The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-08-28
STERRETT VENTING
WRATH ON UTAH
Continued from PAGE

SSftNtfihCA fiSHl EdSS
money not paid. At this time the check
had been given the creditors and had been
cashed-still the arguments were thick
ana fast in favor Of not paying the bill.
From patriotic standpoint there are
many in Salt Lake who are sorely de-
hcient. / never in all my experience saw
50 many bills for services rendered. Every
body who walked across the street or
blinked an eye for the encampment was
on hand with a bill for services rendered
II was the first time in my experience
that such a state of affairs has existed.
In the first place we never before paid
a cent for director of a living flag. The
work was taken from a patriotic stand
point and carried through without charge.
Here we paid well for it. We had to pay
a big price for music here. Never before
nave we had to pay the chairman of the
music committee a cent. Here we paid
professor j. j. Mcclellan a good salary.
Then there were other small and unim-
porJant bills brought up which should
cause those who presented them to turn
pale with shame.
A member of the woman's committee
dld a rev hours work and failed absolute
~ to put that work through successfully.
She presented a bill for $3.50. which, of
course, was not paid. All of these works
should have been done by those who uu-
derlook them from a patriotic standpoint,
as in other encampment cities, and not
for individual gain.
Sterrett Astonished.
Among the committeeman there were
many peculiar and silly propositions
brought up which completely astonished
me. In one case, where certain articles
were TO be contracted for, a local COM
pdnY came in with q bid for S3C00. An
other company had ii bid for sl,je) eX-
actly half Of the other bid, and guaran-
teed the same class of goods. 1t took me
and others long time to convince the
members of that committee that they
should accept the lowest bid That was
something that l could not see through
until I pOndered over it and made an
investigation. / then found the reason
was Ihat two committeeman were big
shareholders in the $3.50 bid company.
Just such moves as those cost this en-
campment great amount of unnecessary
money. One of the deals which shows
about now money was thrown away is in
the matter Of cots for free accommOda-
lions. ] had made arrangements for the
securing of loo cots at Is cents each from
q local manufacturer This would have
cost $3.50 After making these arrange
ments former Governor Black came to me
and stated that government cots could be
secured free Of charge.
Il told him that ne was mistaken. as
the same propositions had been brought
up at other encampments. and it was
learned that special act Of con gress
was necessary. Governor Black said i'm
mediatcly that the proposition would De-
be secured free Of charge He said he
would write at once to the secretary of
war and ask him for the tents 1 said
10 MN theu. Governor you write your
5lJef ana ID write the answer which YOU
will get The letter was written and /
wrote on answer.
when the reply came from the secre-
iary 1t was substantially the same as the
reply which 7 submitted to Black before
ne sent the letter. Tt was too late then
for me TO have the order filled by the
local company and ] told Black ID was
mp TO him. He took the matter up with
Senator Smoot and got a bin passed in
congress authorizing the loan Of the cots
Several thousand more than were needed
were sent here. with a freight bill of $4,000
attached They were left i'm the cars ar
the Denver & Rio Grande depot.
Governor Blacks idea that the num-
Der of cots needed was about 5000 ] told
him that l,H0O was sufficient but ne
seemed to nc much wiser on the subject
than I WdS. BY the governors intrusion
the committee lost S3,2J0 The money
might just as well have been rolled up
and thrown into the fire.
There We're many other propositio.1s of
the same kind Upon one occasion Il
member Of the committee fan a. meeting
was looking over the bills, and ne picked
up one OF the ridiculous and uUDatriOfic
)nes for 500 for services rendered. 7
Throwing the bin on the table i'm disgust.
be exclaimed. That is the limit 7 won
ier what has become Of the patriotism i'm
Salt Lake
Personally I liked most Of the mem
12Ts of the executive COm.0ittee. and have
confidence IN them as men. But
| cannot quite see wi of banking
Institutions. big bUsnvs men and NOR
nants could handle business such a
childish manner
Il would have considered some of the
things done I'm those meetings as dis
graceful for children. let alone business
men, who are supposed to understand ev-
1ry phase of business operations BY
those silly breaks I'm the meeting ! figure
that the encampment cost more than il
should by considerable.
or technicalities and 'niggers in the
WoOdpile there were more than ] have
seen in my combined business and en-
,ampment experience. And they were
big, fat, curly nigsers, at that. 1t kept
me busy throwing rocks at them and
driving them away.
But the whole affair is over now. The
bills are straiEhtened out and the money
paid. Maybe Salt Lakes business execu-
tive men VIII be better prepared another
time TO handle a convention or an en-
C4eRra4Fgc Daf,ST,ro-