The Empire County argus., 1854-07-15
COUNTY MACHINERY.

Having seen that large sums of money are col
lected from the people and paid into the Treasury
of the County, it admonishcs that the collecting
officers have been efficient not only this they have
paid the money collected into the Treasury. The
inquiry is, how does the money get out of the Treas
ury after having been placed there by the collecting
officers?
First then, the current of county finances appears
to run in channel beginning with itemizcd
statement of accounts verified by the oath of the
party having demand against the county. This
account is then submitted to the Court of Sessions
composed of the County Judge and two Associate
Justices of the Peace This Board audit the account
They allow the amount claimed, or reduce it if any
of the charges are Illegal The final amount is GER
tilted by the County Clerk who is Clerk of the
Court Of Sessions, to the Recorder. The account
upon which the allowance is made being fled in
the Office Of the County Clerk.
After having passed the scrutiny of the Court of
Sessions, the amount allowed by that board is GER
titled by the Clerk to the Recorder, which officer
must forthwith proceed to draw his Warrant on the
County Treasury for an amount exactly correspond
ing to the amount certified by the Clerk of the
Court of Sessions The Warrant being thus drawn,
the peason entitled to receive it presents it to the
County Treasurer for payment The Treasurer, If
he has money belonging to the County, pays it on
presentation, receiving the Warrant as his voucher
to be used by him in his settlement with the Re-
corder or Auditor. Here we will remark that the
Recorder has also the style of Auditor, but has no
more to do with auditing accounts than the man in
the moon. other than official vouchers among officers
themselves The process, then of getting money
out of the Treasury is not very complicated, if
applicant has a just demand on which to found his
claim.
The Treasurer must pay when the Warrant is
presented the Recorder must draw the Warrant
when the certificate of the Clerk of the Court of
Sessions makes it appearance and the Clerk must
certify when directed to do by the Court and the
Court itself must audit when demands are pre-
sented
Now, with this machinery the revenue of the
county is dsbursed and it will appear at first if
nobody in particular had much responsibility ty-mos
of the officers moving like automatons at the nod Of
the Court of Sessions This being the appearance
of things, it will become necessary TO inquire into
the duties of the several officers in detail and into
the duties and doings of the Court of Sessions in
particular as WELL alao as into all the accessories
about this Court
We shall enter into this enquiry at our leisure,
and will now only premise, that any officer who has
faithfully discharged his duty will never shrink or
squirm in the least at the investigation.
KIRK BRoTHERs.-This enterprisng firm of Book,
Stationery and News dealers are fast gaining popu-
arity from their untirng efforts to meet the wants
and tastes of the literary and reading public. We
would recommend all who buy articles in their line
of business in the city to call them, as they keep
everything necessary to form complete stock be-
sides they sell their goods at reasonable prices.
Their place of business is the P O. Literary Depot
Third street, Sacramento, next door to the Post
Office
FIRE AT CoLUMBIA.--The loss by this fire, July
10th, is estimated at $500 600 Fire supposed to be
the work of 81 ipean3iary.