The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1922-01-19
AN EXEMPLARY SCHOOL
BOARD

An Idaho man was telling about
conditions in his school district and
said, things got so badly mixed up
in the school accounts and finances
generally, that they put in some new
members Of the board in an effort to
straighten things out, and in order
to help them in the task, they en-
ployed an expert accountant to
audit their books. His work brought
up review Of transactions for sew
eral years past. Some of the trans
actions were so strange, that it
aroused the CONSERVATION of the
board.
When these different transactions
came to light, and we're explained to
the board, there were four of the
men who always behaved about the
same way over every outrageous dis
covery. In telling the story he
designated these men as A, B, c and
d. In these moments Of surprise
and CONSERVATION, he said, A always
wanted to punish some one; B al
ways wanted to fight somebody; CT
always spoke in parallels; and d.
always wanted to say something but
he would find his mouth blocked
with a big quid of tobacco and he
would rush to the door or to the
spittoon to unload and by that time
somebody else would have the floor.
1t is an interesting study to see
what men will do when they become
public servants in some capacity or
other. There are good many good
reliable men In this part of the world
who do very well with their own
business and exercise good judgment
and their success challenges the ad-
miration OF other people. Then when
q number of these men are thrown
together, in committee work or
board duty or in any manner where
they have to act jointly in whatever
they do, they feel themselves at a
loss for leader and accomplish
very much less working together
than they would working separately.
There are some of them who never
like to lead out in anything for fear
they will be criticised for trying to
run" things. Sometimes there are
others in the same committee, or
board who feel handicapped because
somebody else is taking the lead, and
the leadin gfellow always beats them
to it with his ideas. Therefore one
becomes a follower. Some men act
ing in such capacity find it difficult
to do as they want to or say what
they mean because they labor under
the idea that they should not talk
in formal meeting using the same
language that they do in their every
day affairs. Some men acting on
that idea, find themselves so con-
sciously hampered and embarrassed
that their work does not amount to
anything when they are working on
a committee or on a board. Some
of these men never put their own
ideas into the decisions even tho
they do not agree with the others;
when somebody else has spoken and
advanced an idea they edo not like
to say anything" even tho they differ.
In many cases men who are in
dividually honest are collective cor
rupt. By that we mean that man
dCIiHS ny uluIScll CdH D0 uepeuueu
on and his word is good, but put
him with a bunch of men on political
or business matters and he is liable |
to unite with them to do something
that he himself does not believe in |
and does not approve Of. One
cheeky, nervy, impudent man work
ing on a committee with such men
as we have described may carry the
whole committee with him, and each |
of the other men will go away from
the meeting feeling little dissatis-
fed with what was done but feeling |
that all the rest of them seem to |
be in favor of what was done and |
perhaps he was the only one against |
it, when in fact most of them felt |
the same way that he did about it |
and were keeping still for the same |
reason that he did. Men have to
work together for two or three years
before they get to understand the
situation and get to working together
and by that time their term of office
has probably expired and they retire
condemned for the bad record they
made.
a