The daily Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1862-1863, 1863-01-13
GOVERNORS MESSAGE.
(Concluded)
ADJUTANT GENERAL.

ing report of Adjutant General Noble.
1t contains brief history of the opera
tions of the State in furnishing troops for
the prosecution of the war and much
most valuable information. | have in
structed him to prepare another report,
to-contain the name of every officer and
private soldier who has entered the army
from Indiana, with the number of the
regiment, company or battery to which
he belonged Such a report would be In
valuable hereafter as work of history.
STATE AGENCY
The report of Hon. R. n. Hudson, the
Agent of State, is herewith laid before
YOU, and your attention invited to the re-
concentrations contained in it, to change
the form of Indebtedness, by substitu-
ting coupon bonds for certificates of
stock, and abolish the office of Agent of
State, as at present organized. By the
terms of the compromise with the bond
holders, made in 1916, the State is re-
quired to keep an Office in New York for
the transfer of our stocks and the pay
ment ofthe interest on them. But this
agreement can be complied with fully by
selecting some responsible bank, in such
manner as may be determined upon by
the Legislature, to perform the duties
that are now devolved upon the Agent of
State. Under the present system the
risk attending the solvency of Bank
has to be incurred, for the Agent having
no means of safekeeping the money re-
mitted to him by the Treasurer of State,
deposits it in bank, and in payment of
interest to the holders of our stocks gives
his checks upon the bank.
So much of the business, therefore, be-
ing necessarily done through the bank, l
am Of the opinion that the rest of it
could be devolved upon the bank, with
increased safety and economy to the
State.
In 1916 the State CT Indiana made an
adjustment with her creditors, under
which the former State Bonds were to be
surrendered and cancelled upon certain
conditions, and new stocks issued in ex-
change. Out of this adjustment sprung
the Indiana Five per cent Stocks, as
known in the New York market
One of the conditions of this adjust
ment was, that the State should establish
an agency in the city of New York for
the transfer of these stocks and the pay
UeuJ Oh tue lnleI6SJ upon buem
By express enactment Of the Legisla-
ture, it was provided that these new
certificates Of stocks should be transfer
9Rlz at tbs a sS IN the etX Of
the old certificates we're taken up and can
celled, and the new ones issued, made
payable to the person to whom the trans
fer was made. These certificates were
not payable to bearer, did not pass by
delivery from hand to hand, and were
not negotiable in the sense of the law
merchant. 1t was expressly intended
they should not be- At and before the
time of the adjustment spoken of, it was
claimed by the State that numbers of her
bonds, which had been deposited in New
York, or hypothecated for small sums of
money, and for which the State had re-
ceived little or no consideration, had
been improperly and fraudulently put
into circulation. But as they were gem
uine, made payable to bearer, and the
property in them passed by mere delive-
ry, she could not do otherwise than re-
cognize them as valid obligation These
circumstances led to the peculiar provis-
ions in regard to the new stocks To
carry out the arrangement, printed forms
of the certificates of stocks, signed by the
Auditor and Treasurer of the State of In
diana, were deposited with the State
Agent, in the City of New York, to be by
him countersigned and filed up as to
dates, amounts, names of parties, and
registered in the books provided BY the
State for that purpose. 1t is not improp-
er to state here that this form and mode
of transfer, before being enacted into a
law, was submitted to and received the
approval of Charles Butler, ESQ.,, the
agent and representative of the bond
holders, at the time of the adjustment re-
terred to, as | am informed and believe.
Fears wree entertained, however, that
by the fraud or connivance of the State
Agent, false certificates might be issued
and frauds perpetrated. Accordingly,
the State Legislature, by an act which
Ioj5,~eaetQn the 18th day of March,
issue of certificates Of st6ckas nd Mace of
by this act 1t was provided, that there
alter no certificates of stock should be
issued by the Agent of State hat that
on the rresn-1 o,...-> - la in or Certificates
Tor transfer, he should receipt for them,
and Immediately transmit them to the
Auditor of State, at indianapolis; that
the Auditor should cancel them and file
them in his Office, for preservation and
reference; and issue, in the name of the
person to whom the transfer was to be
made, new certificates of stock. to be
signed by him and the Treasurer Of State,
and after registering them in a book to
be provided by the Auditor for that pur-
pose send them to the Agent of State,
to be by him registered and delivered to
the proper person, upon presentation, of
the receipt The fourth section of this
act declares that any certificate of stock
issued or transferred in violation Of the
provisions Of the act shall be deemed
fraudulent and void as against the State
of Indiana. 1t will be perceived that
this act throws additional and, in NV
opinion, abundant safeguards around the
issue Of the stock To avoid the dan
gers and temptations which this change
IN the law was designed to guard against,
as soon as the new law went into opera
ton, the blank certificates, signed by the
officers Of State, in the hands of the State
Agent, should have been promptly with.