The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1876-06-15
were made special order for Thursday

were made special order for Thursday,
June 10, al 8 o'clock P. N.
Hon. T. r. Bonner, Speaker Of the House of
Representatives
Your special committee appointed under
the resolution of the House 10 inquire and
report whether the clerical force employed
in the office of Secretary of State, since the
assembling of this Legislature, be more than
sufficient to perform the duties of said
office; and whether the Secretary of State
has discharged any clerk from his employ
ment since the passage of the act giving
him additional force, and if so for what
cause SAID clerk was discharged, have had
the subject matter under consideration, and
beg leave to report: First, the work re
quired in the office OF the Secretary of State
may be stated IN q general way as follows /:
To authenticate by his signature every Off
cial act OF the Governor; TO conduct neces-
sarily very large correspondence; to PIE
pare all proclamations OF pardon and re-
ward issued from the Executive office to-
gether with all acquisitions and warrants
for return of fugItIves to. and from other
States; all election proclamations and TO
distribute election blanks to every county ;
to commission all State and county officers
and keep registry of same; to keep q
record of all the official acts of the Cover
nor; to keep all the laws, Supreme Court
reports ana public documents, and make
distribution OF same to all the counties; to
| file, give certified copies and record char
tiers of private corporations; to keep the
file of the original bills, Journals, petl, ions
and committee reports of the Legislature;
to certify TO the official character of any
State or county officer; to keep account of
all fees received and pay over the same to
the State Treasurer; to file election returns,
railroad reports and various other miscella-
neous documents; to have laws copied,
compared, printed, Indexed and distribu-
ted to all the counties; to receive from
United States Department of State, United
States statutes aud distribute the same !;
as e1.O6iclO member of audltorial board to
pass Oh many and important claims annual
ly, and as &c o1icio member of, and secre-
tary to printing board, to order all print
ing and approve all accounts for
same: Second, to perform these laboIs
and other work incidental to the Office diff
ticult to specify, three regular clerks are
constantly employed to aid the Secretary of
State, one chief clerk and two assistants.
The time employed by these clerks at their
desks is from s o'clock in the morning un-
til o'clock in the afternoon. One extra
clerk is now in the employment of the office
under the appropriation made by the Four
teenth Legislature to copy laws for the
printer, and when not so employed, his SER
vices are used in aid of the other clerks in the
regular business of the office. These four
clerks constitute the force now in the en-
ployment of the Secretary of State, and are
not more than sufficient to perform the
Ix,t,a "a l.,lN@ h.
performed in the office of Secretary of State,
are not always uniform. At times the work
accumulates more or less heavily, and
it becomes necessary to Call in sd-
dltional clerical aid, until the press of
business is removed. Since the passage of
the act at the present session, giving to the
Secretary additional force, one additional
clerk has been employed for about the
period of ten days, and other force will
have to be employed as the labors will
necessarily augment under the legislation
now III progress Tins last mentioned
clerk was discharged ON Saturday, the tenth
instant, leaving now in tine office four
clerks mentioned above. Fourth, the Cir
cumstances under which the above men
toned temporary clerk was removed are as
follows: TIE Secretary of State, being in
formed that it had been announced on the
floor of the House of Representatives by a
member of the House, that his clerical
force was largely In excess of the re-
quirements of his office, and that
this statement was made on the author
ity of one of his own clerks, he at once de-
termined to remove sa1u clerk, knowing
that the statement was false and grossly un-
just to the secretary as public officer.
Accordingly he Immediately inquired of his
chief clerk as to the condition of the press
ing business of the office, and being as
sured that said pressing business was very
nearly relieved, he at once discharged the
temporary clerk referred to.
In this act of the Secretary of State, your
committee do not hesitate to say that IN
their opinion he was perfectly justified. In
the first place, the Secretary of State, I'M
der the law, has the right to employ and re-
move his subordinates at his will, and no
one has authority to question either the
employment or removal, or to demand his
reasons for employing or removing. And
especially, in the opinion of your commit
tee, the Secretary of State cannot in any
sense be deemed culpable when he exer-
cises his right under the law to remove in a
case where injustice has been done to him.
self as an officer, and to the public service
in which the Secretary is employed.
We have deemed it due to the Secretary
of State to say this much from an investiga-
ton of the facts as they have come to our
knowledge, and in doing so do not wish to
| be considered as rejecting upon the gen
| tleman from Grayson (Mr. Martin), who
made the statement on the floor of the
House, as we are satisfied that the state
ment was made by him upon information
which was not correct, but which he be-
| lieved to be true. Nor would the commit
tee be regarded as casting any imputation
| upon the clerk who was discharged, for,
from the character of the young gentleman
for integrity, we think that in the state
ment made by him to Mr.. Martin he could
not willfully have misrepresented the facts,
but we think that he acted in the matter
from mistaken view of the facts of the case.
| CAMPBELL,
| LANG,
| KINNIsoN,
| Committee.
Senator Carroll, from the special com
| u.e ha raj