Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-03-15

treasurer tue vouchers lANutu dlu lllt
balances on hand at the date of clos
ing the Investigation Every cent is
accounted for by the report The bal
ances shown in the hands Of the va
rious repositories are First National
bank, Las Cruces, $2,673,21: Bowman
bank, S25GS5: First state bank, 81
S72f0.
Deposit in Bank.
In referring to the failure Of the
First state bank. the report says:
when the First bank closed it's doors
there was on deposit in that bank an
amount Of S4,S72.10. This amount
was made up entirely Of cash dona-
tons. road-tax collections and other
items other than county warrants.
The aggregate of such receipts, all Of
which had been deposited in the First
State bank was S5,I70.S3. Before
much had been collected from these
sources, near the beginning of road
construction work, and when the
weekly payrolls began to climb up, 1t
had been found necessary to create a
balance by county warrants to protect
the payroll checks This appears to
have been necessary, because I'm order
to insure prompt payment Of labOrers
the weekly payrolls were issued and
cashed before the warrant covering
the total of the payroll could be made
out, the signature Of the secretary
treasurer, the chairman of the board
and the county clerk secured, and the
approval of the board-all of which
We're required before the warrant
became bankable
These XvqTTaDfg cbpNp nv fin
record, were duly authorized by the
board and are supported by the opin-
ions of the attorney general and the
district attorney. After the emergen-
cy had ceased for the use of "A bal
ance derived from this source, county
warrants authorized and issued to
cover succeeding payrolls were with
held from deposit, so that when the
bank closed its doors warrants held
for future deposit in the safe of the
secretary-t or not yet exc
cuted, and for which the secretary
treasurers checks have been drawn.
amounted to $3,935.78, or $702.9S
more than the accounts so authorized
for a working balance There is,
therefore. no part of the funds drawn
from the county treasury tied mp in
the balance of the First state bank. %
Received No Compensation.
In closing his report to the board.
the accountant says: I'm carrying
out the transactions Of his office, the
secretary-t has personally
audited bills and has issued 1880
checks The record shows that he
has received no compensation. direct
~ or indirectly, for services rendered
nor made any charge for rent of Of
flee or other personal item. Mr.. Les
ter furnished and delivered bond in
the sum Of $4,000, voluntarily plac-
ing his bond at that sum after the
state highway commission had fixed
it at $4,000
we may state as a result OF our
findings that the business as handled
by Mr. Lester is above reprOach, and
that the rumors Of shortage in his aC-
counts are absolutely without foun-
dation in fact All payments made
ny Mr.. Lester have been made by
checks signed as secretary treasurer
ana are covered by duly authorized
county warrants and properly exc
cuted vouchers on file. The payrOlls
and details in vouchers are clear and
exact and there is no deviation from
strict integrity and accurate account
ing methods The cash balance is
correct and checks with the balances
in the banks and the warrants on
hand.
Indictments Against Smith.
In checking up the indictments
springing from the failure of the First
state bank at Las Cruces, now on file
in the office Of District Attorney
Hamilton at his headquarters here, It