The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1859-03-02

tecedent and subsequent; and are The results OF
many instead of the consequencesof OF any one act.
Such, we believe, was the public opinion after
the appearance Of Mr.. Sparrow's report; and It,
doubtless, superinduced the subsequent leeisla'
ton by which the present Commission was crea-
ted, with enlarged powers and full authority to
make an extended and thorough examination
into all the causes Of the defalcaton, and to FIX,
if possible, the responsibility where it rightfully
belongs. To accomplish this, the truth and the
whole truth, must be made known; and tits idle
to believe, that the public mind will ever be sat.
istied with less, or be queted, while this great
wrong is improved or unacknowledgedI and any
Of the perpetrators are at large and unpublished,
1t had fallen to the lot of few young men in
the State to attain the prominent and influential
position occupied by Mr. Breslin, previous to his
election as Treasurer of State. He had been
Speaker of the House of Representatives upon
his first election to it; and no man, however
ambitious, could have desired brighter future
than that opening before him. With manners
and tact iu social and friendly intercoure admir-
ably calculated to win for him hosts of personal
friends, and TO attach them to his interests
with an admitted ability to discharge creditably
every duty that might devolve upon him,-he
entered upon the duties of the Office, to which
the partiality of his friends and the success of
his party had elevated him; with the friend.
ship and good wishes OF ALL But, it seems,
there were temptations in the way, which he had
neither the disposition nor the power to resist;
and the result has been, that his errors, to use
no harsher expression, have terminated in mis-
fortune, and with blasted prospects, disgraced
and ruined man, he is now fugitive from the
State.
But before we proceed to the examination OF
Mr.. Breslin's transactions and conduct in the de.
tail, it may not be improper to advert to the
ata Nf TNtnhl fho nd f0PU r2
previous to his election, in regard to the right to
use public treasure for the benefit of the Trea-
surer, or of those having no legitimate connec-
tons with it, for such explanation of his con.
duct as it may afford We do not wish harshly
to condemn errors Of Judgment only, or to make
one man responsible for the errors of whole
community. In Ohio, and we think we may
venture to say, in many other States, the Trea-
sury was considered by many as the special and
rightful subject of banking depredations, not in
the way OF direct distractions or thetts OF money,
but as affSrding facilities to the shrewd within
it, and their friends without, to become enrich.
ed without incutring risk of loss, or danger OF
exposure. 1t was so much additional capital
furnished by the people for the use of the char
tered few. The practice had obtained, and was
publicly known to exist, with but little comment,
and without condemnation, and without law to
effectually prevent it, that the Treasurers Of
State, and city, county and townships were de-
posting moneys in their official keeping, with
various banks and bankers, upon which they re
ceived interest as perquislte OF their offices
and for which, of course, they never accounted
to the State, or other authorities their deposi
tories, in the meantime, using the funds thus
deposited, for their purposes, and stpulating tC
afford every facility to the Treasures for con
cealment Occasionally, the attention of the
Legislature would be called to the subject but
some resolution of enquiry, illconceived fol
any efectual purpose of exposure, and mis- d
rected by some participant in the profit in the
Legislature, and therefore easily avoided by
those skilled and practiced in these illegal ope
rations, would be the only attempt at inyestiga.
ton. Thus, year after year, with the perfect
knowledge, on the part of the people and the
General Assembly, that such practices existed
both the Treasurer and his repositories contn
ued to enjoy perfect immunity from Legislative
enquiry and exposure ; and emboldened by sue
cess, and enriched by these unlawful gains, they
grew more "liberal," and more reckless Of
risks. As evidence of the utter disregard oil
laws as they ex sted at the time of the transac.
ton, Messrs Sill, Woods and Bliss, Canal Fund
Commissioners, made large loans of the Sink.
ing Fund to the Little Miami, Cincinnati, Ham
ilton and Dayton, Cleveland and Columbus
Cleveland and Pittsburgh. and the Akron Rail
road Companies and still worse, to the Co
lumbus Insurance Company, which latter loan
the General Assembly, in 1856, absolutely lie.
galized,-thus relieving the State officers from
liability for loan to bankrupt Insurance Com
pany, made in the very face of law forbidding
it.
But the number of these leeches was not tc
be decreased and new plans had been devised
and other subjects secured to satisfy their de
mands. All that could be desired had been ad
mir ohn1 ~ ~ Al.
bank laws, new depredators, in new forms, and
still more ravenous, were created and scattered
throughout the State, that they might feed upoI
County Treasurers, and enjoy brief use of the
peoples money before it reached its final desti
nation, the State Treasury. The County Trea
surers, and even Township Treasures, follow
ing the example of those in higher positions
were soon taught by their adjuncts, their "inter
| est in the Treasury, and with what ease they
could "make little'' without incurrng any
| risks. They at once added their opinions anc
influences to sustain the existing abuses. In
locations where no chartered banks were estab
| lished, still another swarm of more hungry anC
| less scrupulous fnanciers sprung up--the bank
/ ers and brokers--with two and three per cent. q
month proclivities and they, working in prima
! ry and ward meetings, and at the elections, nom
mated, elected or defeated, the man who wa.
"with" or "against" them in their Efforts
| When an honest Treasurer was found who
would listen to no suggestions, and accede to NJ
demands to loan or deposit he was requested Il
| permit his friend simply to s'assort'' his curreu
/ ed, even from this handling, in the way of sex
change" Thus were all receivers of the pub
| lie moneys subsidized for the purpose OF sus
tanning these outrages upon the security of the
! Treasury, and the fidelity of the officer.
SO intimately blended were the transactions
| Of County Treasurers and small bankers tina
| in some parts of the State, TO the persona
| knowledge of some of the members of th
Commission, upon court houses were banker
| signs, and from the very doors Of the Treasur
| er's Office protruded "Bank !" while within. oc
cupying the same Office, and owning the safe il
partnership with the county, was the banker VIII,
loaned the peoples money at three per cent De
month, and perhaps "assorted" for the Treas
urer. - t- oH Hq
Combined as one man, these interests wer,
formidable at the polls, and in the Legislature
and, in fact, created that public opinion which
seemed to justify the uses of public money fo
the individual benefit of the Treasurers ant
their friends. A bank, or brokers Office, be
came the County Treasury-the depository o
Canal Tolls-and of the receivers OF public mo
neys of all kinds; and a bank became the Stat
Treasury for nearly all purposes of receipt an,
disbursement OF the public moneys. Official
| were interested in this condition of things
| public opinion justified it and the laws did no
| effectually forbidit. He who predicted that eyi
| would grow out of it was pronounced hard mo
ney, visionary extremist, and an enemy to th
| business interests of the State. .
| II is in vain TO deny that public opinion had
| for years, permitted and sanctioned this use q
| public funds, by State Treasurers and other re
ceivers, for their own benefit and ADVANTAGE
4 nP0I1 tad ~