The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1860-09-06

4 More, es-eciallv when the Constitution de
,e cIsr-s thar s.i.e hill ., stated tim@s receiv
u Tor his services a campensa ion which sha
Ie neither be increased or diminished durin
>. the term for which he shall have been cleo
!. ted.'' will be mystery ro them. Gov. Wi
y lard. instead Of 50 coo for t~o years. actn
II ally receives Sc. 88s 90 How DOES he d.
J. th,>l The items W II show wnen examined
3 Besides the annual ssary. leading item
j. in botn these accounts. is for swamp lant
d services By Law they had To sign tn
r swamp land patents, as the President Of IN,
4 United States hsd TO siga the land offics
q patents. The pariisAns Of the Governor
i. in the Legislature. contrary TO the express
provision in the constitution, voted them lt
cents for each patent signed. Both thest
, Governors knew that the acts of the Legis
iature were unconstitutional. and willis,
! they were ready to veto other bills on &C.
count of constitutional objections. yet when
they themselves were to profit by unconsti-
) tutional Legislation, they had no dissent to
express.
Then there is that postag. item. which
figures SO prominently in the State officers
accounts. Wright's charges. under this
item, are amazingly improved upon by Will
lard. For nearly six years the former char
ges 1894 40. but the latter, for two years,
charges 1851 SO.
The expenditures tor the Governors
house require more notice than the other
items. for they exhibit one OF the modes by
which Site officers so largely increase their
perquisitss.
For the convenience of the Governor the
State purchased a house near to the State
House. Il Is known rs the Governors house,
and to keep it in repair. and make additions
TO its comfort. the General Assembly has
usually appropriated from $500 to 500 a
year. During Mr. Bisser's administration
of three years he expended on the House
S760 90. But Governor Wright improved
on what Mr.. Hendricks calls Big.-r's *
travagancs. by purchasing csrpe's. furni-
ture. 'uel. aud ..snndries.' items which the
law di not authorize. bat which cons itu,ei
a par, of his family l,sing expenses, and
which. therefore. shou have been paid on,
II his annual salary. Governor W,ilar,,
improved on Governor Wright by aiding
many additional items OF his living -xpen-
So. down yea can - Ice. AID such ar
iirses. Contrast the course OF these men
W that II James Wnitcomh. who up 20
l3i9 h.1 .Xpsniei 1or ,fe Governors
..,,>- bat 81 $50 90 ~ appears from the
AZ ",'S R..c.,-,s.
G,.sr..os virgins eoasa euc-. however.
.nai not ;e. nm rest tor not having done
h-.er Ipr Hmsel d.ping TIE b 81 year or
two anI nencc I've rem smbered how much
he ,,s ,a,i out inr turniure, tu-l, &c, and
1857 prevailed upsn hi, Fl iend> in the
Legislature to pass anasl er nsit.oustits ional
act Tor MS re,,-f b. ~hicn tue foregoing
sum of IL PIG rs Was siren to him.
THE SWAMP LAND FUND.
Bat these Governors were not Z ,nten' with
the large sums thus obtained. The Gener-
al G ,v.rnn-nt mad enormously sold swamp
laui> belonging 10 the Safe to tie amount
oil $50. 4SO 06. which it repaid to the Safe
lus eal Ut using this mosey tn pay Interest
GU our State debt ia New York and repla-
cling It with our money here 10 the Swamp
Land Fund. aud thus saving more than Que
per GEN.. il was brought from Washington
vi this sum Gov. Wright received $iI.-
652 80. and was owing when the matter
WAS examined into last session SAT- 49,
How long he had the ress nobody can tell
Governor Willard reeeved S18 632 a. and
when the matter was in es,lgated. WA, owing
one Thousand dollars. lie commenced re-
ceiving This money on May Is. 1857. and
received portions along until September go.
1858. Now the law requires the Treasurer
OF State when any money is paid 10 him to
write receipt for it. take that receipt 10 the
Auditor Of State, who receives il and gives
one Of his own for it, and he Treasurer then
hands the Auditors receipt to the person
paying this money. This course is required
that the Auditor shall know when any mon
ey is paid to the Treasurer. that be may en-
ter it on his books, and thus one officer &C,
as check GU the other. Blu. Gov Willard
whose official duty is to ''see the laws faith.
.uily executed" makes private arrange
ment with Mr.. Jones. the Treasurer, bv
which the law is viol.,sd.
The law, as a further check, requires the
Treasurer to report to the Auditor every
month. yet the sums received by Gov vii.
lard were never reported to the Auditor, IN
til in January. 1850, after the cammi, tee IF
Ways and leans had procured from Wash.
ington CITY . statement of the whole fund
pail over tn the Safe and IL whom il had
been paid
Wn~n the Chief Magistrates of our State
thus invade the public treasury. is it any
wonder that Inferior offic rs seize upon their
example as pr-lext TOR ,ramplug down all
legal barriers. AID oddly take what. YER it
is possible 10 get. They know that such
Governors. sithongh IT is their sworn duly
10 see the laws t.itniuiiv executed. are too
much implicated To hold 4 strong rein up,n
them. Hence W. may exp-ei, AS sr,ns, Ger
ta,als the reader will see n ten ssse acc.,un,s
+ these inferior officer are Sc is.rtn. t,.a. a
"sore reckless grasp up"n the Treasury is
acid ~ s--m. aai .hAt notaiay bur the
E.nbezz,-u.snl bill of ;ee last G..aer4l As
se-.oss car wre2ca it from fh~n LIB
de*s Wa D., .ass-a ~ sia Mao ~, a
"a .S1rtser si.v-ry - Ss.eS y.
or Ov
We hoii 1t tn BE sclt-evi.sat. tha, Al
zen are created eias'- TIA: taev are Gu.
: aosed bg t,,-.. Orator Wit certain ina.