Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1857-03-12
Extract from the Speech of MIR.
Jordan.

JORDAN,
! In tie Senate of Pennsylvania, on tile Bin de-
/ timing tic duties Of tie Attormey General.
BY the present mode of doing business,
the condition of the public claims and col
iectious can never be made known. They
are placed i'll the hands of such Attorneys,
in different parts of the State, as the Au-
diior General and State Treasurer may
! select. These men sometimes neglect tQ
| bring suit until the defaulters> and sureties
| become lnsolyent. In other cases they
collect the money and neglect to pay it
over, and other Attorneys, in some instan-
ces, have had to collect the money of the
Commonwealth from those who had COL
lected it from the first defaulters. There
being no law requiring returns 10 be made,
none are made; and no man in the State
knows the actual condition of affairs
These are some of the ordinary and pal
pable evils of The present system: and they
! are all greatly aggravated by change of
officers in the Auditor Generals or State
Treasurer's departments. They will be
all cut up by the roots by the first section
of this bill whenever it becomes law.
Heretofore, neither the Attorney Gener-
/ al nor any one employed to act for him,
has ever been required to give bond for the
faithful discharge Of their dules, or the
payment into the Treasury of the money
collected for the State. This, to say the
! least of it, is gross negligence, and a most
/ dangerous departure from the we'll settled
policy Of the State in every other branch
of the public service. Not only sound
policy, but the commonest instincts of
sell-preservalion, require immediate change
in this particular. Our history is full of
instances Yhere large sums of money have
been collected by irresponsible agents, and
been forever lost to the State for want of
this salutary requirement.
The right Of access TO the books and
papers of the several departments. is an
other important feature in this bill. The
annual reports of public defaulters as sub
mitted to the Legislature By the State
Treasurer, as required by law, show large
sums of money due the Commonwealth
tor many years, in some Of which, both
the principal aud snreties, and in others,
the sureties only, are perfectly good for
the amounts; and yet no collections have
been made. Why this has been so,
is perhaps foreign TO our present purpose;
but that the fact is so, will not be denied
by any one acquainted with the past his
tory of our public delalcations. For these
evils, tie present bill also proposes rem
edy. 1t is made the duty of the Attorney
General 10 see after The interests of the
State in all such eases, and to see that
collections are made in every instance
where practicable, without respect TO per-
sons.
The salary | have fixed at three thou
sand dollars per annum. Some think this
too low, and others consider it too high.
In my judgment it is little enough, but the
! Senate may al It's pleasure either increase
or diminish it without materially affecting
the leading principles OF the bill. The
duties of the office will be arduous and
responsible, requiring the best legal abili-
ties in the State, and these should not be
asked or expected without a reasonable
compensation. The amount however is
less important than the principle which
establishes d .fred compensation. Make
it what you please, only pass the bill. and
/ it will be the means of great economy
and saving TO the State. Under the pres
ent system, or rather want Of system, the
annual cost TO the State is enormous, and
what is worse yet, the public business of
this department not duly done. The pres
ent able and accomplished State Treasurer
in his annual report, recommends the pas
sage Of bill containing the leading prin-
cipIes of this one, and his main reason for
it is on the score Of economy.
He has assured me that if all the bills
presented during the past year, for pro-
fessional services alleged to have been
rendered The Commonwealth, had been
paid, the amount would not have fallen
shor! of ta0enty thousand dollars. And
this is no extraordinary amount, but rather
an ordinary annual occurrence. The
manner in which the Treasury of our