Gunnison news-champion., 1918-11-01
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This article u writtaa h apoeuG1h
tion of ths pahlic services of - -
cial Who hes kspt faith Win ~ -
pis-Chas. H. Leckenpy. present sfais
auditor. Democrattc candidate ~
state treasurer.
Two ysars ago By . najoeity q
nearly $4,000 the people ef Co,eEade
commissioned Charlie Lscksaby =
take charge oe one OF the most import
ant branches Of the state sovernmenA
70 look after the expenditure Of ~
vast sums that the people pay to keeD
up the machinery Of govssnmeat.
That be has performed this duty
well y conceded BY everybody. Co.
fronted BY vast increase Of work %
casioned BY the mobilisatioa Of the
state troops and other var activities,
there has been no increase n the -
pense and the business Of the state
has been performed promptly. sce
nomically. courteously.
We who knew this quiet. unassum.
ing. but capable business man, tool
, all OF this as matter Of course. n
was part OF his training to be thor
ough. economical. prompt and straight.
forward
But there are two kinds Of public
officials.
One kind takes the line Of least ~.
sistance. performs his duties well. pos
sibly. but gets by with the least Of.
fort. contenting himself to follow we'll
marked lines laid down by his prede-
cessors.- II work has always been
done In a certain way. he does not
take the trouble to make changes OF
improve methods.
The other kind Ia ambitious to do.
. little more than his routine duty.
wants TO improve methods. to inquire
into past transactions, to stop leaks
and be of real value to the people who
elected him.
OF this latte. class Is Charlie Leck.
enby. e
For at least .wo years before his of.
ficial duties began II was generally
known that there was false entry on
the books Of the state treasurer. that
there was forced balance, that .
former employee had gotten away with
some Of the money which belonged -
the people-YOUR money.
Nobody seemed to be clear ~ to
how 1t had been done or the enact
amount Of the shortage. Some Of
your money had disappeared. There
was. Of course. something faulty with
ths system Of handling the money, but
former officials had not made the e.
fort or taken the trouble to sift II to
the bottom.
II you were running . business and
were confronted with such q condi-
tion. II you knew some of your money
had gone but was not sure Of the
amount or the method employed.
wouldn't you think It worth while to
make = thorough examination and put
forth an effort to recover what had
been taken from you?
With Charlie Leckenby It was simp-
ly case Of making the peoples busi-
ness his business. II did not occur to
him to get by the easy way. He want
ed to know the whole story. TO find
out the amount. to remedy Q faulty
method which would allow such thsfts
ard to make an effort to recover the
money which had been stolen from
the people.
No superficial examination would
satisfy this official. He went back for
a period Of twenty years and checked
every item ON the financial books OF
the state. II required five months to
do the Job and there was individual
handling Of over 400. 900 warrants ~
well as checking Of books that had
grown musty with age. covering ex-
penditures Of more than SG0.000.000.
But when the task was finished tho
whole matter was like an open book.
the dates the amount. the method
For period OF nearly seventeen
years a trusted employee OF the state
had been taxing YOUR money. the y
aggregate amount being nearly $780,
900.
How could all this happen!
Loose business methods. primarily.
and easy-going examiners who wanted
to get by with the minimum Of trou-
BILE and effort. Not the Leckenby kind
OF officials.
High salaried certified public ac-
countants had checked the books and
certified to them as correct while the
thefts were going on. Let one ex-
ample suffice for many:
In June. 1903, following the custom
then IN vogue, Governor Peabody ap-
pointed committee Of "experts'' to
examine. the state treasurer's books
for the previous six months. and on
page 166 OF the cash book Of that year
appears this notation:
Examined and found correct.
H. e. MULNIX.
B. F. RICHARDSON,
F. p. BERTSCHY,
Committee
YET LECKENBY REPORT