The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-04-07
THOMAS SPEAKS
OUT IN MEETING
Declines to Approve the Indeti-
mite and Misleading Items
on School PayroIIS.
DEPL0RES BOARDS ACTION
NEWMAN BRlDWELL SCANDAL
CAUSES MORE DISCUSSION.

Mathonihsh Thomas, member of the
board Of education, last evening woke
up that somewhat drowsy body with
q refusal TO vote for the passage Of pay
rolls until certain items from the de-
paTtment Of buildings and grounds
had received investigation He based
this refusal on an absolute loss Of con-
fidenCe In certain employees Of the
board after recent exposures. which.
he declared. were only too true. A. g.
Giauque was prepared to defend the
officials Of the department. and G. s.
Martin was also about to jump to the
rescue when it was decided TO segre-
gate the items in question and send
them back to the buildings and
grounds committee.
The matter arose when the finance
committee reported the payrolls
amounting to $42131.30. Then it was
that Mr.. Thomas interpOsed his OBJ
jections to the present loose system.
He said he had repeatedly asked the
superintendent of buildings and
grounds TO have his vouchers mado
palmer, so that they would tell the
truth. In the rolls. as they come in.
81 was impossible TO find q true state
ment Of work performed. Items
marked boiler work" had been found
TO mean "ianitor' work. and IL had
work or $3.50 day.
The items to which Mr.. Thomas
made objection were the vouchers for
work of r. J. Bridwell and J. s. Lewis
and he remarked that the vouchers for
both were apparently in the handwrit-
ing of Lewis.
When the vouchers were produced it,
became evident that Mr.. Thomas had
looked at former payroll and was on
rs--
item in the voucher To the account Of
T. J. BridWell for cleaning moulding,
sea was misleading and did not
show what the work was.
Charges Are Due.
In the course Of his remarks he said
tie board was charged Withs nepotism
ana with gross carelessness, all OF
which was unfortunately too true. He
was tired Of seeing charges IN the
newspapers which could not be denied,
for the pitiable reason that they were
true.
A. G. Giauque who Is chairman Of
the buildings and grounds committee,
and who is said to have known all
alonE that the Newmans were working
for the board under assumed namcN
resented Mr.. Thomas remarks "a
throwing an implication on that COM
mittee.
Mr. Thomas sad it was not his in
tcntiou To criticize that committee
without including himself as a mem
Der who. with the rest. had accepted
the honesty Of the officials, and trust
cd those i'm charge. This confidence
had been abused. They had deceived
the board and could be no longer
trusted For that reason he could not
accept the vouchers.
lie had no hesitancy I'm stating that
he referred TO the vouchers OF G. NJ.
BridweI. superintendent Of buildings
and grounds. and his foreman. f. II.
Evans. who have been shown to have
been privy to the Newman deception.
Why said Mr.. Thomas. should
We place any confidence in the O. K.
OF Z. II. Evans, who has already de-
ceived u.s. We have been accused Of
ucpotism and of other things. Reports
have been published that there are
members of the superintendent fam
lily employed under different names,
and that members Of the family of one
Of our own number were on the pay
roll under assumed names The worst
or It all IS that these things are true.
and we know it"
To Quiet Thomas.
There was a general disposition to
squelch Mr.. Thomas. J. T. Hammond
that what the newspapers had stated
was true, and said they had published
1aring headlines of thefts Of tools
when the amount was so small as T.
he ridiculous. He thought that if 7.
i. BTidwel had worked at these other
things to OblCe the superintendent.
he should be paid as a carpenter, under
which head he was employed.
Oscar W Movle believed the item
was all right, but the fact that il was
questioned by a member of the board
was enough to send it back for inves-
legation, and ne made a motion to that
effect
After further defense of the officials
by MI Hammond and Mr.. GiaUQue
with few words I'm the same line
from Mr. Martin. the item was sent
back and the rest of the payroll adopt
ed.
During the whole meeting there was
no iutimation that any official notice
would be taken of the exposure Of the
doCtoTed payroIls and no mention Of
any proposed investigation
At the close of the investigation
George N. Bridwell. who has seven
relatives under him on the buildings