The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1919-11-21
Chapter v

WnaI II nad TO pc responsible Tor, so
that any interested persons would
know whether all public property
was turned over to the successors or
not, and to remove the temptation
to engage in petty larceny by using
county property and allowing it to
be forgotten in the hands of the
user. l based my agitation on the
fact that plows, scrapers, lumber,
cement and other machinery and
supplies purchased for road work
were sometimes left with people
along the road and completely for
gotten, even by the road overseer in
office, and never heard of by the
successor in office. Thousands of
pounds of cement were being bought
by the road overseers with the UNI
derstanding that the county received
credit of ten cents apiece for the
sacks if they were returned, and an
audit of the accounts showed that
hundreds of cement sacks disap-
peared and the county bore the loss.
The most generous construction
could place on the matter was that
the workmen were careless and the
sacks got wasted or lost When
goods are being spilled around and
lost, somebody generally becomes
frugal and picks them up, hoping
much will be spilled. If all of these
things in each department were
listed, and each new tool purchased
added to the list, and the turnover
to the successor were made by the
list; men would be more manly in
their dealings with the county gov
eminent. One of our road overseers
came thru with complete list that
included the paint brush he had used
to paint bridge railing, paddock
to lock up the county tools, a key
hole for the paddock, key for the
keyhole and a string to connect the
key with the lock in transit. That
was a fine example of care and dis
erection in a public trust. Now let
me tell you of another example, in
the state affairs this time.
Some Loose Methods
The superintendent of a public in
stitution was placed in charge simply
by walking in and receiving the pos
session of the office, the combina-
ton to the safe door and the keys
to the inner locks. There was that
old remark, II guess you'll find
everything all right" And l guess
he did. He was in the position about
a year and he told me he kept find
ing stuff all the time, that he did
not know was on the place or be-
longed to the institution. The last
time we visited together around the
place he showed me some very fine
instruments for surveying and for
and analyzing. He had
Just run across them in the base
ment where they seemed to have
been for years. He frequently con-
fessed to me that he didn't know
what in the world his predecessors
were thinking Of to buy some of the
stuff they did. AS we explored the
institution we found large quantities
of expensive goods that he himself
had bought and didn't know what
he was going to use it for. He had
bought too much. There were thir-
teen barrels of homemade vinegar
in the basement then and he had an
order in for six barrels of vinegar to
be shipped in from distant state.
Usually when l asked him about any
of the state property he would turn
to some employee and ask him or her
about it, and that was the basis of
his information. He turned the in
stitution over to a successor and af-
ter several months l went down and
counted the barrels of vinegar again
and there were % barrels. learned
that they had not bought any vine
gar and did not need to buy. They
could make all that was needed
about the place. Half dozen bar
rels had come in by freight that they
had not ordered but which they
found they had to pay for.
Buyer Needs Guardian
Every store that does not keep up
it's inventories buys goods that it
is already stocked with. Not every
dealer is a good merchandiser. Not
every merchandiser is good buyer.
Not every politician gets an appoint
ment, and those that do usually get
them by reason of their fitness for
the places sought or by reason of
the appointing power think
they are, fitted for the places sought.
The NAH l have just referred to
probably received his appointment
because the place was about to be-
come vacant and because he was
willing to take an appointment.
When every institution and depart
ment has it's own buyer and some
of them buy as badly as this one did,
it would be great advantage to the
state If each buyer had guardian.
Specialists Poor Buyers
Under the present system of buy
ing thru the department Of supplies,
that is what we have. The commits
sioner in the office at Boise does not
allow a bill for, surveyors instru-
ments or for analysis If the inventory
shows they already have set in
good condition. Or if there was
need of surveying some bitches and
there was competent surveyor