The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1859-02-26
pIundertng the Treasury.


good thing, it has at least done great work
in bringing to light the utter rottenness OF
our financial system, and exposing the stu
pendous stealing that has for years been 60
ing on about Springfield of the peoples mo-
ney. The plunderings thus far revealed
foot up after this fashion:
Loss to the State by the bindery
contract of Secretary Hatch,... $1,000
Leavitt claim allowed, -. ..... 4o,ooo
Canal scrip business, about. 800. 233, 900
Total. 1888, $40
Besiees these, there is the old State Bank
business, by which it is supposed half
million more has been stolen, but in this
case the creditors of the Bank, and not the
State Treasury, will be the loser.
The timely revelation of the above steal
ings may lead to the ultimate recovery Of
the greater part Of the amount; but some
Of it is gone "past redemption" and must
be charged to the account of bought wit.
In reference 20 the first item-the bindery
contract-,he loss, whatever it may turn out
to be, will be irrecoverable. 1t is due to
Mr.. Secretary Hatch, however, to say, that
the wrong in this matter is quite as much
chargeable to the loose laws under which he
acted as to his own want of judgment Qor
he was guilty of no apparent dishonesty in
the matter. The law required him to ad-
vertise for sealed proposals to do the bind
ing, but specified no time when he should
make the contract, nor even obliged him to
accept the lowest responsible bid. When he
opened the proposals, the lowest bid was %
cts. per 100 pages. lie conceived that there
was combination among the bidders, and
refused to lst the contract to any Of them.
When the Legislature was about to meet,
however, the contract had to be let, and the
lowest bid he then hurriedy picked up was
cts. per 100 pages. Thus he agreed to pay
some $4,000 for work that responsible men
had offered to do for $4,000.
The next item-the Leavitt claim-may
possibly be recovered by suit in chancery,
but it would cost the State about all that
would ever be obtained.
The third item-the fraudulent canal scrip
Gov Matteson agrees to refund, so that
the State will not be the loser, which she
probably would have been had it fallen into
anv other mans hands, for on strictly legal
principles, the State would hardly be allow
ed to repudiate any of her bonds regularly
and formally issued, and which have passed
into the hands of third parties.
The State Bank business-the last in this
list-stands in about this shape. When the
Old State Bank was finally shut up in 1916,
her assets amounted TO from three to five
millions, and her liabilities to about the
same. Among her assets were $l,4OO,O0O
State bonds, and as this amount also stood
among her liabilities as so much due the
State as stock in the bank, the item on both
sides was cancelled by the State receiving
the bonds from the bank and burning them.
To make the most of the balance OF the as
sets-between three and four millions-to
pay the remaining debts, three commission
ers were appointed, a. salary of about ST.
900 each, who were to wind up as rapidly as
possible. the affairs Of the bank, the COM
missioners to report annually to the Cover
/ nor the progress of the work. From that
/ day-ten years ago-to this, 30 creditor oil
the bank has received cent, as far as can be
ascertaincd, and no report has ever been
made by the commissioners, while the assets
of the bank are supposed to be reduced to a
/ cvpher. What has become of them p
! What have the commissioners been doing?
! Into this matter. committee of the Lee
gislature, we believe, is authorized to prose
cute its Investigations after the close of the
/ session. The finance committee Of the Sc
nate, also, is directed to continue together
after the adjournment to investigate fully
| not only the canal scrip affair, but to over
haul generally our whole financial system
from 1858 up. Whether we have got to the
bottom Of the rottenness in our State finan-
ces, or whether other astounding populations
and frauds still uncovered are to be reveal
ed time will soon determine.