A Better System

The defalcatkm of Mr. Suekey as county treasurer ís not the first deialcation of a. county treasurer in ■Washitenaw oounty, fout Lrt is the last one, and consequently the one that ■is just at present attractlng the att-ention oí the people and causing muoli talk and comment. It has caused a niimbar of honest and repoitable people who are upon his bonds a great maaiy hours of disquietude, to put it ligJitly. It lias Jone more than that. It hascauseda decline of the faith men pilace in mankind in general, and without which business could not be conducted lor a day in this nation or j aiiy subdivisión thereof, under the j present system of condcutiing business, i It ahvays has been, and probably always wíll be necessa-ry for men to obtains bonds in order to fill certain positions wliere bonds are required. When a man betrays a trust a.nd hits bondsmen are compelled to pay for a "uiüsappropï-iation of f unds" then tliere are always just that many men added to the nuinber wlio lose faitli in mankind, and yi never again loan good namO to heíp a íriend ia t-lie oonduct of public or pinivate business. This result is quite natural. Eren a ckild declines to put its finger in the fire and get it burned tlio second tdime. Astlie present experíence is not the íirst that Washtenaw county has had ol an uaifavorable kímd with its county treasurers, why not do as the oirty of Ann Arbor has done, adopt a system by wháeh the treasarer's boo& are checked up every month, and a certifícate furnisbed from the cashíer oí the banl in which the funde are deposiited that the money is there? It would not be a diiíficult thing for the coumty clerk to keep a eet ol lxoks that wouilid Bhow all the orders drawn on the county treasurer, and the treasurer report to the clerk all receipts. Then by taklng the outstanding orders and deducting the amount th-ereof from the total amount issued, it wou'.d show how nuch tlie treasurer should have on ' liaaid. Tlien let this statement be published at the end oí eacli month with a certifícate from the baoik that the inoney is tJiere. This is the system now used in the city affaire and it is an excellent one. It is safe, and the people know exactly how the finances are all the time, and Avhere they are, also. If sometliing of this küid had been Sin use, the coimty of AVashtenaw wouM nerer have run $20,000 or more dsn debt. The supervisors would never have dared to allow it. IHie board of eupor-ifeors have a session on the first of Januaxy next, and a resoloitrón looking to the adoptcön of a system similar to that , outlined above will be introduced. i It Tviïl not be locking the barn door ' the horse ds stoten exactly, foir ' it muBt be remembea-ed that there are many Jiorses i'n the baa-n y et. It will siniply be adopting wise aaid precautóonary measures that should have been adopted long ago.