Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-23
SCHOOL BOARD
GRILLS MUSHET
AUDITOR RECOMMENDED FOR
GRAND JURY ACTION
DEFIANCE rs THUNDERE0 AT
CITY OFFICIAL
Demand to Examine Books Brings
Out Refusal Except by Order
of the Supreme
Court

The board Of education issued last
night a comprehensive statement ad-
dressed to the city council and the
general public replying to the charges
of City Auditor Mushet, and appeal
ing to the grand jury for a thorough
investigation. The auditor Is handled
without gloves, and the board says his
charges are absolutely groundless and
that he is vicious and prejudiced. To
prove this the board has gone into
methods and the legal situation in con-
siderable detail. In substance the
/ ards letter is statement that Au-
ditor ,Mushet is no higher than the
supreme court, and until that body
renders a decision upon tie right of
his office to investigate the school
board the matter should rest in abey-
ance.
~he statement CT the board is signed
by Melville Dozier, Fielding ]. Stilson,
H. w. Frank, Roger S. Page, Joseph
Scott and f. w. Steddom. This is the
full membership with the exception of
J. M. Quinn, who is in the east.
Concerning the statement that Su-
perintendent of Schools Moor refused
to permit Auditor 4Lushet to examine
tt books of the board in regard to
county and state funds, the following
reasons are given:
He was directed to do so by this
board of education. The question at
issue Is purely legal one of the jur-
isdiction OF the city auditor. Under
the California school law the school
board of the Los Angeles school dis
trict is not under the direction of the
city council, but is an Independent
corporate body, created and elected
for the purpose of conducting the edu-
cational affairs of the Los Angeles city
school district. Its money comes from
three sources-the state, the county and
the city school fund. The expenditures
which it may make from the state
and county school fund are prescribed
by the state law, and must be ap-
proved by the county superintendent
and the county auditor. To recognize
the right of the council to direct the
city auditor to inspect and supervise
the accounts of this school district
would be equivalent to admitting that
it is governed by the city council and
that its acts may be supervised by
the city auditor, who would thus be-
come virtually superintendent of
schools and be given authority to audit
the accounts of the county superin>
tendent and of the county auditor. If
a school system is to be maintained
here it will readily be seen that this
question of authority must be settled
by the courts as speedily as possible.
If the city auditor must examine the
disbursements from the county and
state fund, he has been invited to do
so at their offices by the county su-
perintendent of schools and by the
county auditor. Let him go there.
Say Mushet Is Not Qualified
"The board of education welcomes
Investigation generally, but in view
of the incorporate and vicious Ian
guage of the city auditor, in view of
his remarkable ability to confuse, and
In view of his well-known failure to
report even the most elementary facts
concerning school conditions correct
ly In his former reports, because of
his manifest bias and the fact that he
is an interested party in the contfo-
versy and In the capacity of judge
passes upon the sufficiency of his own
acts, we submit that he Is not prop
erly qualified to pass upon the great
and weighty questions connected with
the education of the 10000 children in
the schools of Los Angeles, and beg
to decline to receive him in that ca
pacity until such time as the supreme
court shall decide as to the right or
his office to make such investigation.
1.-THE city auditor is quoted as say
ing That money was voted and as