The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-06-15
FIELD EXAMINERS
ABOUT CONCLUDED
WITH THEIR WORK
Task of Examining the Books
of the Trustees of the 1,1O7
townships of the State a
Big Undertaking.
III
TRUSTEES FAULT is
IGNORANCE OF LAWS
A Gratifying Development Is
the Fact That Petty Graft
Has Almost Disappeared
Only a Few Crooks. ..-
palladium Specially

palladium Specially
indianapolis, June 15.-The field ex-
aminers OF the state accounting board
have about finished their task Of max.
ing examinations of the Offices Of the
township trustees Of the state. and
have already started on the examine
tions of the counties and cities. There
are 1,1O7 townships in Indiana. and
this gives some idea OF the extent Of
the Job the field examiners have had
on hand. They have not only examin-
ed the accounts OF the present trus-
tees. but have gone back as far as 1904
and looked into affairs OF the town.
ship trustees since that time.
The remarkable thing about the re-
ports which the field examiners have
turned In Is that in nearly every in
stance where crookendness or discrep-
ancies were found they were found in
the accounts Of former trustees. It
has been Q rare case where shortages
have been found in the accounts Of
the present trustees. although there
have been few such cases, notably
one in Delaware county. one or two in
Marshall county and q few other coun-
ties.
The Main Troubles.
It has been noticed by those who
have watched the reports as they were
made public that the main trouble
among the present trustees are due
to ignorance Of the law or to a misun.
derstanding of the duties Of a trustee.
OF course errors are found In many
places, but they are generally of a
minor nature. For instance, in many
cases It found that q trustee has
drawn q warrant on the wrong fund.
Probably he has paid out Of the spc-
cial school fund q claim that should
have been paid out Of the township
fund, or vice versa. Such errors, how
ever, arc not crooked errors, because
the township does not lose anything.
Whenever the examiners find such an
incident they call the attention Of the
trustee to It and have the books cor.
township advisory board had violated
to clear It up. Errors In addition or
in footing up balances are sometimes
found, but these are corrected by the
examiners and they never amount to
anything.
In few cases It has been found that
the trustees have overpaid the mem
bers OF the township advisory board
Under the law the board members
are only entitled to IS year salary
but some trustees have paid SO OF
more, because the members were re-
quired to do an extra amount Of work.
Where shortages Are.
But It Is among the ex.trustees that
the shortages are found. 1t seemed
that few years ago trustees did not
pay any attention to the law. They
conducted their business in a slip
shod manner without any regard fol
whether they did things right or not
The examiners have found cases where
the trustees used thousands Of dollars
Of township money for their own bene.
At. In many cases It was found that
the bank accounts Of the trustees were
short hundreds Of dollars. Even the
banks themselves which were the pub
lie depositaries for the funds OF the
townships disregarded the law with
a lavish hand. One case was found
q sSw days where q trustee in Scott
county had kept his township money
In Q bank as . public depository, and
and he drew checks on this fund botf
40 q trustee and as q private individ
ual. All were paid by the bank. re
gardless Of the way they were signed
This, Of course. was a violation of ths
public depository law. Only checks
signed by the trustee as such should
have been paid.
The examiners who made this re
port criticised severely the bank fol
doing business in this way. In Other
instances It was found on examination
Of the trustees ohices in various town
ships throughout the state. that the
township advisory bord had violated
the law.
Took Trustees Word.
In one southern Indiana county tho
examiner found entries on the records
where the advisory board claimed t.
have examined the accounts Of the
trustee and certified to the correctnes.
OF the accounts. The board certified
that the trustee had on hand . certain
sum Of money in the township fund
when In reality the balance on hand
vas more than two thousand dollari
less than the amount certified to by
the board. The examiners said In thu
report that 1t was evident that the
members Of the board did not make m
sanitation Of the accounts. but tina,
they merely took the trustees word
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