The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1916-04-07

that they consisted largely in fees pec-
essary to the filing of various legal pa
pers, and that it has been the practice
of the clerk, in some instances, to ac-
cept such papers without present pay
ment of the fee, the parties offering
them promising to hand in the same
within short time In a few of these
cases, and it must have been few as
the court records show, these parties
failed to hand the fee to the clerk and
he failed to record it as paid upon his
books. A notable instance of this kind
is found in the law requiring the entry
of judgments at the time verdict is
given in civil cases. If the clerk fails
thus to enter judgment the statute
holds him responsible for its amount
and if he does not so enter it he is held
responsible to the county fer the fee.
and has made it his practice to enter
judgment in all such csses, thus max
ing him responsible for the fee which
in many cases was uncollectable. Sew
eral items of this character went to
make up the shortage found by the
auditors. These cases furnish an ex-
ample of accommodation that did not
meet with commensurate appreciation,
but their aggregate is wholly insignifi-
cant and in no wise compromises the
integrity or efficiency of Mr.. Wertman,
who is recognized by all who have come
in contact with him as being one of the
best informed, most alert, competent
and accommodating officials the county
ever had. 1t may also be said thatMr.
Wertman is looking after the manifold
duties of his Office proper with the
same number of employees as were en-
gagged ten years ago when the volume
of business was about half what it is
today. During the last two months two
courts have been in session at Flint
and while the statute provides for the
employment of special deputy and
stenographer in such event, Mr.. Vert
man did the work alone and saved the
county the expense. He has, more
over, made it his common practice to
put in hours upon hours of overtime.
AS matter of square deal these
facts should be understood.
In the office of register of deeds it
has long been the practice to extend a
small amount of credit to certain per-
sons or corporations ser ding in a con-
siderable number of deeds and mort
cages for recording. Outstanding ac-
counts of this kind amounted to $92. GO,
as the audit at first showed, but before
it was made public all of this had been
received by the register and paid in to
the county treasurer except $21 80,
which Mr.. Middleton has since paid in
and which, he says, he confidently ex-
poets to receive from those who now
owe it to him. Mr.. Middleton has SER
we'd the people of Genesee county for
many years and we do not believe there
can be found man in the entire coun-
ty who will question his integrity or
straightforwardness of purpose.
In their report upon the office of the
county road commissioners the auditors
found very much to criticise in the
character of the books of account, but
here also, they were unable to trace the
misappropriation of a single dollar.
The members of the board are all we'll
known citizens of the county. and we
do not believe that one breath of sus-
picion has ever attached to the official
or private acts of any one of them.
They maintain that there has never
been any transferring of the funds
from one department to another, as
such an act is absolutely prohibited by
law, and that each and every fund con-
tains today the exact balance it should
contain after deducting the bills which
were in every instance audited by at
least two of their number and allowed
by the supervisors. They frankly ad-
nit that the original estimated cost of
the county road system was too low
and that considerable sums will be
needed to complete it. but they do not
agree with the presumption that the
system should have been completed at
the original estimate, because the work
has been subject to changing condi-
tions in the price of labor and mater
ials, the same as other branches of in
dustry. In this latter connection they
cite the fact that the state highway de-
partment has, since the original esti-
mate was made, required the use of
screened gravel in the construction of
state reward roads, instead of gravel
from the pit, the use of which was
originally permitted. This one item, it
is claimed, has resulted in the expendi-
ture of thousands of dollars not COM