The Carlisle independent., 1915-04-29

this office and found the certificate records incomplete and unsatisfactory. However, the matter of State licenses was very negligible quantity until after the passage of the law creating the State Board of Education and pro- Viding for the issuance of certificates upon credentials.
 It has required some time to work out plan for handling properly the applications, credentials, fees, several grades of license blanks, correspond ence, etc., in connection with this work, with no additional help provided to do l the greatly increased work, the entire office force of this department con- 1 sisting of a deputy, assistant and clerk. The committee checked up our re- l ports for four years only. It was ex- | plained to the auditor that the records | of old licenses, those issued previous to | Superintendent Cooks administration, were incomplete. For instance, a short 1 time ago Prof Sidney Pickens sent his | State life license to this office for rec | ord. there being no record of this li- cense which was issued before Super l intendent Cook came into office. du- 1 plicate license was issued him. so that l bound stub record of his certificate
 would be permanently on file This du- | plieate license constitutes s10 of the technical Shortage" charged against 1 the office.
 The professional license of Prof. c. 1 c. Barnett was issued by former Super- 1 intendent Doyne and is recorded Again, this office has no record of any of the L. l. degrees and normal diplo-
 mas issued by the State University and 1 State Normal, yet these are within
 themselves State licenses to teach pub | lie school.
 The fees paid for grading examina- tion papers were paid out, according to 1 law for service rendered (Seetion 7530
 Kirbys Digest). Miss Gill. who re- l ceived just and legal pay for grading papers is not, as stated in the report, a high school student. She graduated from the high school in 1912 and was
 thoroughly capable of doing well the work assigned.
 The School Employment Association is an honorable business, which is rem dering valuable service to the schools and teachers. It is conducted by Miss Hazel Gill as any other business is con- dueted, and she is justly proud of her success in being able to be self-sup- porting and still not be required to seek employment away from home. The same courtesies are extended the School Employment Association are extend- ed other teachers agencies and supply companies-and no more The commit tee brings no charges" but does not hesitate to cast unfounded insinuations against a worthy young woman who is engaged in honest honorable employ ment
 Did Hold Money.
 The only "irregularity" upon which the committee might justly have com mended is the admitted act that I did upon my own motion, do as was the general custom. after the general rev. enue was exhausted and State war rants at a discount, hold temporarily in the safe in this department money which accrued from license fees This money I used in cashing warrants for postage. salaries ,etc. When opportu- nity was afforded, these warrants were cashed and the money returned and ft- nally paid into the State treasury in full. It is only fair to state that I did this without the sanction of Superin- | tendent Cook and that no warrant of his was ever cashed in this way. This custom did save the State discount on postage warrants etc, and avoided selling salary warrants at a discount. All certificates chargeable to this
 money were carefully recorded and there never was the least thought of misappropriating these funds. Final settlement was made before the new law regarding the payment of fees went into effect and this law has been
 at all times unscrupulously observed. l personally know that there is not the slightest irregularity in regard to the travelling expenses of Superintend-
 ent Cook. All vouchers for State war rants are made out by myself Each travelling voucher is always accompa- 1 jed with an itemized statement of ex- the State auditor will not issue war rants therefor. Railroad fare. where passes are used, is never included in
 the expense accounts. The law, more over, provides that the State superin- tendent may accept passes, but these
 are not of service for any part of an interstate journey, and the passes cer- tainly do not include livery hire, ho- tels and meals, etc. The amount re- ported by the committee includes all 1 travelling expenses for the biennial 1 term, visits to schools, institutes, etc, within the State; and attendance at Education ASS0cia Department of Superintendence, Con- ference for Education in the South, and other important educational gatherings officially attended by the superintend- ent.
 Says Expenditures Legal.
 Robert Hutchins, deputy commis-
 sioner of agriculture, in behalf of MT. Page, said that money paid out to an
 expert chemist for alalyzing commer- cial feeds and fertilizers had been in strict accordance with legislative re-
 gulations. The Legislatures of 1911
 and 1913 appropriated money for en- | forcemnt of the feed and fertilizer l laws. In 1911 the appropriation was in blanket form, but in 1913 there was
 S7,500 appropriated for fees for chemical examinations of feeds and 1 fertilizers
 l Under the statute chemists receiv-
 ed $5 for each sample of food or com-
 mercial fertilizer analysed. The sam- pies were submitted to the chemist
 by the inspectors formerly provided for. The inspectors as well as the
 chemist were practically done away | With by the last Legislature, in that
 no appropriations were made for | their salaries.
 W. B. Owen, state highway commits
 sioner, issued statement in answer to the supplementary report prepared 1 by the committee on the highway de- l partment
 "In regard to certifying to county
 clerks the number of tags issued, that
 charge cannot apply to this adminis- l for fxyir