Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1908-04-30
TREASuRER'S
STATEMENT
tcontinusd From Page ons.,

| \NOAAsAssssV0 - VIZ : ~ VA0s/
funds. and SHOULD not be carried inl
my safe. These funds have brought
pinto the state of Idaho's interest
fund. since my encumbency Of ONCE.
Power $1,000. Now IL any one diff
fers from me In my views and thinks
! am wrong he has the privilege OIL
going into court and getting an In
depreciation of the law.
Collection Account.
The Statesman published an in
terview with Mr.. Bragaw and asks
the question, What is a collection
| account?"
| For the benefit of all parties and
that the people may understand the
questiZl in its minutest detail. i de-
sire to say that gladly and cheer
fully will l give information upon
the workings Of this Office to any
/ man, of whatsoever political faith,
creed or dogma, when he comes to
me In good faith to seek informa-
ton. Should he come for scandal
or information tc maliciously injure
any officeholder or any citizen of the
/ state or to breed discord within our
| borders, then I might act differently.
/ In regard to collection account I
have received in the 16 months that
/ l have been state treasurer. about
three and half million of dollars,
/ or roughly Speaking / have and will
h;fe taken in during my encum-
bency of Office about four millions Of
/ dollars. 1t is safe to say that out
of this vast sum of money not one
half of one per cent is paid in cash.
Ninety-nine and half per cent OF
the total rect lpts of this office Is
in the form of checks. The collec-
ton of state taxes for the year was
. over 100000, and not one cent
came into this Office in cold cash.
4 Now, what do I do with the checks
that receive? In the first place,
there are two banks in this city
| with which keep what / term a
collection account. One is the Bank
of Commerce, and for the protection
/ Of this collection account l have a
bond Of 100000. The said .Dona
is signed by the Bank of Commerce
as principal; Robert Noble. J. r.
Yates. l.. A. Coate, H. N. Coffin, =.
Peas'ey, w. D. Briggs. 8. It. N
Smith as sureties. From the best IN
formation regarding the financial.
| condition of these bondsmen l ran
obtain, find that their agg agate
wealth is $3,000,000 AMI possibly
over. The other hank in which :
keep my collection ac,onat is tie
Boise City National bank, and for
the proper security of this collection
account I hold bond of 100000,
signed by the Boise City National
bank. as principal, and Thomas Da-
Wis, F. R. Coffin, Timothy Regan, j..
e. Clinton, as sureties. From the
best information can gather re-
/ garding the financial responsibility
of these gentlemen, am convinced
Y that they are worth at least $3,-
A 100000. Now SO much for the Sc
curity OF the collection account.
The checks that I receive in my
fohice, while the vast majority ara
drawn within the state of idaho. yet
hundreds of thousands Of dollars
worth are drawn on every point
within the United States, and by
the way. 1t often takes longer to
collect check In some remote point
in Idaho than 1t does on Chicago or
New York. Now these checks are
deposited in either one or the; other
of these two banks, and when coli
lected call upon the banks for the
cash, IL It be in the Educational
II fund and place the cash In the safe.
n 1t belongs in the Current funds.
then I check on the bank for the
amount and deposit 1t in the vari-
[ous banks throughout the state. This
is the procedure and the custom OF
this Office regarding the collection
account.
Now suppose did not carry a col
lection account, let us see what IT
would cost the state. We could not
expect, and question II we could
get any bank to make these col'ec-
lions for us for less than 10 cents
per 800. That. then, would mean
an expense OF $4,000 year for ex-
change. Now this vast sum OF moh-
ey. II sent by registered mail, wou'
have to be insured, the average rate
of insurance money transported
through the mails ranges from 20
cents per thousand to 81 per thou
sand The rate from Salt Lake 10
Boise, from which point We get most
all our currency. is so cents per
thousand. Upon stage routes the
average price in Idaho for insurance
is 81 per thousand. so let us call the
average expense Of this insurance 40
cents per thousand. This wouid
mean an insurance account OF sS,ooo
per year 1t would cost at least
5000 year for stationary and post
age. It would mean an additional
- lie