Wilmington daily commercial., 1875-03-30


DUTIES OF THE STATE TREASURER"
On Friday last, in the State Senate, during the
consideration Of bill which he had introduced
to re-orsanize the accounts of the State Treaa-
urer, Mr. Riddle, of this county, said
III the bill before the Senate should fail to
pass and the present no system of book-keep
ing be continued for m indefiOite period of time
there will be at least one fact at which / car
look with pleasure-that the recent discussion
has furnished to our people more detailed and
Ineligible information than they were ever like
y to obtain from the regular aud official sources
And now one word in relation to the article
noticed in last evenings papers, and its defense
Of " the
FoRLoRN AND ANIfQuATED CASH BOOK
which comprises the accounts of our State.
readily admit the force Of the argument that oul
accounts are kept in u simple manner, and
this believe to be true in more senses of the
word than one but the 60 plain tale,' told by
those accounts is in dead and by gone tongu
lin n language which book keepers and ordinary
people equally fail to understand.
Let us look at the system. 1t comprises q
cash book, and nothing else, aud the aggregates
or summaries given by the Auditor are picked
out from the items. The amount of informa-
ton given is quite limited, tho chief use of the
account being to determine the liability Of the
State Treasurer to the State. No details are
ever attempted For instance, there is no way
VI bbcerlhlflllib from tDe recOru VI INC obhJe
Treasurer the amount paid per volume for the
Legislative journals or for the printing of the
laws.
NO COMPLETE RECORD
has been preserved OF the dates or num-
bers Of the outstanding bonds of the
State. There is no record or memoran-
dun Of the outstanding notes to the
amount of $4,000, except the cash entry when
the discounts were effected, and there is no reg
ular record of the assets of the State. or me-
cessity there is neither day-book or ledger ac-
counts, for both day-book and ledger are
deemed superfiuous.
In the Auditors report summaries are given,
but the items are not to be found, and he who
is so perverse and unbelieving as to ask for
them must be satisfied by picking them cut, Gf
he can recognize them) from several hundred
items in the cash book. Such system may in
deed be 'simple" but it is not ''plain," and in
fact is not even secure.
Mr. Davis, the late State Treasurer, did his
duty fully and honestly as did other Treasurers,
yet this is 10 more an argument for the old sys-
TEN than che other admitted fact that the
amount of taxation levied on our people has been
SO large that we have been enabled to pay a
large amount of the public debt. A ledger does
not
NECESSARILY LEAD TO DISHONESTY
nor could the fact that he kept proper account
for bills payable make State Treasurer thiev-
isll. On these points public opinion is fixed and
the complicated system OF accounts, which re-
quires both day-book and ledger, is in such
universal use only because all experience shows
there is an absolute disadvantage in shiftless
and hap hazard system of bookkeeping. In n
certain city in this State, where "the people
were slow to make changes and awaited the re-
sults of the experience of Others" they had all
experience of their own Of the most decided
for under system of book. keeping
scarcely better than that of the State they came
to tribulaton. The assertion that there is a
m
that it requires an expert two years, at a
salary of $4,000 per annum, to dhcover defal-
cation" seems to me erroneous. There was
forlorn and antiquated system in use in one OF
our municipalities which
MADE A DEFALcATIoN POSSIBLE,
al d under which il is claimed one occurred, and
which required troublesome aad costly recon-
Ill order to ascertain the facts in the
case, but there is now in Use in that city per-
feet system similar to that in use in every city or
bank in the country, and Of which the bill pre-
sent for your votes to-day is only reduced and
modified copy.
wish, also, to call your attention to the par
agraph in the article referred to which attacks
the conclusions in my so-called expose of the
State finances. l undertook the examination of
the State finances because there were bills be-
fore the Senate and the House, the passage Of
which would seriously diminish the revenue, and
while | doubted the policy OF reducing
the revenue in any manner did
not attempt to make special plea or an argu-
ment from which certain fore-ordaiped, and pre-
destinated cone luaions were to be drawn. The
correctness of those conclusions Except as mod
flied by subse equent legslation,) here re affirm,
and am glad to see that the gentleman who
pronounces that my conclusions are not justi-
fed by the facts does himself arrive at sub
stantally the same conclusion, and the figures
he gives, although appearing to differ, widely
from mne-polnt toward the same result. Yet
stated the amounts payable this year-for in
debtednees, floating or funded and for expenses
at $780, 800. while l am reminded they Will
ONLY AMOUNT TO s1ss.i4o
In the first place, since l made my previous
remarks, the Legislature has directed the State
Treasurer to issue new bonds to relieve and take
the place of S14, 900, of bonds due this year and
belonging to Delaware Colege-a transaction
which if it diminishes the amount of expendi-
tnre, reduces the amount of bonds to be purchased
by that very expenditure, and does not therefore
affect the nett assetts or liabilities of the State
also notice an under estimate Of the expenses
Of the State Government for 1875. In 1872 these
expenses were 800, S9l in 1873 s22, 536 in 1874,
S21 4i3 yet observe they are put down at
S19,400,
AN UNDER ESTIMATE OF ABOUT $4,000.
Taking into consideration these two items find
the amounts agree within about $1,000. close
correspondence when We take iuto consideration
the difficulty in making estimates, where no reg
has been even attempted for years. | placed
the income for 1875 at 100000. and as was in
quiring whether it would be expedient to reduce
taxation aud was therefore anxious to ascertain
how the expenditures of the State would COM
pare with its income, | did not, OF course,
add in the bank balance at the first of the year
in order to show surplus of income at its close.
Yet in another statement l see the balance in
bank brought forward and a surplus of $37 1853.
aeceriained, which although it is not SO EXPRESS
ly stated, appears at first sight to be clear
gain for 1875 over all expenditures. Taking
the amount of sG20, 500. as stated, and deduc-
ting the balance on haud at the first of the year
we find an estimated income of 22Ol, I73 OF
which ~, 900. is to consist OF
PREVIOUSLY UycoLLEcTABLE DEBTS
due by rail roads, and $4,000 is to be derived
from the sale of bonds by the State Treasurer.
Those bonds are in the possession of the State
as his action is not only controlled by the ext
gencies of the Treasury, but the facility with
which he can purchase bonds in open market, it
seemed to me to be unwise to act on bills affect
ing taxation on reasons prelicated on views as
to his probable action
Taking. however, this very account, assuming
that the State expenses would be less than for
previous years, that $4,000 of the back rail road
tax would be Collected and the bonds duly sold,
and adopting sanguine views concerning the
usual sources of the revenue the excess of the
revenue over expenditure, Gucluding payments
of indebtedness due III that year,, would be only
alS 3jS j, a result which | notice ID not given IL
in the statement and which is not at all a large
margin and which would again justify me il
saying that the time has come when it ia ne