Evening journal., 1911-06-24


mitted and thereby requiring the for
NAL action of being overruled in each
case-rather than delay the opera
, tions of department whose continued
and uninterrupted operation was vital
to the welfare Of the city, the Audi
tor felt constrained by the circum-
stances Of the case to approve the use
of the money appropriated by the
Water Department for current ex-
penses, and to which It was legally en-
titled by virtue Of the Appropriation
Ordinance that was passed by Council
on May 20, 1910. and which was a
law to be obeyed by Council as much
as any private citizen is expected to
obey the laws
To the first preamble of the Re-
solution passed by Council, the Audi
tor makes the following reply:
When the Auditor took charge of the
Office in August, 1909. the preparation
of almost the entire report for the
preceding year was left for him to
do, although it was no part of his
duties.
The Auditor established the practice
of conscientiously examining every
paper that required his approval, both
as to correctness of figures and as to
character of items.
The great amount of labor to keep
the new system of accounts in rum
ming order. the correction Of all ac-
counts by back-checking and compar-
ison, the making of all the different
audits required the compilation of all
reports, and all other WORK pertaining
TO the office-all this has been done
by the Auditor and his clerk with
out particle of help from any outside
source, with a maximum of labor and
minimum of expense, and the books
now are and have always been cor
rect and up-to-date.
When all these duties had been sat-
isfactorily performed, when all the
requirements Of the different depart
ments as regards the expedition of
their work had been satisfactorily
met. when dubious items had re-
ceived their proper consideration-in
short, when all the known duties of
the office had been properly perform
ed, then the Auditor left the office.
In order to accomplish all this, how
ever, it was often necessary for the
Auditor to work early in the morn
ing, and far into the night, and on
Saturday afternoons and other holi-
days and on Sundays.
Absent Only Twice.
In order to set at rest any doubts
about the Auditors absences from his
office, il is only necessary to say that
from the time he assumed Office on
August 1, 1909 until the present day,
June %, 1911, he has been absent from
the city just twice-each time from
p. m. on Friday to 1915 a. m. on
the following Monday. and the ar
rangements were so made that moth
ing requiring his attention was held
up.
The ordinance under which this
charge was brought was passed on
April 21, 1859, more than 50 years ago.
The evolutions of modern life have
made many changes in the manner Of
doing things. and such ordinances as
did not At have been tacitly ignored
SOFAS to expedite matters. If a law
can be ignored, or changed by evolu-
tion or custom TO such an extent as
to prescribe new methods, then 1t
seems curious to invoke one of the
provisions of the law that has no bear
ing whatever on a proper perform
ance of the duties of the office. and
can only operate to keep competent
citizens from accepting any share of
civic responsibilities.
Il seems strikingly inconsistent that
the Auditor, now. at the end Of his
term. should be charged, by impli-
cation, with a lack Of diligence in per-
forming the duties of the office, where
as until the present time he has been
accused of too great a degree of ac-
tivity and diligence.
The Auditor Is only conscious of
having performed his duties as con-
scientiously as possible and in the
public interests, and if by reason Of
a careless method of conducting the
public's affairs heretofore existing,
Council and other officials of the city,
who had become accustomed to this
careless and illegal way of conduct
ing the city's business, because res
tive under the Auditors check, then
the existing conditions. the law. and
the Auditors desire to do right fore
ed him to take issue with these SLOW
enly methods. The burden of the
criticism resulting therefrom rests on
those who we're guilty of the careless