The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1857-08-19

The bill went to the House and neve
returned to the Senate. l have not th
House journals before me, bu' my reco
lection is that it was referred to th
Committee on Finance, and, for a cor
siderable period of time, remained i
its possession. It was, however, fnall
| reported back, and also a new bill frou
a portion of the committee; but wheth
er from the majority or minority, 1 d.
not now remember. Neither of the bills
| think ever came to a direct test vot
in the House. At all events neither o
them passed, aud, of course, the Senat,
bill failed.
Considering further efforts, with re
ference to any general system of reor
gan cation Of the Treasury, utterly help
less, at that session, [ felt still there
was one last resort The appropria tior
bills had not yet passed. The bill ma
king appropriations for general revenue
purposes for 1854 and 1855, originated
in the House. When it came TO the
Senate it was referred to the COMMITTEE
on Finance, and on the 26th of Apri.
two days before the time fixed for ad
journmeut, by direction of the Commit
tee reported it baci, to the Senate, wi
sundry amendments, among which was
a section as follows:
at shall not be lawful for the Treas
urer of State, or any other officer or per
son charged with the safe keeping or dis
Dursement of any of the public money
belonging to the State, aud appro ofriated
by this or any other act, to convert to
his own use, 10 any way whatever, or to
loan, with or without interest, to any
corporation, company or individual, or
to deposit with any bauk, or with any
company. corporation or individual, any
of the public moneys so appropriated
aud every violation of the provisions of
I'll is section shall be deemed and ad-
Judged an embezzlemcnt of so much of
said moneys as shall be so converted,
.oaued or deposited, which is hereby de-
cared o be misdemeanor; and, upon
conviction thereof, bofnre any court hav-
ing competent jurisdiction, such officer
or person shall be declared to have for
feited his office, and shall be fined in
sum Lot less tha the amount of money
so embezzled. Aud every bank or bank
ing company, corporation or individual
~ dby VI bhO
lug to the State shall be 81 loaned, as
aforesaid, or receiving them on deposit,
as aforesaid, knowing them to be such
shall be liable to the State in any action,
for the recovery of all the benefit or ad
which would, by the terms of
he contract or agreement under which
,aid moneys were so loaned or deposited,
nave accrued to the officer or person So |
oaning or repositing as aforesaid, shall |
rot protect such bank or banking com
'anys corporation or individual against
he action brought by the State -
The Senate agreed to this amendment,
md the bill was sent to TIE House.
The House disagreed to several of the
Imeudmepts, and the result was com
nittee of conference The committee
vas unable to agree with respect to the
amendment, the Senate COM
nittee insisting. the Horse committee
isagrering The House still insisting
IA its disagreement, second committee
f conference was appointed. consisting
f Messrs. Ne CauSlin and Taylor, on
u letcalf, Pavre ard Lister Taylor on
he part of the House. The committee
cported that the Senate should recede
rom the amendment in controversy No
5 J and that the House should recede
rom two of its amendments, (Nos So
7 J Mr.. Taylor one of the Senate Com
1ittee, dissenting
The report Of the majority was agreed
o, and the Senate receded from its
twelve Democrats. two
'reesoilers and six Wings voting in the
and seven Democrats in the
egative. (Senate Journal, page 635 J
his was the last vote taken in the Sen
te Even before it was completed, the
our of adjournment arrived. Thus
assed away the last hope of preventing
n improper use of the public funds; SO
hat when the last Democratic Legisla
ure adjourned, the lsws prescribing the
uties of the Treasurer of State, and reg
lating he safe keeping and disburse-
rent of the public money, were left ex
city as the Whig party lin its days of
ower) had provided them.
In each of those Legislatures large
lnjnritv of the Democratic members
Tere exceedingly anxious to adopt some
neasure for the protection of the Treas
nv, but they were defeated time and
gain By the entire vote of the opposi
ion, (Whigs and Freesoilers,) with few
Democrats. The last effort that of en-
rafting a paragraph on the Appropria-
ion Bill, was a desperate one, and of
curse, co Id only be justified in case
f such extreme necessity. 1t was aban-
oned. however, because, # the Senate
ad persisted against the House, the re-
ult would have been failure of the reg
lar Appropriation Bill.
I have already extended this letter
much beyond what 1 intended Were
t not for this might be tempted to re-
er somewhere to the adverse influences
7hich were brought to bear, not only
gaiast the bills herein referred to, but
gainst every proposition, come from
THAT source 1t might, which looked to
hrowing additional guards and restric-
ions a. ound the Treasury. At the very
utsct the composition of the Commit
ee on Finance in the Senate was remark
bic. 1t was, perhaps, the only COM
nittee in the Senate on which there was
ot majority of Democrats But Oh
hat committee the very committee of
II others at the time where a majority
# sound, reliable Democrats should have
,een placed, there we're but two known
n classed as Democrats (Wilson aud
nyself) two known as Freesoilers, aud
me Wing During the second session.
he Finance Committee of the Senate
vas q unit; so far as the Democratic |