The Dolores star., 1918-11-01
SHORT SHORTAGE
TALE and SEQUEL
ROW AUDITOR LEckENsY GOT AT
FIGURES AFTER HIS oPpoN.
ENT HAD "APPRoVEp"
ERRORS.
(6y George M. kimball.1

cial who has kept faith with the peo.
p'e-ohas. ii. Leckenby, present state
auditor, Democratic candidate for
state treasurer.
TWO years ago by a majority of
nearly "o'oVO the people OF Colorado
commissioned Charlie Leckenby to
take charse of one OF the most import.
ant branches OF the state government.
TO look after the expenditures of the
vast sums that the people pay to keep
UP the machinery of government.
Ihat he has performed this duty
well is conceded by everybody. Con
irohted by vast increase of work oc-
casioned by the mobilization of the
state troops and other war activities,
there has been no increase In the ex.
pense and the business of the state
mas been performed promptly, eco.
nomically. courteously.
We who knew this quiet, unassum-
ing, but capable business man, took
all OF this as matter of course. II
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 re-
sistance, performs his duties well, pos.
sibly, but gets by with the least eff
fort. contenting himself to follow well.
marked lines laid down by his prede.
cessors. If work has always been
done In certain way. he does not
take the trouble to make changes or
improve methods.
The other kind is 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 latter class is Charlie Leck-
enby
For at least two years before his Of
ficial duties began it was generally
known that there was false entry on
the books of the state treasurer, that
there was forced balance, that
former employe had gotten away with
some of the money which belonged to
the people-YOUR money.
Nobody seemed to be clear as to
how it had been done or the exact
amount of the shortage. Some OF
your money had disappeared There
was, of course, something faulty with
the system of handling the money. but
former officials had not made the ef-
fort or taken the trouble to sift it to
the bottom.
If you were running business and
were confronted with such condi.
tion. If you knew some of your money
had gone but was not sure of the
amount or the method employed,
wouldn't you think 1t 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 busl-
ness his business. 1t 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 faulty
method which would allow such thefts
and 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 1t required five months to
do the job and there was individual
handling of over 100000 warrants az
well as checking of books that had
grown musty with age, covering ex-
penditures of more than sG0,000,O00.
But when the task was finished the
whole matter was like an open book.
the dates, the amount. the method.
For "a period of nearly seventeen
wears a trusted employe of the state
had been taking YOUR money. the
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 salared 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. 1908, following the custom
then in vogue, Governor Peabody ap
pointed a committee of experts to
examine, the state treasurer's DOCKS
for the previous six months, and on
page 166 of the cash book OF that year
appears this notation:
Examined and found correct.
H. f. MULNIX.
Dr<,rIAnnCnN