The record-union., 1897-11-24
IT IS A STATE INSTITUTION.
CONTROLLER COLGAN ON THE
VETERANS HOME.
He Is Not Afraid to Draw State
Warrants for the Yount-
vile Institution.

In view of the statements made py
Governor Budd and Secretary OF State
Brown relative to the Yountville Vet
Grams rome, at meeting of the Board
Oh examiners on Monday and reported
IN yesterdays issue of this paper,
Record-Unlon" reporter called on
State Controller Colgan to obtain his
views on the matter.
Mr.. Colgan, While not desiring to en-
ter into any controversy or discussion
with other State officers, is firm in his
OPINION that the Veterans Home at
Yountvllle is a State institution with
III the intent and meaning of the con-
stitutional and statutory provisions,
and is entitled to the aid heretofore
granted by the State and Federal Gov
ernments.
State aid, Controller CoIgan said, was
first given to this institution by an Act
of the Legislature approved March Z,
1883, which appropriated annually to
each inmate of the Home the sum Of
800 to the extent of $4,000 per an
mum. This continued until February
2S, 1877, when an Act was approved
increasing the maximum annual allow
ance to 100000 per annum. At the
same session of the Legislature S1O,-
coo was appropriated for the erection
of an additional cottage at the Home
and the completion of the principal
building already in use.
Continuing, Mr.. Cogan said:
''At this time the constitutionality of
the appropriation was questioned by
exState Controller John P. Dunn. and
the matter drifted along until after
the session of 1880. during which the
Act of March 10, 1889, was passed de-
claring the Home to be a State insti-
tuition, and recognizing it as such.
This Act answered a two-fold pur-
pose, as it brought the Home within
the provisions of the Congressional
Act of August 81, 1888, which provided
aid to State or Territorial Homes for
the support of disabled soldiers and
sailors of the United States, and obvi-
ated any question which might arise as
to the States appropriation.
"On April TO- 1890, the then Attorney
General Geo A. Johnson, rendered an
opinion that the Yountville Home was
State institution. within the scope Of
the law and that the appropriation or
$4,000 could be employed for the pur-
pose designated Acting under this
advice, Controller Dunn drew his war
rants for the amount of the appropria-
ton.
''It may be put forward as an argu-
ment that the mere fact of the Home
being declared a State institution by an
Act of the Legislature without 3oine
affirmative action on the part of the
Directors of the Home does not in fact
make II such.
'In my opinion. the Directors have,
tacitly at least. acquiesced in the de-
claration of the legislative Act by con-
forming to all the requirements OF the
statutes relative to the Home, by maxi
ing their reports to the Governor OF the
State and by accepting the appropria-
tions made by the Legislature, from
which much if not most OF the revenue
of the Home is derived.
Even if the Home We're said to be
not exclusively under the control of the
State. as a State institution the decis-
ion of the State Supreme Court in the
case of Daggett vs. Colgan involving
the appropriation for the Worlds Co
lumbian Exposition at Chicago. would
be sufficient authority for me to draw
my warrant for any appropriation the
Legislature might see fit to make for
the Home.
1.-THE report of Secretary of State
Brown. and his declaration that the
Home is not a State institution, and
that the appropriations therefor nave
been Illegally made and expended
caused an Act to be passed by the last
Legislature providing for the convey
anee of the property of the Home TO
the State. and to vest the title thereto
f-in Of
Act have not been followed out, and
the property has not yet been conveyed
and for these reasons:
''The Home has received it's aid from
the State by virtue of the provisions
of the Act of March Z. 1888, and the
amendments thereto. The moment the
Directors transfer the property of the
Home to the State it comes within the
provisions of the Act of March IL, 1897,
which makes no appropriation for the
maintenance of the Home, and the Act
of March Z, 1888. and it's amendments
become imperative.
THE Governor vetoed the approprl-
alton of 100000 included in the gen.
eral appropriation Act of 1897 for the
support of the Home, and in conse-
quence the Home would be left without
support. The controversy now going
on. and the statements of the officers
of the State that the Home is not
State institution, have finally come to
the notice of the Federal authorities as
evidenced by the letter addressed to
Adjutant- General Barrett by General
Franklin of the Board of Managers of
National Soldiers Homes, and the re-
suit will be that the Home will lose
the aid heretofore received from Con-
gress.
This will leave the Home without
any support, to speak of, and creates
a distressing state of affairs. The an
nual amount appropriated by the State
for support of the inmates of the Home
is now $4,000. and I am ready at all
times to draw a warrant for this
amount whenever the claims shall be
approved by the State Board of Exam
iners, and am not afraid that my ac-
ton will cause any alarm to my
bondsmen."
1t is the early edition that catches
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