The Glenwood post., 1911-01-07
Demo SQUABBLE
WILL NOT DOWN
Pearce and kenehan Hold the
Boards and State IS Dis.
credited by the Row
WILL FIGHT TO A FINISH

The controversy between Secretary of
State Pearcc and state Auditor Kene.
han eliminated near the close of last
week in the indictment of Pcarce by
Denver grand jury for MS refusal to
allow the public accountant access to
his books to audit his financial ac-
counts.
The history of this controversy is a
long one and those who have watched
it say it will end only after democracy
cured the enactment of the public ac
countant law. which gives unto his ap-
pointees the right to examine the f.
nancial affairs of any state official or
employee.
Kcnehan and Pearce have never
agreed on the policy of state govern
ment. Time and again, Kenehan has
sent his public accountants into the
Office of the secretary of state to ex-
anime the financial affairs in the va
rious departments. Recently, Mr..
Pearce declined to allow them to check
his books for the biennial period. He
gave as his reason, that Kenehan was
prosecuting rather than prosecuting.
Kenehan reported the matter to the
grand jury, was summoned by that
tribunal and the final result is the in.
dictment of Pearce for failure to obey
the public accountant law. Conviction
can be followed by both fine and i'm
prisonment.
Kenehan has officially indirectly
maintained and privately stated, time
and again, that Mr.. Pearee's records
are not straight. Employees under
kenehan have privately made the same
charges. Kenehan maintains that he
has not been prosecuting the secretary
of state but that he has simply been
following the law.
In a statement issued by Pearce
after the indictment he charges that
the matter is one of persecution, but
he also says that during the summer
he and Mr.. Kenehan entered into an
agreement whereby should Kcnehan s
expert accountants find anything
wrong with the books and finances in
the office of the secretary of state, it
would be reported to the governor and
attorney general for action. Neither
Mr.. Pearce nor Mr.. Kenehan have so
far explained the reason for such an
agreement.
The Indictment. which is the first to
issue under the new public accountant
law, will be prosecuted vigorously by
the local district attorney and will be
defended just as vigorously by the
attorneys for Mr.. Pcarce. Not only
will Pcarce maintain that he was justi-
fed in not allowing a public examina-
tion of his books by Mr. Kenehan's
men, but he will also maintain that he
was justified in not allowing Mr Kene-
han to take the books out of his office
to examine them after refusal had been
made to their examination in the
office. In addition, he will attack the
constitutionality of the law creating
the office of public accountant. Mr..
Pearce says that by reason of his
stand for organized labor. the corporate
interests of the state are fighting him.
He maintains that the present indict-
ment is naught else than united effort
on the part of the large corporations
to discredit him and to thereby teach
him lesson for having, as he claims,
stood with organized labor. In this,
he probably refers to the appointment
and maintenance of State Labor Com
missioner Brake in that Office. Mr..
Brake is his appointee and is the one
man who has fought organized cap
ital harder than any other man in tho
administration.
Aside from the usual discredit which
an indictment brings on a state official
and the state at large, the fact re-
mains that this indictment is not 80
much wilful violation of the law as it
is the result of the continuous scrap
which is always on among democratic
officials. Thus the state is brought into
criminal notice through the troubles
of the two factions of the democratic
party.