"bunched" and paid out in a hap-hazard manner, some funds thus becoming over paid while others are made to suffer a shortage of money in some special use for which it was voted.

Reports to township

It is the clear intent of the law that the people shall know how the money paid by them in taxes is used. To this end it provides that a report of all township expenditures shall be made in writing and filed with the township clerk and open to the inspection of any inhabitant of the township or any outside taxpayer, and further that it shall be read at the annual township meeting if so requested. The law also provides that the district board shall at the annual meeting of the district give a full report of all receipts and expenditures. The above district report must be in writing and contain a statement of all taxes assessed upon the property of the district during the preceding year, the purposes for which such taxes were assessed and the amount for cach particular purpose, and the report become a permanent record of the district. Seldom is the last part of the above law followed. Indeed I have not found a single case in which the annual report was copied in the minutes and had been made a permanent record.

and!

districts.

This neglect is generally because of ignorance of the law, but in some cases it is to cover up the illegal use of the funds that have been diverted to some purpose not voted by the people, or in a few cases used in the private business of the officer, or stolen. Oftentimes the "statements" made cover a misuse of funds in plain violation of the expressed prohibitions of the statutes. The ordinary tax payer, unless he is willing to stand as a "knocker," and besides being somewhat ignorant of his rights in the case, sits silent and goes away from the annual meeting dissatisfied with matters. In some cases the district board take it upon themselves to make the repairs voted by the district, and allow themselves such wages as they choose, and in some cases they have gone so far as to build a schoolhouse because "the district had voted that the district build a schoolhouse," all in direct violation of the provisions of the law. And sometimes the term “incidentals" covers an actual embezzlement of district funds.

Rights of

The people have the right to know for what purpose every dollar of taxes has been used. They have, also, the power to the people. recover moneys illegally used by district officers, and officers who have assumed powers not authorized by law should be made to account for the assumption of such powers. The tax payers alone can divert money voted for one purpose to another purpose, and this they can do only by a vote of two-thirds of all the tax payers in the district.

The same may be said of the moneys voted by a township. In the township records that I have been obliged to audit I have found different cases where the moneys have not been correctly accounted for. In some cases the school district had not received the moneys due it, but such moneys had been deliberately used for township purposes or for private business; in some cases the township books have been destroyed or were purposely secreted; in one case the township board voted money to build a town hall, and built the same, doing a large share of the work and paying themselves out of the moneys not voted for such purpose.

Frequently all warrants, orders and receipts are destroyed after a settlement is made with the proper officers, leaving the treasurer and the clerk without any original documents of defense in case of an investigation into the financial affairs of the township or district; the books may be produced but they are not conclusive. It is the indorsed warrants and orders, and the

receipts that really show how money has been expended. Treasurers of both school districts and townships should forbid the destruction of any of the original documents of their administrations.

From the above facts and the experience gained in auditing

district accounts it is my opinion that each county should have County an auditor whose duty it should be to audit the books of town- auditor. ships and school districts annually; also that the laws should be

so amended that one of the qualifications for holding the office of treasurer should be the ability to read the English language and write it legibly.

The violations of the laws in handling school funds and accounting for the same are usually along some of the following lines:

First. School moneys are not kept separate from all other moneys. This is in violation of section 1198 of the general school laws.

Second. The school moneys are often used by the treasurer and sometimes by the other members of the board for their own purposes. These officers have no thought of defrauding the district, but it is very convenient when some ready money is needed to use some of the school money which will not be needed for school purposes. As many districts have a large amount of money on hand which cannot be used for school purposes, the money is not returned to the treasury; instead more is used. Again and again this happens until the officer finds it quite imposible to reimburse the district when he is called upon to do so. The result in several districts has been criminal proceedings against the officers.

Section 1199 of the general school laws provides as follows: "No such officer shall, under any pretext, use nor allow to be used any such moneys for any purpose other than in accordance with the provisions of law; nor shall he use the same for his private use, nor loan the same to any person, firm or corporation without legal authority to do so." The penalty for violating this law is fine or imprisonment or both.

Third. The money is sometimes loaned to some friend or corporation; sometimes the district votes to loan its surplus funds on a real estate mortgage. In both of the above cases the law is violated. The district cannot go into the loaning business, even if it has a large surplus of cash on hand. Fourth. The money is sometimes used for other purposes than those prescribed by law; the primary school interest fund which can legally be used for teachers' wages only, has in many districts been used for all purposes; the one-mill tax money has also been used contrary to the express provisions of law. In no case can the primary money be diverted legally from the teachers' wages fund; the one-mill tax can, however, by a vote of the district, be used for other purposes after a district has had in any school year eight months of school. In no other way can any of this fund be used for other purposes than teachers' wages. Occasionally money voted for a certain purpose has been diverted to some other purpose and so covered in the accounting that the ordinary person cannot discover the discrepancy; again interest that has been paid by banks has been kept by the officers contrary to law, such interest being the property of the district; and again, money has been voted by the district board for purposes not authorized by law, and the district kept in ignorance of the fact.

Fifth. In a few cases officers have deliberately defrauded the district, using the money of the district for private business, making no attempt to replace the same, and deliberately falsifying the district accounts and the annual report to this department. A common method of defrauding the district is for two persons of the same family or the same ilk to secure the

offices of director and treasurer of the district board. Then these officers present bills for real or fancied services. Two of the officers being of the same family they pass upon the bills favorably and, have them allowed, an order is drawn for the payment of the same and when presented to the moderator for his signature is signed by him rather than have any trouble about the matter; quite likely he is bribed by being allowed to do some work about the school grounds or by furnishing some wood or "supplies," real or fancied, at an extravagant price, another illegal act.

Sixth. Often the cause for errors is the failure to understand the various funds as designated by law. To make this matter clear a bulletin has been prepared by this department and distributed among school officers. This appears herewith under head of school moneys and classifies the funds, gives their sources and the purposes for which each fund may be used.

Seventh. Another cause for errors in accounting for school funds is a misunderstanding of the powers and duties of the school officers and taxpayers. Certain taxes are voted by the district and certain others by the school board. Officers have sometimes taken advantage of their right to vote taxes by voting a much larger amount than will be needed and then diverting the surplus to some other use than that for which the money was assessed.

A district has full power as to the amount of money to be raised for permanent repairs on buildings and for constructing new buildings. It has also the power to choose its building committee, but it has not the power to instruct the district board to construct or repair a building. The district board cannot be interested in any contract, neither can an officer receive pay for working on a building for the district either in repairing or constructing the same. If a district wishes any member of the board to do any work on a building for the district, it must first secure the resignation of such officer.

It will be evident from the above that the opportunities for errors in the handling of district funds are many, and officers who are elected to the responsibilities should study carefully their powers and duties. They should also give special attention to some system of accounting that will apply to district accounting as laid down in the school laws. I append some suggestions that should be observed in the keeping of school accounts.

First. The director and treasurer should keep the same form of accounts. Second. All moneys received by the treasurer should be charged on Dr. side of the proper fund; all orders paid credited on the Cr. side.

Third. All warrants drawn upon the township treasurer should state the exact amount, and not read "All moneys in your hands belonging to said district." To insure this the statement of the township clerk to the director giving the moneys due the district in the township treasurer's hands should be carefully preserved by the director.

Fourth. All warrants drawn upon the township treasurer should be cashed by the district treasurer before the annual settlement with the school director.

Fifth. The stubs of orders drawn upon the district treasurer should give the items for which the order is drawn. Such stub should be filled out before the order is detached.

Sixth. Never omit placing number, date and fund upon both order and stub. The number is as important in accounting as is the date, and should not begin with number one each year but go on indefinitely.

Seventh. Never tear out a stub nor destroy an order. All spoiled orders have an explanation made upon the stub.

Eighth. When money is hired by the district the director should charge the district treasurer with the same when the notes or bonds properly signed are placed in the treasurer's hands, explaining the matter in the entry.

Ninth. The director of a fractional school district can draw warrants on the township treasurer only of the township in which the schoolhouse is situated, and such treasurer must apply to each township treasurer of any other townships in which any part of the district is situated for any money in his hands belonging to such district, according to section 4713 of the general school laws.

Lest there be a misunderstanding of this report, I wish to say in conclusion that there are not many cases in which there is the least appearance of dishonesty among school officers. A few there have been and they have answered to the law for their malfeasance, but the ordinary school officer is a philanthropist. He does a large amount of work for the good of the schools, receiving no pay therefor, but instead the abuse of those people who have little or no interest in education, and the better officer he is, usually the more of the criticisms he receives.

I wish here to thank the school officers whose accounts have been audited for their uniformly courteous treatment of my representative. Indeed the officers have seemed as desirous that the financial matters of the district be straightened out as is this department and have rendered every assistance possible. The same may be said of the township officers.

SUMMARY OF ACCOUNTING.

The financial reports of district officers have been corrected in 1342 districts, scattered through over seventy counties of the State. These corrections were as follows:

1. For incorrect report of primary money received.....

653

2. For incorrect report of primary money on hand, generally because illegally used...

261

3. Incorrect report of cash on hand...

279

4. For incorrect accounts for various other reasons among which are lack of items of receipts and expenditures, incorrect report of wages paid, amounts due the district, failure to account for all the funds in the treasurer's hands..

337

Total corrections in the above 1342 districts....

1530

In addition to the above there have been many cases in which primary interest money and one-mill tax money have been used illegally, also many cases of officers being paid for services which they could not legally perform for pay, such as labor on the buildings and grounds, furnishing fuel, etc.

There have been a few cases of defalcation which are at present being prosecuted by the Attorney General.

In nearly every case in which money has been illegally used we have succeeded in having it replaced in the district treasury. These amounts vary from a few dollars in some districts to over $1400 in others.

There are many district accounts yet to audit, but the bulk of the work

is done. I believe that when once the accounts are correct and officers realize that their accounts are subject to audit, greater care will be exercised in safeguarding the people's money, chief among which will be ample and secure bonds of the district treasurer and a systematic method of keeping school district accounts.

AGRICULTURE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

At a national meeting of the presidents and instructors of agricultural schools in the United States,' held two years ago, the subject of agriculture in the public schools received a large amount of attention. With the introduction of manual training, domestic science, and commercial courses into the public schools, has come a demand also for instruction in agriculture. Agriculture is at the foundation of our national prosperity and it is probable that no business or profession has received so little attention at the hands of educators as this most important one. In several states laws have been enacted providing that agriculture shall be taught in the public schools, but as yet the reports show that little has been done to carry out the spirit of such legislation.

Courses of study.

There is a great diversity of opinion among educators as to the field that shall be covered in agricultural instruction. No one has yet evolved a course of study that seems exactly adapted to the needs of farmers. Special courses are given in our agricultural colleges and other colleges for the benefit of the farmers of the State. The so-called short courses given in the winter at our Agricultural College provide a small amount of special instruction along certain special lines, but the attendance at these classes is so small that the results when applied to the State at large make very little impression.

It seems clear, therefore, that if we are to spread the benefits of agricultural instruction over the state it must be done through the medium of the public schools. As stated before, no one has yet decided exactly what can or ought to be taught. All agree upon the advisability of such work. This Department, in order to furnish a foundation upon which agricultural instruction may be given has requested members of the faculty of our State Agricultural College to prepare certain material along agricultural lines which shall be elementary and fundamental and which can be used to some degree of advantage by teachers who have not had special courses in agriculture. The subjects selected by the Department are as follows: soils, crops, horticulture, nature study, animal husbandry. Joseph A. Jeffery, Professor of Agronomy of the Agricultural College, has prepared a bulletin on the subject of crops along the lines above indicated, and this bulletin has been distributed to the several normal schools and county normal training classes to be used by the students in these institutions in their course in agriculture. This bulletin will be followed during the ensuing year by the following bulletins:

A Study in Soils.

A Study in Horticulture.

A Study in Animal Husbandry.

A Study in Elementary Botany and Nature Study.