The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1873-10-02

Hospitals, slso provides that Il
Boards shall inset On the same ds,
And i con 4 not have been conteu
plated that he should have special r.
sponsibi tiles on these Boards whe
they were to inset the same day, /;
remote distanc,.s fr.nn -a..h o,h~,
This 10 further shown 10 the fact tbs
the acts creating most OF thes
boards provide tor the number {
Tfastaes to be appointed, and the
6xes . majority Of them ~ quorum
after which the sr,e1gcse members ar
named. All this proves. it seems 1
ne conclasiveiy, that The position .
the Governor on the Boards, Wit
the exception of that of the New
Capitol Commissioner and th
Board OF Regents OF the State Uui
versi,y. was simply honnrary, ant
designed to give him au opportanit,
TO act with them in the transaction
of business if it was convenient fol
him to visit either OF these Institu
tions, when they were IN session.
During the months I was in M,
present Office, prior to tho time thi,
matter came to my knowledge I al
ways regarded Major Rankin a. Z
conscientious snd faithful officer. The
Auditor, Hon. John Russell. whose
duty il was to settle with him quar-
terly As State TREASURER, and count the
money, always found it on hand, and
uniformly flei with me . statemen,
showing him to be perfectly squar,
in that office.
Finally. on the evening Of the 9tt
day OF September, 1872, in . conver
sation with Mr.. Isaac Brandt, which
from a talk As to the near approach
OF the time when they would turn
over their offices to their successors
branched of into . talk about the
Majors character % an officer, when
he told me that he feared Major
Rankin would be short in his &C.
counts with the College. No sooner
had ! learned this than / said: "Mr.
Brandt, shall move in this mates
at once l am coming over in the
morning early, and l must sue Msjo,
Raukin." / did not know anything
s66ut the eonditioa of the iuud, d
how much they had drawn At tn,
College, and resolved to 20 to him
for information. The next morning
Mr.. Brandt. IT my request, sent him
into my Office. aud in q conversation,
that ensned between us, he admitted
that he had been using portion OF
Ike College funds in his private oper.
ations. The Board OF trustees OF
the Agricultural College were then
in session. Immediately d-lernin.
ed that I would 60 there aud give
them the information l had obtained.
Aud here, you see. there is no law
which points out the course to be
pursued IN the case OF q defalcation
of this kind. With the State Treas
urer It is different. II in the Gov.
ernor's judgment, the state 'rreasur.
or 10 likely to be in default, he is Iii.
rscted to appoint . committee to in
ves:iga:e, and upon their report may
suspend the officer. But this does
not apply to treasurers OF any OF the
lnstitutions. So the Trustees are
lett solely on their moral judgment
Of what is best. The next day after
this consultation with the Major. l
went TO the College. Arriving there
I called the President one side AMI
gave him the information had re-
ceived IN relation to Rankin, and
asked him it he knew what kind oi
bonds the Major had gwen. He
could not tell. and the Finance Com
mittes was then called aud consulted.
Search was then instituted for the
bonds. - no one seemed to dream
but what bonds had been given On.
" the bond Q! 1868 was toaad,
which. as oil agrosd, was va!asless,
that evening | lett tor homo. and The
day after the following day. Msssrs
Noble. Buchanan and Close oams
to Des Moines with che Major,
whose deeds were taken tor all his
properly. TO secure ~ Ear - Il would,
shc College.
You may ask me Why I did no,
immediately make this whole .nsl,ss
public. I Ircply. il is-noi the way !
pruaent business man would do III
his private affairs. l saw that Major
Rsakin was lost. Of course, aud that
% fsr - he was concerned, til. pub.
lic might ~ we'll know it one tinse q
another. but I did not want to got "
panic. a. l teIt pretty confident :hs,
a. III" Major had been 80 foolish il
lending the college money, ,ha, N
must be largely in debt TO other per
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