The Green Forest tribune., 1915-04-30

1 IuteJy lTuSLWOTlHy
 | Our committee. the above account ants, and Miss Dorothy Freeland, who
 was our most efficient. faithful and l trustworthy stenographer in all this 1 work have all been working since the l 31st day of March without receiving any compensation whatever for our l services. | 'If the members of this committee were financially able to lose the time and expend the money, they would 1 gladly continue the investigation, sole l iv for the benefit of the taxpayers of the State of Arkansas; but without le- ! gal authority and without funds, we are forced to submit this report to vour excellency with much regret and | extending our deep sympathy to the 1 taxpayers of the State of Arkansas, for we realize more than anyone else that l their political yoke is heavy and their | burdens of taxation great.
 Respectfully submitted, this z2nG day of April, 1915.
 GEO. w. GARRETT, MONROE SMITH, ''U. A. GENTRY. Auditing Committee of State Depart mentS and 1nStitutions.'
 MT. Cook Denies.
 General denials of charges made by the committee were made by officials of the State Highway Department and the Department of Education. George E. Cook, state superintndent of pub lie instruction, made formal denial of the alleged shortage in the money received for state teachers licenses in his office, saying that it is non-exist- ent He also denied he was connect ed, directly or indirectly, with any finn manufacturing school appurte- nances which are recommended to school officials through his office
 "The statements of the investigat- ing committee, in reference to the State Department of Public Instruc- ton, show on their face such an evi- dent effort to cast unjust aspersions and are so interwoven with insinua- tions and utterly unreasonable fic- ton that they almost answer them selves and scarcely merit the dignity of a formal answer" said Mir. Cook.
 "The alleged shortage is in fact n0n-eXistent and is made up almost entirely of blank stubs against which no certificates were issued.
 Not Officer of Company.
 "The insinuation that I might pos sibly have been in some way associat- ed with some company which sold school supplies is without foundation, eSthr in fact or appearance. The James L. Waterbury Land Company sells no school supplies and is as for eign to the Waterman Waterbury Company as two concerns can possi- bly, be. MT. Waterbury severed his official connection with the Water man-Waterbury Stove Company before he organized the land company. I was offered the vice presidency in the land company, but upon careful con- sjderation did not accept this place and rendered my resignation without ever having actually served as an of ficer of this land company, although there exists no legal or ethical req son why I should not do so. It was purely a business proposition and business considerations governed my decision
 "I have consistently endeavored to have this department represented be- fore the committee and had confident ly expected that a hearing would be published it's report. This reasonable courtesy was denied this department, although it had been granted to the other offices in which the investiga- tjons were conducted. The members of the committee refused to visit this office or in any way to discuss it's allegations. l feel that this office should in simple justice have been in- terrogated and the committee have at least heard our side of the case. In this way, they would have been set right on several misstatements con- tained in their published report"
 MT. GIIs Statement
 Ray Gill, deputy, superintendent of public instruction, gave out lengthy statement disputing charges made by the committee and scoring the com mittee for not allowing members of the department to appear before the committee to explain matters in the office on which charges have been brought. MT. Gill emphatically de nicd that his daughter, who has been grading teachers licenss, is student of the high school.
 'She was graduated from the high school in 1912 and is we'll qualified to do the work said MT. Gill
 The alleged shortage is due to the committee charging at full value stubs or licenses marked "void," "error" or duplicate" according to MT. Gill MT. Gill's statement is as follows:
 The report of the Investigating com mittee in reference to the State De- partment of Public Instruction is the most amazingly deceptive tirale I ever read, misleading in every essential de- tail. In the first place, no member of this department has been permitted to appear before the committee. This reasonable privilege having been spe- officially denied our first information was their published report.
 Superintendent Cook instructed me to turn over to the committee and it's auditor all available information and render them every aid possible. This was done. Personally I felt very grate- ful to MT. Thoma= the auditor, for his advice and suggestions in the matter