The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-03-07

Gus departments and institutions before
they should be sent 10 the auditor, thus
relieving the latter officer of large re-
sponsibiiity- These various ex-officio
members could and should perform the
duties now being performed By the numer-
Gus commissions, as this would obviafe all
necessity for the existence Of the commits
sions which are now composed Of citizens
OF the state whose average pay while en-
8aged In the business of the state, Is $ per
day The suggestion is further made that
ali payments of money should be paid di-
recfiy the state treasurer, under duplicate
system OF advices and receipts, thus per-
fecting system of checking between the
departments to whose credit money is
placed and the Office of the treasurer. Ac-
companyIng this you will find vouchers
and other data. Respectfully submitted,
s'B. G.. VAN HouTEy.
'.F. H. LICE
& GEORGE b. WALKER.
a H. AxpERsoS,
"a. H. GARRErsox."
The following seIf-expiadafory letter was
submitted to the Senate and House this
evening by Secretary Of State Weir:
In order that no unjust impression
may prevail from the reading and publica-
fion Of the report OF the special joint COM
mitfee Of the legislature, as TO the
investigation OF state officers, / desire 70
submit the following and ask that it go on
record along with the report Of the COM
mittee.
.First-There is no Law requiring re-
ceipted, itemized vouchers to be flied with
the state auditor covering incidental or
other expenses OF any state Office. the
custom being to fill out upon an official
voucher, furnished by the auditor. the
item or items charged, and to certify
thereon as TO its correctness. This being
the case had not deemed il necessary 10
file such vouchers. Upon inquiry BY
your committee, however, pro-
cured and furnished receipsed item
lied vouchers covering every item
inquired about, and furnished such vouch-
ers to the committee. The money
for the metal fling case referred 10 had
been forwarded to the company's agent,
but had not been received at the company,s
home Office up TO February g. Ascertain
ing this TO have been a fact | teiegraphed
the money direct to the home Office of
George d. Barnard & Co., st. Louis, and
received from them by wire authority TO
receipt their bill. Their telegram is ap-
pended 10 the receipted bill.
.'Second-As TO the money appropriated
for indexing.s ranging In chapters and
distributing the session laws of 15SA90.
arranged with and engaged Colonel I. Y.
Eddy, OF Olympia, 10 perform the labor of
lnuex;ng and arranging the laws. Mr.
Eddy declined. however, almost at the
agreement. after he had investigated and
found it TO be much greater task
than he had anticipated. informed him
that the cost OF distributing those laws
(serding upwards of 100 copies by ex-
press to the different counties in the state,
and to each state. and territory in the
UniOn). would require nearly if not quite
half of the appropriation, but as knew Of
no other desirable opportunity to get the
work done, / finally offered him the whole
appropriation II he would perform his part
of the work, and ! would have advanced
the money necessary for the distribution
of the laws tsomcthing near $2J01. and
have looked to the legislature to reimburse
me. Dir. Eddy declined even this. 1 had
no desire whatever To do this work myself,
because / doubted my ability TO do
it properly, and because I was
already oyerburdened with other duties.
Finally, in desperation. and to avoid de-
took and did accomplish this labOrious job
BY working nights outside Of Office hours.
The service was performed and, so far as
am informed, to the satisfaction of lawyers
and the public generally, and the money
appropriated for the purpose was used for
that and no other. The state has lost
nothing, and IN fact saved TO the state
about $50, as compared with what it would
have cost had the person employed to do
the work accepted my last offer to him. /
stated these circumstances fully to the
chairman of the joint committee Senator
Van Houten), calling the attention of the
committee through him to it at the very
beginning of the investigation.
"Third-As to the money appropriated
for postage. furnished the committee
with an affidavit by my chief clerk. show
ing the actual cost of postage stamps dur
ing the first three months of my incum-
bency Of the Office "a tribe over $50 per
month). upon which an appropriation at
that rate was asked and granted, and has
vouchers. I also made for member of the
legislature an affidavit that to the best of
my knowledge and belief / had expended
as much or more money for postage stamps
during the period covered by the appropri-
alton than had been drawn from the
sorry now that 1 did not preserve
vouchers for the postage used: but it is not
now possible TO procure such vouchers l
certainly shall do so In the future. The
postage stamps used in the Office some
times exceed $50 per month, and some
times run below that sum. The average is
not far from that figure. The chief clerk,
who was questioned. only spoke as to what
stamps were used from his own desk. and
had no reference TO those used from the
secretaryss desk.
.Fourth-As TO fees. All fees collected
under the law were paid into the treasury
and / holi vouchers for the same. 4
sworn statement as TO these was also fur
nished TO the committee. At the
beginning of the present year trumor hav-
ing been current in December that
these fees were not paid over 10 the treas
urer as often as they should be), | in
strucfed the chief clerk in my Office TO pay
such fees at least once q week hereafter.
This makes more work for my Office and
for the treasurer. but it is being done and
will be continued to the end OF my term,
in order that there may be no excuse for
criticism. At my suggestion the bond of
the secretary of state was fixed at SIC, ,O00
instead of S 900 last winter, as it appeared
in the bill then pending TO regulate the
office. My bondsmen are worth hundreds
of thousands OF dollars, and the state has
at all times been amply secured for any
funds in my hands at any time.
..Fifth-As to the insurance department
fully explained in my official repert there
on the dilemma in which found myself,
the way in which / came to construe the
law, and accounted for every dollar re-
ceiyed and expended. / furnished your
committee detailed statement of receipts
and expenditures, and | have also fur
nished the chairman of your appropria-
ton committee an official letter stating
that if the legislature Will appropriate sufti-
cient money 10 defray the necessary run
ming expenses of the insurance depart
ment and will require all fees of said de-
partment to be paid into the treasury,
that it would be much more satisfactory to
me than the present arrangement
Pursuant to this idea l have
submitted TO the appropriation
committee an estimate of appropriation
items necessary for this purpose. have