Honorable Geo. R. Sheppard 

Comptroller- of Public Accounts 

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~lettersof March 1, 1940;and March.14, '-" 

1940; also‘~two letters 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 executing a 

vbticher m@de.payable to & UnlteKStates Postmaster. Th$~ 

Station h&'-then ~lssued'~'c~h~ck against the Pure Feea Wc%king 

FuiiaUXpaykient tif~the statipps %iha it' ha3 been eriaorsedUbgthe 

P&%tm&st&E from whom ~th6 putidhtise was made:'~A'?eImbursemtint 

tibtibh&r h&s beeii 'submitted to you by the Stirltloti anti listea~-'~ 

th&i?eoii.is-'the Cimoilnt ~expended in the piirchase'of'these stamps. 

They have also attached the orlglnal Stamp voucher, 

"~ ~With these facts In mind, you~request our opinion--a~-'~~ 

tb whether your department would, 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.the history 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 -~. 

stamps were derived. Being unable'to find tins legally 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'Feed working fund Is a fund of 

$lO;OOO advanced to-'the Director of the Agriciilttiral Experiment Station by the Board of Dlrec- 
- . 

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 wojrklng fund was set up irifter'an amendm6nt mad&~ln.the 315t Legislature, Third 

Calld Sessioti; wtilbh.amefiament, shown' ln the 

General I;avS of 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'of directors 

OT the AgrlcultW~l'aid‘Mechahlcal 'College for" 

iilak1ng'aI.l ritices3ary repair&at 'the AgrlctiItiiral 

%ind Mech~nlc%l~Col'leg~; Wectron'~bf buildlngs~' 

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 Treasutier 6n warrants 13sued~bg the 

pr@sid&nt and secr~etary'of the boarKof'&l; 

rt%toPs.' ItIs my‘und~~standihg that 'this 

tibrking fund V&s from rn6fii.63 ttiansmltted'by 

the'State Trhasurer on warrants to the College 

under this Act." . _ . . 

A's far &s'w&'have been abl'e to ascertain, the~A6t‘bf.. 

the-Ltiglslature deferred to by'Mr.~ Coiixier is~'the~'bliI~~sou~d~~ ~~ 

from which.the~ "working fund'" cd.iSd haii& b&n'~deri@&.'--~ S-&ate 

BrlS'No~. 10, Third Called Session, .TtiWtyLfii"st L@l%lattir&~~~'; 

r&fijrred to-'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 (Including Article 3875; stii5I;a) 

to the'use and beiieflt of the A. &M. College bf.Texas-8na provFde6 that 'the Stat% Treasurer should'keep an account on~his-. -- 

bboks t&be known as the Pure Feed~Fund 6f the'Agricultura1 and 

Mechanical College. Section 2 of said Act provided: . 

"Section 2, 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 purpdses Xs 

iriay b5 deemed'aavisable bji the board of di?ectors-; 

and s&id fun& shall be pafd outby the SFate'~Trea,suPer on warrants issued by the presldeiit and"secretary of the board of director‘s;. Th5 said boara.of 

dliiectors shall'on the 315t day of August of~each 

jiear file a swijrfi report Uith'ttie GoVePrior, giving 

a-n itemize8 statement of all Feceipts alia dIsbur3ements of said fund for the year ending on said date." 
Honorable Gee, R. Sheppard, page 3 Q-2036 

"The doctrine of ejusdem generls (of the same kina) 

Imports that general words following an enumeratfon of partlcular or specific things will 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, ~137 S;W. 1120:. In view 

of'thls rule, we are constrained to hold that the Board of 

Dir'ectors of the Agricultural and Mechanical Collegewere not 

authori~sed under Senate Bill~No. 10, supra, to set up 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'erectlng buildings 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 appropriated under Senate~Bill~‘No;~10, 

supra, could not have-been us~ed for 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 "working fund' 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", together with 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 against which the Texas Agricultural ExperTmentStation may legally issue checks, they may proceed to make their 

purchases out of such funds and your department-,' under A~rtrticle 

3875~, SUPP~ .9 would be authorized to issue warrants reimbursing 

them for the amounts so expended. 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEYGENERAL OF TEXAS 

HAS:RS:wc By s/Walter R. 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