The Bottineau courant., 1909-03-12
Bismarck Letter

Bismarck, March 8.-The Eleventh
legislative assembly adjourned sine
die on Friday. The last night of the
session was buster than has been the
case at many previous session. for
the reason that a large amount of
business aside from the consideration
of bills took up much of the time Of
the two bodies. The report Of the
penitertiary investigation committee
was mede OF Thursday and occupied
more than All hour in the reading. 1t
went over the affairs of the pcniten-
tiary for the past twelve years and
while it was reported that there had
been a loose system of bookkeeping
and that opportunities had existed for
the illegal disposal of state property
no actual proof was offered that any
had been so disposed of. It was stat
cd that the wardens and trustees had
used state funds wrongfully in the
drawing Of per diem and mileage on
srecial trips out of the state and that
large quantity of brick made at the
prison yards was not accounted for
on the books, although it was not
claimed they had been diverted to any
particular purpose. Reports Of cruelty
to prisoners were reported to be sus-
tanned under previous administrations
and a number of irregularities and
, layities in prison management were
reported. With respect to one trans
! action at the time the machinery for
the state twine plant was installed it
was stated that two of former board
of trustees had received rebate from
the machinery company and that a
former warden of the prison had also
received rebate, but that this money,
after being held for some time, had
beer: paid back into the state treasury
The reading Of the report was heard
bv one of the largest crowds that at
tended a legislative meeting in the
course of the session. Subsequently
resolutions were passed authorizing
committee of three of the state Off
GERS to continue the work of investi-
cation of the state twine plant and
the attorney general was authorized
to bring action to regain any moneys
that might have been illegally paid cut
of the st ate treasury.
!. = !.
The report of the special committee
that was named tC investigate the
office of State Superintendent Stock
we'll reported that about $4,000 of fees
that had been received into the office
of the state superintendent from teach
ers Of the state for certificate fees had
teen retained by the state superin-
/ tendent, under claim that he was
entitled to them under the law, and
that other considerable sums of this
fund had been paid by the state SUI
perintendent to members of his fam
lily and others for services claimed to
have been rendered under the law.
The fees collected since 1903 under
the state certificate law have been
some $1,000 and no accounting of
them has ever been made to the state
treasurer. nor has ally payment OF
these fees been made to the state.
The. state superintendent claims that
rnder the law he is entitled to retain
these fees, or that part of them not
necessary to pay out for the reading
of examination papers. The commit
tee quotes the sections of the law that
provide that all fees shall be paid into
the state treasury and advises an ex-
animation by the attorney general to
ascertain whether these fees should
not be recovered to the state. A de
tailed statement of the receipts and
disbursements to this fund is made as
far as it was possible to get The
statement made by the committee
shows that the total payments to w.
the family have been something like
$4,000, Ill of which the state super
intendent claims he was entitled sc
to pay under the law on the statute
books.
The special committee to iuyesti
gate the Office of the secretary Of
state made report signed by F. E.
Plovhar and c. N. Putnam, two mem
bcrs of the committee, quoting a bill
Of supplies furnished by c.. w. La
Moure, deputy secretary OF state, and
claiming that the prices charged were
considerably above market prices for
the goods furnished. 1t was also stat
ed that state printing was given out
Tor political purposes and that other
Irregularities existed. This brought
out a communication from Secretary
of State Blaisdell to the house and
Lenate stating that the two members
Of the committee who made the re.
port had spent only about an hour in
his office: that the bills of supplies
mentioned came under the jurisdiction
of the board of trustees of public
property; that the state printing was
ordered by the commissioners of pub
lie printing and that Ployhar, who
made the report, was personal and
political enemy, who, with his partner,
F. f. Packard of the Valley City
Times-Record. had attempted to sub
ject him (BlaisdelD to blackmail and
extortion or several occasions in the