The daily sentinel., 1912-07-05

them as the law provides, and by so
doing they have lowered the efficien-
cy of every school in she county, and
vet they levied mills last year for
roads and bridges, most of which has
already gone down the creeks and riv-
ers. Not only have they thus depriy-
ed the schools OF necessary funds, but
they have made il that much harder
for me to plan for the proper and
necessary Improvement of the schools.
Second: They have refused to al
low the $500 for each teacher who
attends the district institute, a thing
which no other county in the state
has ever done. and by so doing they
have prevented the institute from
coming to Mesa county for the last
ten years, and have made il necessary
for our teachers to take long and eX-
pensive trips to receive the benefits
of the institute. Last week this in
stitute met in Telluride. and one
teacher was enrolled from Mesa coun-
ty. Had the commissioners complied
with the law in this matter it could
have met in Grand Junction, where
from 10 to 100 of our teachers could
and would have attended it, And.
perintendent at the Telluride meet
ing who will not draw mileage for
the trip.
Third: They have refused to al
low me a telephone in the office. and
vet my work could not be carried on
without one. The phone that is now
in the office | ordered put there after
the commissioners had refused to al
fnn I fpr . fn- . ha
first few months.
Fourth: Last year after the
schools were in session, they refused
to allow me monthly report cards for
use in the county. This had been
uone for at least the last twelve
years. They cut off these supplies
after the schools were in session and
made it necessary for me to write
many extra letters explaining why |
did not furnish the cards as formerly.
and caused me to be criticised by the
teachers, school boards and patrons
for not attending to my duty, as they
thought.
Fifth: They have refused and still
refuse to allow me any assistance in
preparing a map of the school dis
tricts of the county, and yet the dis
for many years. Thousands of dol
lars worth of taxable property is
listed every year and the taxes col
lectted in districts that are not enti-
tied to it. fhe Garfield district has
lost almost $4,000 in taxable valu-
alton for probably Is years. This
would yield more than enough money
to pay a good teacher for whole
year. The Starr district has lost the
taxes on three-quarters of section
of valuable land ever since the or
ganization of the district. County
Assessor Brown and his assistants
have shown me every courtesy and
have discovered and helped ue to
correct many mistakes in the boun-
daries of the districts. Mr.. Jones,
clerk and recorder, to whom ! must
frequently go for the regular sup
plies OF the office and other assis-
tance, has been equally obliging, out
the county commissioners, never
From the nature of this work and
the amount of it the county superin-
tendent cannot do it without help.
All of these things tend to coinpli-
cate the work and add to the regular
duties of the superintendent.
Sixth: They have refused TO al
low me even what mileage the law
clearly permits and which all county
superintendents in other counties are
freely allowed. Many other superin-
tendents draw mileage for the game
kind of trips which our county COM
missioners disallowed in my bill last
month. There are three counties OF
the same class as Mesa county, tnd
where the work is not as heavy AS IT
is here. where the commissioners al
low the superintendent stenograph-
er two days out of each week, the
assistant being taken from the clerk
and recorders office The county
commissioners of Otero county paid
Phillips fare to st.
Louis and back to attend the super
intendent's meeting of the National
educational association. For the
tlrst six months of this year | have
drawn mileage for 76S miles and