Evening star., 1907-11-10
cials of the District who are acquainted
with all the provisions of law governing

cials of the District who are acquainted
with all the provisions Of law governing
expenditures OF the District.
1.-THE unbusinesslike method Of handling
the revenues and income Of the District
by the force in the collector OF taxes
office is referred to at length by Mr..
Tweedale. He recommends improving
the situation by using coupons for ac-
transferring the bookkeeping force in the
collectors Office to the personal super
vision of the auditor Mr.. Tweedale points
out that by the plan now used In the tax
office 1t would be extremely easy for a
dishonest empioye to take money from
way of Immediately discovering the de-
falcatiOn.
Auditing the Revenues.
In speaking of this method Of auditing
the revenues and income Mr.. Tweedale
says:
'"The auditor of the District Of Colum-
bia is charged with the audit Of the ac-
count of the collector of taxes. He IS
supposed to ascertain that all money re-
ceived by the collector OF taxes Is de-
posted in the Treasury Of the United
States. All tax bills issued by the as
SCISSOR have attached to them auditor 8
coupons which contain a short description
of the property and the amount of the
bill to which they are attached. The
practice was. when the bill was presented
for payment. for the cashier in the COL
lector's office to stamp the bill paid and
to detach the coupon from the bill by
an employe of the collectors office. the
receipted bill being then handed to the
payer. The auditors coupon remained d
in the hands Of the collector of taxes
until the close Of the days business and
the auditor had no knowledge what
coupons the collector had received or
,Iat ho6 Ynof
the close of business each day the col
lector of taxes then forwarded to the
auditor a statement Of his daily account.
accompanied by coupons which purported
to be all of the coupons received by him
during that day.
Entitled to Information.
'It is the belief of the auditor. II he
was to be held responsible for the audit
of the account of the daily collections of
the collector of taxes. that he should
know from certain indisputable evidence
what amount the collector of taxes was
to be charged with. and from the daily
eports of the collector and the receipts
Of the treasurer of the United States for
moneys deposited by him the auditor
should be able to determine whether the
collector had accounted for all moneys
which had come into his possession.
After an exhaustive study Of the subject
and conference with the controllers of
many of the principal cities of the United
States. Mr.. Tweedale suggested that the
system which would cause no delay to the
taxpayers of the District. and which
would not disarrange the present system
of preparing the tax bills and other pay
in orders from the various departments OF
the District government. but which would
absolutely safeguard the collection of
public funds. would be to direct the audi
tor OF the District to place auditors clerks
Immediately adjacent to the cashiers of
the collectors office. for the purpose of
listing all bills presented for payment, and
to place thereon the countersignature of
tta auditor of the District OF Columbia
I!..!a!ssA bills would then be passed to the
cashiers. who would receipt them In the
usual manner If paid or: If not paid. re-
turn them to the auditors representative