New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-03-10

w. Jasper Blackburn was called up and
read third time, and finally passed, its title
adopted, and notice of concurrence ordered
to be sent to the Senate.
The following report of the special COM
mittee appointed to investigate the affairs
of the Auditor was received:
Committee TO EXAMINE THE Books ETC, THE
Auditor and the Treasurer,
February g. 1872
To the Honorable Speaker and Members of the
House of Representatives,:
Your committee appointed to examine
the books, accounts and vouchers OF the
State Auditor and State Treasurer, respect
fully reports as follows:
Being impressed with the Importance OF
the duties devolving on US, and beng I'M
able to devote to this subject the attention
it required at our hands without neglecring
our duties as members OF this House, we
did, in conformity to resolution OF the
House. employ j. NJ. Weymouth, ESQ, an
expert of acknowledged merit in matters of
accounts, to aid lis in our Investigations.
He has applied himself diligently to the
work in hand, and has developed certain
Irregularities in the accounts of the Auditor
which demand the earnest attention OF this
House. His report your committee has
adopted, and made it a part of this report
1t will be observed that the labor SO ac-
lively entered upon by the expert has been
checked for want Of time to fully complete
the work he had in charge to perform.
1t is therefore recommended that this
committee be allowed to sit after the ad-
iournment of the General Assembly for the
period Of thirty days, and that your com
mittee be authorized to continue the ser
vices of Mr.. Weymouth for that period OF
N finish
the work of investigation thus begun. and
successfully prosecuted thus far provided.
that the committee shall not draw pay for
more than fifteen days.
All of which is respectfully submitted
JOHN II. BOWEN.
Chairman
J. OPLATEK.
DEWITT c. BROWN,
Y. f. MCCARTHY,
u. A. COCHRANE.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. I
February %, 1872.
Report of expert to the committee author
lied to examine the books, accounts and
vouchers of the Auditor and Treasurer:
Stair OF LOUISIANA, }
State House,
Nav Orleans. February 81, 1872
To the Honorable Chairman and Members of House
Committee appointed to examine the books
etc, of the Auditor aud the Treasurer:
1ONt chairman, o. VI
ton of the House. appointed me as expert
to aid this honorable committee in the in
yestigation it was required to make. ac-
cepted the charge aud have performed the
work as fully as could be done in the time
allotted me. There is, however, much work
had laid out to do incompleted for want
OF sufficient time to finish it. l regret the
necessity for cutting short what might
prove to be useful if carried out. Commit
tees formerly appointed for this purpose
have generally cor fined their investigation
to a few records and vouchers, all OF which
seemingly being in order they have reported
favOrablv thereon, and that was deemed
all that was necessary to be done. But
this committee has seen proper TO give a
wider scope to their investigations. 1t was
thought proper to bore into the core to de-
termine if the system of accounts adopted
De sound and fully adapted to the purposes
for which they are intended. l think l have
not misunderstood your instructions nor the
purposes for which it was employed. But
the time allotted me is too short tor ME to
accomplish all you designed me to do. l
am compelled for want OF time to abstain
from a thorough examination into all the
details which my commission calls for. |
have therefore, been obliged to abridge the
work for the reason before suggested.
Iwish to be definitely understood. before
proceeding any further, to say that 1t Is not
my purpose to discover petty errors or
clerical mistakes of minor Importance, and
which can always be corrected without any
formal display. but rather to unfold the
general operation and effects of a defective
system of keeping the accounts. am not
going to impcach the integrity OF the AUDIT
or. nor of the Treasurer nor OF any OF their
clerks My theme will be the faults and
imperft ctions OF the system of book keeping
adoDted in the Auditors office, or more
: - - .t,y,,
Uuenccs Of this impertectlon are serious III
many respects. for there is no ready means
of detecting fraud that might be practlced
by parties either in or ont or the office
Thert. Is no ready means OF detecting errors
innnceutiv committed. There is no ready
means OF proving the correctness OF state
ments issued from the Auditors ONCE. There
is no ready means Of proving or disprovlne
the correctness of the Treasurer's accounts
There is no ready means OF determining
how much the back taxes amount to. There
is no read Y means OF ascertalnlng how many
outstanding interest coupons there may Ot
due and unpaid
The formula essential to be observed IL
doube entry book keeping, and which are
recognized by all accountants in first elias;
commercial houses. banks. etc. as being IN
dispensahle are by the bock-keeper OF thu
State ignored. In proof Of what l state
and in illustration of the fact, Will cite
few examples.
1t will he readily understood that wer'
the books correctly kept, the money re
ceived during the year added to the bal
ance on hand at the commencement OF tn
wear must equal the disbursements for thu
wear. added to the balance remaining OF
hand at the close of the year.
1t must not be forgotten, however, tina
the Auditors balance and the Treasurer
balance differ to the extent of outstandin!
warrants For instance. if the Treasure
has balance of 100000 on hand. and Thu
Auditor reports $4,000 outstanding war
rants. the Auditors books will exhibit {
balance on hand of only $4,000. because
when the outstanding warrants shall hav
been paid, the Treasurer will have onl,
$50. 900 left. and then the balance will agree
Let Us apply this rule to the ditferen
funds for the year 1871 and see now neari.
correct the accounts are in this respect:
GENERAL FUND.
Balance i'll the treasury
November 30, 1870.
Tseasurers report,page
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far