Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-11-25

get across the State line before the
officers OF the law in West Virginia
could catch him, and in the majority of
cases the criminal finds this an easy
matter.
1t is said that the matter has been
"amicably settled" between the Cover
nor the Auditor, but suppose it had
not been samicably settled between
these two officials and the Governor adj
hered to his reported monstrous declar-
alton that he would issue no more re-
QUESTION papers for criminals who had
committed offenses in this State, what
a frigftful situation to the people of
West Virginia would have been thereby
presented! 1t would have made West
Virginia veritable Ell Dorado for the
criminals of the whole country. In
fact there are several criminals now in
Ohio awaiting extradition to this State
for heinous crimes committed here.
Governor Atkinson's position that
these requisition charges are not pay
able out of the Governors contingent
fund is ridiculous. Although the law
says that these charges and others OF
a similar nature may" be paid out or
the Governors contingent fund-which
Governor Atkinson construes to mean
that it is left optional with him whether
he "shall' or not so pay them-the law
specifies no other fund out of which
he may" pay them, for there is no
other fund out of which the Governor
CAN pay them. The difference between
may" and "can" in law is practlc-
ally a difference without dlstlnc-
ton. The law in providing for the pay
ment of these and other charges of sim
liar nature mentions no other fund out
of which they may be paid. And 1t
is an established fact that under past
administrations these have been the
main, the chief, charges against this
fund. Suppose the Governor should Of
fer reward for the apprehension OF
criminal, as he is frequently called upon
to do, would he expect that to be paid
out of the flu / for the criminal charges
of the courts? Most assuredly not,
and yet the law is not less mandatory
in one case than the other. The law
directs the Governor-not the State
to pay these requisition charges. Out
of what fund can the Governor pay
them, on what fund has he any war
rant to draw, but the contingent fund?
And it is chiefly to pay such charges as
these connected with the executive de-
partment, for which there is no special
appropriation, that the contingent fund
is created, and past administrations
have used it for that purpose, as the
law plainly indicates. 1t will be recall
ed that at the end Of one of the fiscal
years of Governor MacCorkle's term
these charges on the contingent fund
had been so great during the year that
the 1uHu -vcvvI,,o-enhausted Rut
these charges were not paid out of any
other fund; they were simply continued
to the beginning of the next year and
then paid. And it is to be borne in
mind that the contingent fund allowed
Governor MacCorkle was $4,000 less
than is allowed Governor Atkinson.
Aside from these facts, it certainly
was not the object of the creation of
this contingent fund to pay the ex-
penses of the Governor and his gold
bespangled staff on luxurious junkets
abroad. Although the Governor MAY"
so use it, we suppose, without violating
the letter of the law, as these costly
junkets may be construed to be in the
line of his official duties. y
Some time ago it was stated that the
1t was about the time the bills for the
New York trip Of the Governor and his
gorgeous staff came in and were charg-
ed up against it. At that time the
Register called upon the Governor, in
order to quiet criticism, to give an item
lied statement of the charges against
the contingent fund that had so nearly
exhausted it. We have never heard a
word from Governor Atkinson on this
point, and we have heard no more of
the condition of the contingent fund
until this present little row between
the Governor and the Auditor develops
the fact that it is too low to stand the
payment of extradition charges-in
other words the contingent fund has all
been spent.
FOR WHAT?
The Register again requests Governor
Atkinson, for his own sake and to
silence criticism and prevent possible
great scandal, to issue an itemized
statement as to what this annual fund
of $4,000 has been used for. Atkin-
sons predecessor was allowed $4,000
in his contingent fund, but the last
Legislature, of sweet and fragrant mem
DRY and liberal notions of spending the
peoples money, raised it to twelve
thousand. The people are interested
in knowing what has become Of it.