Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-09-10
THOMPSON SAYS
TAXPAYER CASH
PAIDILLECALLY
:, Communication Delivered to
County Beard of Supervisors
neplores Leakage.
cH1RGES BODY WITH EVASION
naeIares That Previous Efforts On
His Part to Accomplish
Results Side stepped

u the sheriff o. Rock Island
.,,ntv unloading his deputies onto
~ general county fund by having
ran compensated as baIliffs in
-.ss3 of their services being
.Esrre5 IL the sheriG's fund
Crch IS the question aroused by
. statement delivered to the board
= euDe-vfsors of Boc}- Island
comfy this afternoon by States
Attorney Floyd f. Thompson, its
legal advisor
EIncb food for thought IS offered
the taxpaycrs Of the county in the
GATES attorneys address, in
which he protests once again what
10 terms as the illegal payroll
svs-eal" from which the sheriff's
Office is beuedtinE-
M. Thompson stated early in his
ak that. although he had brought
~ their attention this matter af-
facting the compensation Of the
sheriff and his deputies many
times. it has been evaded and
lodged by the supervisors. His
statement in full follows:
TO the board OF supervisors:
sT.et ne address myself at the
onen.ng Of this session to the mat
Ter Of the compensation Of the
sheriff and his deputies This
subject has occupied my attention
for the past SIX years and l have
addressed this board on the subject
many times within the last fonr
Years. Instead OF getting results
I simply cause a shifting of meth
obs Of eyaiiDg the Law am
forced 10 say now. that there has
been q deliberate effort 70 c2moU
fage the whole situation, and a
holder piece Of lodging and duck
ing I never Witnessed
after three years Of consistent
hammering. backed up by the aud
TORS report for 1916. l finally sue
cee1ed last year in stopping the il
legal payroll system. To my SUE
Prise I find the taxpayers money
being dragged out through q new
hole but going 10 the same place
10 FIJI I'd the deficit in the sheriff ;
earnings.
Two Of the deputies who act for
the sheriff as turkeys at the
county Jail and who. under the
law, must be paid from the earn
ings Of the sherif's Office actually
collected. have been placed on the
payroll as walters and are now
being paid from the general
county fund Six OF the deputies
IN the Eheriff's Office who must be
paid from the earnings OF the sheT-
# actually collected. are now on
the payroll as bailiffs and are
drawing their pay from the general
fund Of the county. In brief, eight
men, who help make the earnings
from which. under the law, all
must be paid, are not being paid
from these earnings. but are being
paid from the general fund of the
county on false payrOlls.
Let me illustrate. TIE sheriff
IS by law allowed a per diem Of
s. for each day each of the four
courts Of record IS in session. In
other words. a per diem of SIS
when all OF the courts are in ses-
sion, and this situation exists 10
months in the year. He gets this
per diem for attendance whether
he is actually there or not. OF
course, he cant be every place, So
the law gives him authority to act
by deputy.
Deputies Paid as Bafliffs.
ITO illustrate further-the pro-
bate court is in session every day
except Sundays and legal holidays.
The Sheriff is never actually pres
ent because there is nothing thers
Tor him 10 do. As an earning the
law gives him more than $1,000 4
year from the probate court alone
for theoretical attendance. Not
satisfied with this. the sheriff puts
On the payroll a bailif for this
court. who never attends the court
but who draws from the county
treasury 50 a day. IN other words.
taxpayers pay for attendance on
the probate court ST for every
court day in the year, for which
the sheriff renders no actual SER
vice. The deputy thus used to pad
this payroll works hard every day
for the sheriff, but receives no pay
from him. He does nothing for
tA- county as Fd4-ELr IS On lHe pay .
roll as q bailin, and is paid So d
day from the county treasury None
q the earnings he piles up in fees
for the sheriff is used 10 pay his
wages. Query: Where dc the earn
ings go2
Shortage 4 st0Unding.
@D0 l need TO illustrate further?
Do J need 10 pick out the practice
IN the other courts piecemeal? You
can see the dodge Is i possible
that this board viii now let this
camo-aage. This political sleight Of
hand 20 tarrher2 l appeal 10 you
p use your power as the only rep
resentauves 81 the helpless taxpay-
ers 20 stop these awful leaks. The
shortage is astounding. as I
pointed out TO you one year ago.
The last dodge has been made;
this time the issue must be faced.
Resp cttuIIy submitted,
Signed FLOYD f. THOMPSON,
States Attorney.