Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1883-04-06
Official Responsibility.


1.-The controversy over the financial admin
istraton has believe, ceased, for The simp @
reason that no wrong-doing has been or can
be shown. There may have been errors of
Judgment in the conduct of financial alflirs
but if so, the financial officers, the LEGISLATURES
and the governors of both political parties are
involved alike in the res ponShili,N, whereas
the great result remains that the balance sheet
is clean
Mr.. Treasurer Compton has been interviewed.
also, and 1t appears to be II we'll considered and
elaborate expression of his own views upon the
coalition of things. In many things which he
says there is force and truth, bat to the above
extract taken from his interview, we must take
exception. The controversy over the financial
condition has not ceased and will not cease
until the Treasurer and Comptroller obey lsaw
and discharge their full duties, as such, AS re-
quired by the Constitution and the laws
What has become, we ask OF the $500, 900 and
upwards collected annually from the direct tax
l-vied for the payment Of III Interest anu
ultimately the debl iseif2 Where II Is :?
The debt OF 81 800, 600 contacted in
1865 is not paid OF any pari of it. There was
almost nothing IN long years carried to the
sinking fund from these taxes, for the pay meni
of the debt. Where are these taxes SO Sacredly
dedicated by the ConSiin ton and laws 10 this
single purpose? How is il that they are not to
be found int the Treasury p HlgsrstoTR Mad
1t is well known that the Hugerstawn
-Nab is not, and has not been for years re-
garded as Democratic paper, and canse-
quently, it is far to presume that Demo
Gratis do not read its editorial utterances :;
or If they do so, that it is with due al ow-
ance for its perverted vision and habit Of
reckless assertion. 1t was not, indeed, to
have been expected, however. that even
the HaSerStown Naa would have been
heard making such utterly groundlcss as
scrtInns Is Is contained in the extract
above, which have been SO effectively re-
futcd and answered hy the officers of the
treasury. 1t was no longer ago than May
1891, that Mr.. Hamilton in harangue
before public mass -meeting at the Mary
land Institute in Baltimore city. preferred
the same charges, which W re imnedia e.
ly afterwards answered and refuted by the
Comptro ler and Treasurer in formal
statement which was published through
cut the State. This statement showed
from the statistics of the treasury depart
nent that the total amount received into
the treasury from The sale sf the defense
loan and from The bounty tax tirom its
creation in 1864 up to September 30, 1850
were only $751; SCI OF, in excess of the
amount paid out in compliance with the
appropriations made by the bounty act
from its passage in 1854 up to its repeal
in 1880 while the defense loan in the same
period was reduced from about 81 500 900
to S3,3a6. 80 s6-erera million Of dollars
To this .bl, and cone usiye statement
nsither Mr. Hamilton nor the MAJ at that
time veuturei any reply. aud the tact that
it is now digging up the 2ld stale and ex
ploded ~bombshell' m lst he due tn u very
defective memory on the part OF the able
editor, or the fact that he assumes that
the public memory is very short.
The Nail is in error. as was ais, Mr.
Hamilton, in assuming that there Is any
violation OF the consti'u ion in apprnpri-
atiug the bounty taxes to paying IF the
bounticr created by law. instead OF doing
the imp rssble thing Of appropr,ating i
to reduce the defense loan. Tue proYi-
sions at section 81 IL Art ) OF the crus,i-
tuition in relation IT, sinking funds d. not
Apply to debts ere. ei IN defense of the
Stare, because these later were expressly
accepted ont oi its operation. Il was
therefore perfectly competent f,r the Lee
cruing from The sale of the defense loan
was not sufficient To pay of the hounties
il had created, To- authorize the applica-
ton OF the bounty tax 30 that purpose, by
the sinking fund But, even IL
this had been otherwise. the treasury Of
ticers were bou I'd - obey the aes made
by the legislature and pay out money IN
accoyeianre Eith is appropriations, until the
laws should have been declared uncons,i-
tutional by t-e Court of Appeals, in which
tribunal alone is invested the power OF
annulling laws passed By the Legislative
department of thu Government. IL is not
the function of the treasury q Ulcers n pass
upon the constitutioua.ity of laws made
by Il e Legislature, and no one whs has
any familiarity with the principles of re-
publican government could ever in good
faith charge them it'll such functions.
Mr.. Compton IS right; the balance sheet
is c'ean-despite all the eff"-ts OF sore
heads and demagognes To besmirch il.