The Elko independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1869-1872, 1870-02-16
THE ELKO INDEPENDENT.
WEDNESDAY,. FEBRUARY Ia, 1870.
ne Def.le.tion n the state rr...ur,.

The defalcation in the State Treasury is
now certainty. The present Treasurer nm
nounces deficit of at least 500 ,OOo-partly
iAcoinj and partly in currency. The Enter.
prise makes a Clean breast Of the transaction,
admitting the deialcation, aud seriously i'm
Plicating other State officials in at least a
knowledge Of the affair while it was progress
ing, Lii init actual participants in the rob-
berry itself. The Enterprise asserts that ''it is
scarcely possible that the Treasurer could
have abstracted this large amount of money
without the knowledge Of the Controller, and
onstor two other of the State oficers-and it
bshooyes us to discover who were the accom-
plices of the Treasurer in his raids upon the
public fupds,"', That paper very pertinently
calls upon the Governor, Attorney General
and Secretary Of State TO explain how it hap
pened that for four or five months, during
which the defalcation occurred, they neg
iected to count the money, monthly, in the
treasury, as required by law.
The Carson Appeal endeavors to break the
force Of this political disaster by a plausibly-
constructed tale about the division of the
funds: 1t claims that $50, 900 of the miss
ing 1moheyi must have been taken from the
fund accumulated from the sale of school
lands, and $4,000 from the sale of State
stamps. To exonerate the Controller, it is
therefore, claimed that the money could have
been taken out without any official knowledge
Of that officer. This might be partially true
Of the money from the sale of stamps, but the
deficit could not long pass unobserved if the
proper reports and exhibits bad been insisted
npon by that officer. The public, after being
90 grossly deceived by this defalcation, will
scarcely be ,gullable enough to believe that
over $50, 900 could be taken out of the school
fund, and retained out of it for m any months,
without some one knowing that the money
was gone; but even if this were possible, the
Appeals own figures contradict its argument,
forit is admitted that about $50, 900 is miss
ing from the General Fund also. There is no
escape from the fact that the law did REQUIRE
the Board of Examiners to count the money
regularly in the General Fund. How is it
that they did not discover the loss of this
100000, or if they did discover it, why was
the fact concealed from the public until the
defauling officer was long dead and most Of
his securities insolyent or out Of the State?
1tlooks bad. The money is gone-"gone
where the woodbine twineth." Some other
parties besides Mr.. Rhodes had an interest in
this transaction If so, how much? A GER
tainlpolitical combination has long ruled this
State, and divided the assets in proportion to
their appetites. The party which elected
them had every reason to know that dishon-
esty, and peculation, and speculation, were
making sad inroads into the funds collected
from this tax-ridden State; but the extrava-
gance Of party zeal outran even the extrava-
gance ofH clique who were reveling in the peo-
pies cash-box. An exposure has demonstrate
ed the trnth Of the charge of corruption, so
often made and stoutly denied. Loyalty has
been the cover for robbery, and the people of
the State are left to chew the bitter cud Of re-
deetion while they foot the bills.