The copper era and Morenci leader., 1918-03-08

in the County. Metcalf's tax rate for the same year was $1.26 and Mo- renci's was $1 Il.
 State Examiner Powers in his re- cent -el'Crt to She BDald of Super visors, says:
 "A fiagrsnt viola.i m of the laws in past years, notably 1916, has been evidenced in the drawing of warrants aggregating thous- ands of dollars for school improve ments, buildings, equipment, etc., from the school funds, in direct con- travention of the mandatory provis- ions of Par. 2751 of the Civil Code. What makes this the more culpable is that in nearly every instance the 1 district was either in debt or had only small balance of cash on hand at ! the beginning of the term
 District No. 8, in the same period paid warrants aggregating $l2,411.54 for construction work, timekeepersr | surveyor, desks, labor, plumbing and painting. One warrant for $787s5O was for architects fees. These ac- counts would have been legal against the building fund of the district but were illegally drawn against the dis, | trict's school funds
 Several of the country districts fn- i dulged in similar illegal expenditure of school moneys.
 "The spirit of the law is plain. School district moneys are to be spent for teachers salaries and supplies and for the maintenance of the school The term contingent expenses" re- 1 fers to expenditures for such supplies as may be necessary to permit the use of existing equipment Should the district desire additional buildings or equipment, it must either vote for bond issue or special tax levy or satisfy itself with what it can pur- chase out of the funds left over at the end of the school term
 ''The School Trustees of District No. have illegally paid their clerk, John Evans, $1O per month for 12 months. The trustees of Union High School District No. 2 have paid another clerk, B. R. Lanneau, s25.O0 per month. It is questionable if this is proper since the Statutes do not pro- vide for any such salaries, ex- cept where there are more than 500 pupils.
 Tt is to be noted that in the larger cities substitutes are employed from time to time but in every instance the teacher who has laid off has re- ported 20 days taught and collected the full amount of his salray. This ! is improper.
 This improper use of funds of the school districts should be discontinu- ed. The County School Superintend- ent should notify all school trustees as to the plain wording of the law and refuse to issue warrants when the demands are drawn for the payment of charges forbidden by the Statutes. Incidentally, the trustees should be advised that the County School Super intendent is forbidden by law to draw warrants in payment of demands that are not accompanied by fully itemiz- ed statements since in no other way can the superintendent be advised as to whether the demand is for such 'necessar yexpenses' as are specified in Par. 270S of the Civil Code"
 I have observed in Greenlee county 2 condition which has always existed, the correction of which would prob ably mean a saving of considerable money and at the same time estab- fish precedent that would be main tained more e~-''v in future. I re- fer to section Of paragraph 2S14 of the Civil Coo wb '~h gives to Boards
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