The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1916-07-07
IN THE CAPITOL BUILDING
Observations in the State House-How it Looks to a
Visitor. Statements Of Officials Passed on to Our
Readers for Consideration. How the Work
Increases with Growth of the State.

II a farmer-editor visits the state
capital and spends a couple of-days
in the Capitol building, and doesn't
come home and tell his readers some
thing he saw and learned during his
visit, he will have failed to come up
to the full measure of his OppOrtuni-
ty; at least that is the view we take
of it, and that is the reason for writ
ing this article. There isn't much
in it, but it is about what you would
see and hear if you took the same
trip.
A visitor entering the new Capitol
building on the ground floor sees
the t%reasurer's office closest to him
and it looks like money, and walks
in. The cashier looks thru the graf
a bank with the paying teller ready
to wait on you. The door at the
right opens into the ~treasurer's pri-
vate office, and If you get in and
find him at his desk he will smile
and shake hands and declare he is
glad to see you.
He asks you about the folks, and
your town and a few of your neigh
bors, the crops and the prospects and
tells you he has just returned from
the bankers convention in north Ida
no and that they have had a back
ward spring over there too. You
ask how many people are employed
in his office and he tells you seven.
Seeing that you are interested, he
shows you thru the different rooms,
you shake hands with the folks you
know, are introduced to the others,
and are shown some of the books
and the methods of keeping track Of
the various funds of the state. There
are the various schools, the normals,
the university, the asylums and the
land grants attaching to them; the
school lands and the constant sale,
the loans of money and the interest
%accruing; interest being paid; inter-
est that ought to be paid and isn't;
lands covered by mortgages to secure
the payment of interest and principal
and lands that ought to be foreclosed
and are not. He shows you one book
built especially for keeping the state
money apportioned among the vari-
u banks of the state in proportion
to the security bonds which they fill
ed. You are told that it is so simple
that it takes the place of six books
as it was formerly kept and brings
the whole situation before the reader
in a single page every day, making
for safety and great efficiency. You
are taken into the vault and shown
seven million dollars in notes and
mortgages. You pass your hand over
the cabinet containing them and hope
they will all be paid off when due
and no harm come to the endorsers.
When you ask the treasurer if he
likes his work he admits that he
does, and also admits that he would
like it better if he could be on better
terms with all the other officials in
the state house; that he has his ideas
about how business should be con-
Quoted and scarcely anybody else
agrees with him; that he knows the
banking business and is convinced
that their methods Of keeping track
of money and property are the best
methods known; If there was any
thing better the banks would have it
in operation; when he went to work
to put the business of the state treas
ury on a banking basis and have the
books and the money so the true CON
dition would be evident all the time
he met with so much opposition from
others that there is a hitch with
somebody all the time. AS you listen
you wish you knew more about book
keeping and banking so you could
judge better of the merits of his sys-
TEN, but one man doesn't know
everything, SO you listen politely and
pass on, remembering as much as
you can of it.