Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-07-20
THE WORSE II. SMELLS.

Like some other unsavory things, the more the
history of the Home Building association is stirred
the worse it smells.
Just now there is in progress a trial to determine
what amount, if any. George Wallace, former state
tax commissioner, shall pay for a house which was
built for him by the Home Building association.
The state, basing it's position on the computations
made for and by the association under the admins
tration headed by Governor Frazier, claims some
ST. 900. Mr.. Wallace says that his bargain with the
association was that the house, all told, should cost
about s. 5000. Witnesses are being examined to as
certain just what the house did cost. One of the
most important witnesses is M. w. Thatcher, head
of the accounting firm employed by the league adj
ministration to audit the accounts of the various en-
terprises in which the state was engaged. Mr..
Thatcher's relations with the former administration
were close and friendly. Nowhere has it been
charged that he was biased against Governor Fra
.zier or against the political organization with which
the governor was connected. His statements as to
the condition of the Home Building associations at
fairs cannot, therefore, be suspected of emphasizing
too strongly any facts which place that administra-
ton in an unfavorable light. 81 %
With this understanding of the attitude Of this
witness let any reader look over the testimony which
he gave in the hearing of the case in which Mr..
Wallace is interested. When the association start
ed building it had no system of accounting and no
books. Therefore it kept no records. 1t built hous-
es by rule of thumb, without knowing how much
material was going into any particular house, or how
much labor was expended on it. When the Equit-
able Audit company came to check up on this bust
ness it had nothing to go by. There were records
here and there of money paid and material pur-
chased, but@what, had been done with it nobody
knew. The audit company did the best thing posi-
BILE under the circumstances perhaps. 1t looked
over all the houses and made an estimate of the ma
terial that had gone into each, and of the labor
which probably had been employed. Then it added
up and got a total That total was $149,000 short
of the sums paid out. Whether the material had
been lost, mislaid or stolen, nobody knew, and there
was no way of finding out. The company took a
long shot and pro rated the deficiency among all the
houses, with the exception of two or three concern
ing which accounts had been kept, for some mys-
ferrous reason not stated.
Just imagine it! .
And this is only a small part. While records of
the cost Of particular buildings had not been kept,
records have been found of the prices paid for a lot
of material, and those prices are declared by the
friendly audit company to have been entirely un-
warranted.
This is the institution that was going to save
the laboring men and farmers of the state large sums
through the economies which it was to bring about
in advantageous purchases, bulk shipments and
handling and economical construction!
And Mr.. Thatcher says further that the losses
which were going on were known to the Industrial
commission, the effective part of which then consist
ed OF two men, one of whom was Governor Frazier,
and that the commission did not seem concerned
over the conditions.