Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1863-10-16
FOR CONGRESS,
HON. JACOB h. BLAIR.
OF wooD COUNTY.


Fourth Page.
Interesting reading matter will be found
on the fourth page
The Case of the Auditor and secretH-
rY OF state.
We published yesterday the report OF
two committees to the House of Delegates
in a matter of very considerable interest
TO the people Some days ago it began to
be a matter of street conversation among
the members Of the legislature, and 9TH
ers who take an interest in the affairs Of
the State, that the Auditor of the State,
Mr.. Crane, and the Secretary of the State,
Mr.. Boyers, had drawn money out of the
Treasury to very considerable excess
over and above what they were entitled to.
1t was ascertained upon reliable authority
that the charges against the Auditor aud
Secretary were true, and the feeling in the
legislature was SO strong in the matter that
a committee was appointed to officially
look into and report upon the actual facts.
This committee made the required inTes-
tigation aud found and reported as fol-
lows:
The Committee further learn, from the
Treasurer, that the following sums have
been paid to the said officers, viz:
To samuel craue Auditor, sept. 9, 500 o.
:. Oct. l, 1885, ........s'S'CO
m 500
To J. E. Boyer Secretary, Aug. H. 1890
Oct. ., 1885,. .......S!5,OO
90
BY the Constitution the salary of the
Auditor is fixed at $500 per auuum, and
that of the Secretary at $1,000, at which
rate the Auditor was entitled, from aud in
GLIDING the goth day OF June last up TO
the first of this month, to the sum OF
S42O,s2, but has received as above 1915.
an excess of $454 10. For the same period
the Secretary was entitled to the sum of
$S64,72. but has received, as above the
sum Of S75s, an excess of S393,2s.
The figures given above are very plain
and uumistaksble. They reveal trans
action which all the friends of the new
State will sincerely regret, not only for
the sake of the officers themselves, but
likewise for the sake OF the interests that
are bouud up in the success of the young
Commonwealth. How these officers could
have so construed their rights as to con-
clude that they were entitled to salaries
for time in which they were DOT in Office
for a time in which the State of West
Virginia was not in existence-for time
in which no qmd pro quo could possibly
have been rendered-pAssesa and contounds
nil the rules of common sense and COM
mon honesty with which we are acquaint-
ed. There lie no necessity for any quib-
bling about the matter at all, for the
case admits OF none. Suppose it is
true, as these gentlemen claim, that un-
der the ordinance providing fol the or
ganization Of the State of West Viz
gina a doubt rests upon the exact
intention of the trainers of the Constitu-
ton as to what they meant by computing
the terms of service of certain officers (the
Auditor aud Secretary among them) from
the 4th of March last. OHe thing assured
ly any disiuterested person will UNDER
stand, and that is that the trainers of the
Constitution (iu the language of the Judi
ciary Coumittee) never intended ''to stul-
tify themselves" by providing that the Of
ficcrs of the new State should go back and
draw salary for time when they were
not only not officers of the State but for a
time when the State itself was not in ex-
isteuce. For instance, from the 4th of
March last, up to the Goth of June, Sir.
Crane was the Auditor of the State of Vir-
ginia, and drew pay as such for that time.
Ia a., hof I haH
been such thing 10 existence as the St"te
of West Virginia during that TINT, he could
not have been it's Auditor, for he was
the Auditor of another State. But
West Virginia was not in exis-
tence and consequently had NO Auditor,
neither Mr.. Crane nor anybody else, and as
q matter OF course had no body to pay as
such. The Treasurer's books show that
Mr.. Crane drew his full salary up to the
very last moment of the goth day of June,
existence, and they also show that some
days ago he turned about and doubled on
his track and drew pay as Auditor of West
Virginia from the 4th of March TO the Goth
of June, amounting to $454, lS, a sum to
which he was no more entitled than any
person who reads this article. Not bit
more. The case of Mr.. BOyers ts in no
Wise different, except that he was not au
officer Of the old state previous to becom-
ing an officer of the new. So far as the
principle Of the matter is concerned there
is no difference. He, too, drew money for
a time even before he was nominated to his
present position, not to speak of his cleo
ton, and before there was any State in ex.
istencs for him to be Secretary Of What