Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1883-02-28

Collections Tor the C0mmOnWe1ltns
Gov. Pattison, it is stated, is about to
communicate to the Legislature his views
upon the long continued practice of the
law and accounting departments of the
state in making contracts with outside
parties to do work for the common
wealth, for a commission, which it is OBJ.
vious to the governor, as it has long
been to other people, that the state de
partments should themselves do. 1t will
be remembered that the great scandal
about the war claims collected from the
general government for the state by
Geo. o. Evans, and for which he and
his confederates were paid an enormous
commission, arose out of this custom of
letting out to speculative collectors the
work which properly belonged to the
state Departments to perform. Not
many years ago it will be re-
called that certain large claims for
unpaid taxes due to the state by one of
its great transportation companies were
vaguely brought to the notice of the at
torney general and auditor general by a
pair of shrewd Harrisburg lawyers, and
a contract was made in the dark with
them by which they netted over $4,000
commissions for work that ought to
have been performed by the auditor
general and the attorney general. And
there are continually in the employment
of or under contract with the common
wealth lawyers and collectors who are
working on a contingency at matters
which properly are the functions of the
various state departments.
In excuse for this outside business it
is argued that the claims due to the state
are often brought to the notice of its
officers by the outsiders and that they
exclusively possess the information and
other facilities necessary to their collec-
tion, with which they will not part unless
commissioned to make the collections.
But, as was shown by the INTELLIGEN-
GER, at the time, in the case of the
Union transportation company, proper
system of book. keeping in the auditor
generals Office, and due vigilance by the
| officers of the state, would have disclosed
the liability of the company to the state
without any outside aid. In fact, it Was
the experience and observation of Law
yer Olmstead in the auditor generals
Office and not any facilities outside of it
that enabled him to become acquainted
with this claim, and in the end he called
in the auditor general and attorney gen.
erai to adjust and settle it, as they
should have done at the start. So
that, after all, the state got nothing
in that case except what it should have
had without the payment of the big fee
to outside lawyers and without the gross
and unwarrantable abatement which
was made upon the liability of its debt
or. This system of letting out the states
collections leads to jobbery and favorit-
ism, as we'll as to useless expense. The
attorney general should have such aid as
is absolutely necessary to the dispatch of
the business of his Office and such deputies
as he requires, and in some cases the as
sistance of local counsel is doubtless
necessary in making collections and
pressing suits, but the contract and per-
centage system which has too long pre-
vailed at Harrisburg in the law business
of the state may we'll be ventilated and
abandoned.