KEPT BUSY
Care Taken to Meet Requirements
of Keep Commission and Con-
troller of the Treasury.

The belated salary rolls for the officers,
teachers and employees of the public
schools OF Washington, which are more
than a week overdue. were received at
the District building. for audit and pay
ment. yesterday afternoon al 4:30 O'Clock.
According to the officials of the auditors
office there are number of errors. tech
meal and otherwise. in the composition of
the pay rolls. and 1t Is likely they Will
have to be returned for correction before
they can be properly audited and the pay
ments made.
When the rolls were received at the Dis
trict building yesterday, Alonzo Tweedale,
auditor of the District. at once placed his
entire office force at work on them, audit
ing the accounts and checking up. They
continued at this work until midnight
and were at it again the first thing this
morning. Mr.-Tweedale says the work of
auditing and checking up the accounts
can be finished late this afternoon If
the rolls will be returned to the board Of
education for CORE ction before any fur
ther work Is done on them.
Surely Delayed Until Monday.
Even If the rolls are not returned and
teachers and other employees of the schools
cannot be paid before noon Monday. There
are 100 separate salary accounts to be
audited and verified, and when this is COM
pleted the necessary checks will have to
be drawn and signed by the auditor and
signed by Charles c. Rogers, the disburs-
ing officer. When this Is completed there
will have to be comparison Of the checks
with the original pay roll before the pay
ments will be made. This would naturally
necessitate the office force Of both the
auditor and the disbursing officer working
Sunday all day and in the evening.
1t did not take the officials long to dis
cover a number of errors yesterday after
noon which prevent the rolls from being in
accordance with the forms and the infor-
nation required by the Keep commission
and the rules laid down by the controller
Of the treasury. who has supervision over
matters connected with the payment of
moneys belonging to the District govern
ment.
Inaccuracies Detected.
The errors that have been detected are
in the form Of inaccurate work on the
part of the clerks who made up the rolls
and they must be corrected before being
submitted to the controller OF the treasury,
in which case the money would be disal-
lowed against the auditor and the disburs-
ing officer.
Charles c. Rogers, the disbursing officer
Of the District, has the record Of having
paid out more than SO OOO, 900 Of District
government funds without a disallowance.
It may be, 1t is said, that the errors can
be corrected by the forces Of the auditor
and disbursing officers office, but it Is con-
sidered doubtful.
DR.. Chancellor's Statement.
No word concerning any errors in the
payrolls had been received at the Frank
lin School at late hour this afternoon.
The statement printed in The Star yes
terday in which there was adverse criti-
cism of the superintendent of schools
for the delay in the preparation of the
rolls, has brought out the following an
swer from DR.. Chancellor today:
''The delay In the submission of the pay
rolls to the auditor for the District of Co
lumbia was caused by no rulings or re-
quirements of this office. AS explained to
the board of education in a lengthy re-
port dated October 8. 1907, a copy Of
which was given to each newspaper. the
method of submitting the pay rolls was
very materially changed by a circular Of
the controller OF the treasury, dated July
20. 1907. This office has endeavored to
comply strictly with the numerous de-
mands of the officials Of the Treasury De-
partment and the District of Columbia.
and 1t Is because of these demands that
the rolls were delayed.
1.-The clerk in charge of the pay of the
employe, Mr.. r. o. Wilmarth, worked
ninety-twO hours overtime from Septem-
Der p to October 8, and after working
practically all night on October he be-
the morning Of October 10. and continued
until late that evening. Because of the
smallness Of the Office force it was I'M
possible to detail sufficient clerical help
during the adjustment Of the salaries to
push the work with as much rapidity as
we desired.
Meager Assistance Given.
The only clerical assistance given the
pay clerk during the adjustment of the
salaries was for one-half day (total
amount Of time given at irregular inter-
vals), and all other assistance was volun-
teered by Mr.. w. B. Patterson, supervis-
ing principal: Mr.. c. K. Finckel principal
of the Franklin School; Mr.. H. P. Hoover,
teacher, and Mr.. H. o. Hine, secretary of
the board Of education. who worked sew
eral evenings.
1.-The statement that this Office was
aware Of the change in the method of
certification in sufficient time to make
the arrangements for avoiding this delay
Is admitted, but this statement should
be modified by the fact that the printer
who has the contract for the ruling and
printing of the blank forms for the pay
rolls has not sufficient facilities for doing
rush work, and further tht,t the finished
work for the payroll forms, which were
sent him on September Z was only deliv-
cred on September n. when he furnished
about 500 sheets Of one form and 20 sheets
Of the other. The balance Of the order of
payroll forms was only delivered yes
terday.
Cause Of Delay.
LAS stated heretofore. the delay in the
certincation of these rolls was caused:
First. BY a new system of pay roll
accounting that is materially different
from the one used for many years. The
old system has six columns and the new
system has fi4leen columns Of informa-
ton.
Second. BY the various oral rulings
made during the preparation of the rolls
in many instances causing revision of
completed work.
"Third-By the awarding of contracts
for printing to firms not having the requi-
site facilities for handling rush work.
"Fourth-By the smallness of the Office
force, which prevented the detail of suf-
ficient help during the preparation of the
rolls.
This office has in no instance made
any rulings which would tend to delay the
preparation of the pay rolls in question,
but has endcavored to push the work
through in the quickest possible manner" |
Local Authorities Criticised.