Honorable Geo. R. Sheppard

Comptroller-

of PublicAccounts Austin, Texas

Dear Sir: Opinion NO; o-2036-, -. -. -, Re: Furchasti'of

postage%

stamp3 by the Texas Agricultural ExperIl ment Station at A. & M. College.

.~

-owe have your~lettersofMarch 1, 1940;and March.14, '-" 1940; also‘~twoletters froin Mr.-A. B. Conner,Director, Texas Ag?lcultural~Expi+Nmeiit'Stat~on,~A; & M; College, aded Feb;~~ ruarg 28, 1940, and March 13, 1940,which you forwarded to us. -. 'Thes‘e~lette?$

reveal that the Texas 'Agrlcultutial Eti-‘. ljeeliuent

StatF6Khas purchased ~posttige' stamps-by executinga vbticher

m@de.payable to & UnlteKStates Postmaster. Th$~ Station h&'-then ~lssued'~'c~h~ck against the Pure Feea Wc%king FuiiaUXpaykient tif~thestatipps %ihait'

ha3 been eriaorsedUbgthe P&%tm&st&E from whom ~th6putidhtise was made:'~A'?eImbursemtint tibtibh&r

h&s beeii'submittedto you by the Stirltloti antilistea~-'~ th&i?eoii.is-'the

Cimoilnt

~expendedin the piirchase'of'these stamps. They have also attached the orlglnal Stamp voucher,

"~ ~Withthese facts In mind, you~request our opinion--a~-'~~ tb whether your departmentwould, be auth&lzeKto Issue-a'warrafit payable to the Director-'df'the Agriciiltural

Experiment Station for refund of the stamps so purchased.

We have sfudied.thehistory of Article '3875, Vernbn's Revised Civil--Statutes; 1925, in an effort to ascertain from what'sources anKby what authority the funds used by the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in purchasing these -~. stampswere derived. Being unable'to find tinslegally created ?evolvlng br lnstltutional fund from which suchi purchases could be made, we wrote you on March 8, 1940, asktng for lnformatlon~'regarding the source or sources from which the fund might be authorized. In response to-this request,we have Mr. A. B. Conner's letter of March 13, 1940, and in connection with this matter he says:

.

"The Pure'Feedworking fund Is a fund of $lO;OOO advanced to-'the Director of the Agriciilttiral Experiment Station by the Board ofDlrec-- .

Honorable Geo. H. Sheppard, page 2 

### 0-2036

tors of the College many years ago. The original source of this fund, I understand,

was from the net surplus accrued in the administration of the Pure Feed Law ana the wojrklngfund was set up irifter'anamendm6nt mad&~ln.the 315t Legislature, Third Calld Sessioti;

wtilbh.amefiament, shown' ln the General I;avSof Texas;-Thlra Callea'Sesslon, 3lst~Le~islature;lglO, page.16, tiectititi 2! fir&id&-'that'I;~

. . Said 'fiti&(StirplUs) ~ .~

. . . sh&ll be us.ed by the.b6ard'ofdirectors OT the AgrlcultW~l'aid‘Mechahlcal 'Collegefor" iilak1ng'aI.l

ritices3ary

repair&at 'theAgrlctiItiiral %ind Mech~nlc%l~Col'leg~; Wectron'~bfbuildlngs~'

ana otliier

Improvemefits,

-~a& for such oth@‘pur-~ 'pose5&s'mag be'aeemed advlstible by'the board~of directbrs, ana'said funas shall be~paia outs by the.State Treasutier6n warrants 13sued~bg the pr@sid&nt and secr~etary'of the boarKof'&l; rt%toPs.' ItIs my‘und~~standihg that 'this tibrkingfund V&s from rn6fii.63 ttiansmltted'by the'State Trhasurer on warrants to the College under this Act."

. _ . . A'sfar &s'w&'havebeen abl'eto ascertain, the~A6t‘bf.. the-Ltiglslature

deferred to by'Mr.~Coiixier is~'the~'bliI~~sou~d~~ ~~ from which.the~"workingfund'" cd.iSd haii& b&n'~deri@&.'--~

S-&ate BrlS'No~.

10, Third Called Session,.TtiWtyLfii"st L@l%lattir&~~~'; r&fijrredto-'in

l@?*Coniier~'%

lettZ5,w~a* tin

apprbprlatSon.blIT. It &ppropri.%ted

and transfer&d all moneys colle~ted.under'.tFi~-' pr+ovltiiofis

bf the pure feed laws (IncludingArticle 

### 3875; stii5I;a) to the'use and beiiefltof the A. &M. Collegebf.Texas-8naprovFde6 that 'theStat% Treasurer should'keepan account on~his-. -- bboks t&be known as the Pure Feed~Fund 6f the'Agricultura1and Mechanical College. Section 2 of said Act provided:

. "Section2, Said funds so appi+opriated ana collect-d shall be used by the bdara of directors of the Bgrlculturtil and Mechaiilcal

College for‘~ itiaking

all necessary repairs at the Agrlculturfil and Mechanical College, erection of builalngs ana oCher improvemZW.s, "and for such bther purpdsesXs iriay b5 deemed'aavisablebjithe board of di?ectors-; and s&id fun& shall be pafd outby the SFate'~Trea,suPer on warrants issued by the presldeiitand"secretary of the board of director‘s;. Th5 said boara.of dliiectors

shall'on the 315t day of August of~each jiearfile a swijrfi report Uith'ttie

GoVePrior,

giving

a-nitemize8 statement of all Feceipts aliadIsbur3ements of said fund for the year ending on said date."Honorable Gee, R. Sheppard, page 3 Q-2036

"Thedoctrine of ejusdem generls (of the same kina) Imports that generalwords following an enumeratfonof partlcular or specific thingswill be confLned to things of the same kind. In brief, the general words so used are not to be construed in the widest sense, but are to be held as applying only to-'persons

or things of the same 'kind and class-.as

those enumerated.;' 39 Tex, Jur:202. See also Farmers' and.MechanPcs' National Bank v. Hanks, 104~'Tex.320,~137S;W. 1120:. In view of'thls rule, we are constrained to hold that the Board of Dir'ectorsof the Agricultural and Mechanical Collegewere not authori~sed

under SenateBill~No. 10, supra, to setup a "working fuiid"

for the Agricultural Experiment Statfon. The~piirof Senate Bill No. 10, supra, was to appropriate the fun&s" therein referred to for the purpose of'erectlngbuildings ana other improvem'ents, and making repairs-; under the doctrlne‘~of ejusdem generis, the directors 00uia hiife lisea said funas only forpurposes similar to, or p of the same class as, those expressed in the statute.

. ~-" Since the moneys appropriatedunder Senate~Bill~‘No;~10, supra, could not have-beenus~edfor the purpose of.establFshing the "working fund," themoneysthereinproperly belong in the State Treasury to.~~theaccount of the Piire

Feed-.FunS[‘of‘Xhe Kgricultural anal

Mechanical College of Texas: -'As a-practical matter;-we~riialize that there 1s not ten thousand‘dollars ($~O,OOO)standing-to the credit of the "workingfund' at'thls~ timedue to the fact that the ExperIment Station bfficlals have ls~sued checks against sala'fund~inaccordance with the-pro-'. cedure followed forthe past severa years, In view of this-. fact,we suggest that the moneys standing to the'credit ofsaid 'working fund", togetherwith the-vouchers and cancelled checks issued by the officials of the Station, be returned to the State Treasury.

. . ,.~

.~ If there'are any legally created revolvfng or Fnstitutibnal funds againstwhich the Texas Agricultural ExperTmentStationmay legally issue checks, they may proceed to make their purchases out of such funds and your department-,' under A~rtrticle 3875~, SUPP~ .9would be authorized to issue warrants reimbursing them for the amounts so expended.

Yours very truly

ATTORNEYGENERAL OF TEXAS

HAS:RS:wc By s/WalterR. Koch Walter R, Koch Approved Sun II, 1940 s/Gerald C. Mann By s/Harry A. Shuford ATTORNEYGENERAL OF TEXAS Harry- A. Shuford Approved Opinion Committee by s/BWB Chairman