The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-08-29

of cement; each sack has cost the state
10 cents, which the cement companies
refund on the roturn of the sacks. Not
n single sack has been returned for this
credit: not Il cent has therefore come
back TO the state on this account. Where
are the sacksf
Object Of Suspicion
Among the very many items that are
Justly the object of suspicion In the
transactions of tho state board of land
commissioners is claim No 4376, voueh-
or warrant No. 34254, in favor of Caleb
Tanner. 1t reads as follows:
November 30, 1907
State board of land commissioners to
Filing application No. 1864 4.......s $50
Publishing application No. 1885,. 7.5O
| tion No 1894 34......... $50
Balance of nling fee on applica-
tion No 1534 for 1000 cubic
feet OF water from Sewer
| Publishing applica ton No. 1874. $50
| Preliminary fee for filing appIica-
tion No. 1924. to appropriate
| 500 cubic feet of water from
the natural flow OF the Sevier
river. received In state engl-
nccrs office October 81, 1309... $50
Approved for payment December I. 1907.
CALEB TANNER, State Engineer.
Charge Is Irregular.
This charge has been irregular to
say the least from its initiation. If
the filing fee was proper, why was tho
claim made by Caleb Tanner and not
by Caleb Tanner, state engineere The
warrant was drawn payable to Tanner,
Endorsed by him and again by Thomas
&. Calllster, secretary OF the state board
of land commissioners, who cashed tho
same through Mccormick s. bank. in
the record of fees collected in the state
engineer 3 office and filed with the state
auditor there is no record of this 5000
filing fee, and it has never to date
been reported. The state board of land
amount to the Piute project and claim
that they have this money on hand,
carried in the Office In "suspense ac-
count" Why such an account is
opened at nil in this Office is open to
grave questions, for from the reser
voir fund it came. to the reservoir fund
1t must return and the explanations of ;
the then president and present and past
secretaries of the board are decidedly.
due as we'll as the $1012.50 which may
or may not be on hand. 1t certainly is,
not where it belongs in the hands Of the
state treasurer.
Need Of Grand Jury.
There has been much talk OF grand
jury in Salt Lake county. Never was
there more serious condition surround
ing the affairs of the state than ap-
pears from the investigation which has
been made by The Tribune on this Pluto
project and its exploitation by the state
board of land commissioners and the
state eng ineer and his subordinates.
Estimated to cost in the first place
100000, it now stands charged on the
books of the state board with $685.
452 Al. This does not agree with the
state auditors account. but they are
their own figures. The state engineer
now estimates that it will require $780,
600 more to complete the work and if
his present estimate is as close as his
original it will take at least one hun
dred and fifty thousand dollars more
before the project can be in full opera
tion. 1t is time for Governor Spry to
awake and inform himself as TO these
matters. 1t Is time for the state audi
tor and state treasurer to get together
and devise some means of preventing
. the methods row prevailing which open
the door of opportunity to fraud and
almost invite crookedness. The state
officials can help the grand jury and
the grand jury can help the people
now. II should be done.