The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-05-24
AIIDTToRIAL INVESTIGATION.
CLINTON ON THE STAND.
mor Keiiogg ana Tom Anderso" ""i-
aOzed Hin.

n.v uc,,org ana Tom Anderson ""'i-
aozed Him.
s,,o Audttorial ard Treasury Department oom-
,,,,,tes met Yesterday at the state-house' wneh
there was quorum prefent ..
u.. + Victor was the first witness sworn
w.s Tar clerk in the Auditors oiilce seven years.
ra Mr. A,aiee-The city tax collectors settled
,,,.,y ,nanth. and the country col ectofs every
three months Don't know .na. n,r o"I las, he
recrived money from tax col,eo,ofs. ~. Wy
.,esca nm the gath OF last mon,h, ana uo n l
r v'auo ,uha,n any books have been removed 10;
don't know that
Tury HAVE BEEN REMOVED.
Mai Mr. Forssall some time ago aud ne asheu sa e
vhere the bond books were, Dont hno" q, s"I !,
.oy had been taken away, ana heFe' heaA" VI "
only what cav In the papers. ~ I.,.aru J.,
~" n2acaivad orders after the 9th OF January 20
..os ,,,, tho rolls In trunks and put them III the
yauIt which was done; the denqus. n .s 49, =,
;ncluded for all back years. pacseu .nsm "
.md ocked the trunks; opened one OF the TRUNKS ,
..so aimed Ia take out some private papers \ hsa
In II: will be glad TO furnish 'n9 h.n %
.ny ,ime with al tho information can; ! nase
the KEYS 10 the trunks, ou' 'aes ~"
son's private property. Ia. ..,ha
M. aldlee then read copy OF . letter tnae ne
a.a r,anarsd and sent TO ez-Au iitor Johnson. on
Tuasasy. calling upon Lin to deliver encs
s,cnLs osperp to-. an were IN his possession, ana
we.a =, Cd that the letter had been delivered 70
M Johna IN In person. The letter also d,rected
Mr.. Johpsuu's attendance rs q witnets'
Mr.. Steven suggested that IL might oe proper
% send the Sergeant-a-Arm aite' mr. ''h''o"'
The next witness called was
oHAs. CLINTON, ESQ,
,hs ,ate Auditor. and Mr.. Johnson's Predecessor.
IN Mr.. Aldge-was the State Auhhor from ron
neeemher 10, 1872, until December VI, lofo,
When took poss session OF the once, htm hn
Inventory taken OF all that WAS IN the o,ife.
When nrasd u over 10 M 1ahn "" aid not re-
0uire Il. and I thought there was no necessity
or INV part, II he did not require H.
All took rom the Office when / LETT was
private memorandum book ana one copy e Ta. %
ma annual aiatemen y Of tho Auditor ana Treas,
srer. No document, book or paper was destroyed
viii % l vas In ofic'. al, ..o ;..,aa
10 TAX o,1IEcTons
An set,le with the Treasurer. 1 received money
mvself from the tax collectors. IL was 10 tnis
way In 1873 here was great disturbances u h .no
whole banking interests OF the country, wheh
Ia col. ctora received in pigment OF taxes Ger.
titled snk checks, which could then be obtaieed
I'd a disconnt, and the collections thsh were
suostly made with these che ke. ln ses.nnS VIII
the Treasurer he refused 10 recei'e 'hoso ohee"S
from the tax collectors
In MANY instances the tax collectors were not
Farn,ahinr very good bonds. l consulted VII
some advisers regarding the matter, ana thongnt
III
items over there might be loss TO the stare. 1
determined then 10 take their entire colecuons
M. In NV mind. tho best thing l could do would
be to purchase warrants
wfTu THE CERTIFIED CHECKS.
I copsulted with Gov Kellogg, and during the
two quarters those checks taseu py me Ia see,ie-
rnent were used. I went into the m,rket with
5000 600 OF them and purchased faoO, 0O0 ia state
warrants. keeping care fnl account OF every
dollar / then turned the amount OF warrants
purchased into the Treasury, where tney we've
received. / thought in pursuing tnis pisn tnht
the State had better DO bench cd rather than let
the tax collectors carry the certified checks with
them. ..,.. l..
checks aud soms portion in cash. They could
not have made settlement with The Treasurer In
cash and warrants together.
To Mr., Aidge--I rememb II about the case OF
the Collector Montieu, and have his receipts Tor
tho amount he pad H. a, .ne ,ms o. n f eays
Monitor mine, crediting Monitor Tor the amount
paid by HIM.
His case was something lite this: When took
poss, ssion Of the Office found very sal
upon the Collectors rolls. In fsot, the property
was hardly described al all. then
ISSUED CIRCULAR
to the collectors compelling them to make
proper descrip ion Of properly. When Mr. mon.
ten presented his book at the next settlement u
have been difficult to tell fron IL on what prop
srty taxes had been paid From that on be never
made any settle nent When that occurred re-
ported TO the Governor, aud at the Time ne was
making collections 10 The amount OF sso,O0o
year and thought 1t about time the other plan
was I'D pied
10 Mr. Keeting The amount he holds my re-
ceipts for
WENT INTO THE TREASURY,
and the amour, he is ow sut d for by the State
il that which h. never paid into the Treasury or
settled f,r.
To Mr.. Aldige-Think / gave public notice OF
the sale Of the warrants referred to; II was gem
eral known. The auctoneer was, think, MI;
Carpenter. We gave about $20o,00O IN certned
checks aud got about $40 600 In state warrants.
Under the existing law the checks could not go
into the Treasury, whereas the warrants could.
Before this occurred the tax collectors seeing
that to get cash for their checks they would have
MAKE SACRIFICE
u seven per cent discount, determined they
would not make that sacrifice.
To Mr.. Leeds-Ths system OF purchase was
perhaps irregular, but II was for the States To-
To MIR. Aldige-I never b,ught one warrant
indiyidualy, and 1 defy any one to say that
bought, sold, or manipulated one in any way to
derive profit from it personally. l had no more
right to do so than Mr. Bou Iwell had to speculste
in government bonds, and did not. In some
cases. where the parish or district judges In tne
country came here and could not get their
money, / would hold their warrants for them
and indorse them with my own name, when they
we're paid by the Treasurer. In that way, per-
haps, one OF the witnesses who testiilsc betore,
connected my name with the warrants. -,
L did have trouble in making settlements with
the State Treasurer. 1t seemed to me that there
were Influences which In some way caused MIN 10
favor certain parties in cashing warrants Some
went to him to get their warrants cashed and
could not while others got their money.
There was joint committee IN 1875 to In
yestigate my Office.
HERwIa WAS ACTIVE
in getting an investigation. That committee
made partial report At the first session. Don't
think they id much between the sessions. Nearly
every one OF the members OF that committee had
something they wanted me to do. the principal
thing being to Issue warrants. The Legislature
passed an act author eng the issuance OF war
rants upon claims audited by the Board OF Audit to
the extent of $500 600. That was unconstitu.
aional az 1t exceeded the limits of the revenue OF
the State. The B,you Bartholomew clam was