Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1897-02-17
1897 and 1898 would, I believe furnish an
| amount sufficient to restore the general fund
! to its normal condition.

1897 and 1898 would, believe, furnish an
amount sufficient to restore the general fund
to its normal condition
The State Repositories.
In this connection I call your attention
to the law providing for state repositories
and the deposit of public moneys therein.
This law Is known as chapter 273 Of the
laws or 1891. 1t creates board or de-
poslts consisting of the commissioners OF
public lands and the governor. This board
designates the repositories and gives to the
state depository the power to deposit with
any such depository Qt having given the
requisite bond and complied with the re-
9ulrem s OF the law any public moneys mo y
In his hands or under his official control not
exceeding the limit prescribed by section
5, of the act
shall be deemed to be in the state treas,
ury. One hundred and fifty-eight thousand
dollars of the funds of the state are now,
under the provisions of the act, in deposit
Or this money, SAB, 575.05 are deposited IN
banks which have failed. l am advised that
the law to the state, the amount which the
state will recover from these banks is un-
certain. 1t is not the theory of the law that
these deposits shall constitute loans for any
given time. The money is on call. and the
purpose of the act is to enable the state,
while there Is no public need for the money,
TO obtain low rate Of interest upon 1t.
1t needs no argument to show that the
money OF the state should not be loaned ex-
cept under circumstances which shall GER
tafnly secure its prompt return when need
ed. 1t is declared in the law itself that
money In these repositories shall be
deemed ''in the state treasury"
It IS, perhaps, worthy of your attention
whether the law may not be much i'm
proved IN the matter of security to be re-
CURED from repositories, Under the law as
it now stands the board of deposits, which
keeps record of it's votes and acts, desig-
mates repositories by majority vote.
recommend an amendment Of the law SO
depository of the public funds without
unanimous vote Of the officers constituting
the board Of deposits. 1t must be apparent
to all that too great safeguards cannot be
placed around the deposit of public funds.
1t is to be conclusively presumed that no
member Of the board of deposits would in
desire to serve the public interest, aud
II one member of the board, as constituted.
should upon the showing made by any bank
or upon his investigation Of the subject be
unwilling that IT should be made a depoSl-
tory and put upon the same basis as the
treasury itself, that fact alone ought TO be
public depository.
Protection of State Records.
The recent destruction by fire of the
state capitol of Pennsylvania, together
with all the state records, has directed at
tention to the unprotected condition OF our
own state records now stored in the base
ment Of this building. l recommend that
some one Of your committees be directed TO
make investigation of the condition of these
records and the vault in which they are
stored, and if it be found that they are
not sufficiently protected, provision be made
for the construction of a thoroughly fire
proof vault, in which they may be stored
with safety.
In this connection 1 submit herewith re-
port made to me by the secretary of state
and the state treasurer, concerning the eX
penditures Of the state during the years
1895 and 1886.
EDWARD sCoFIELD,
The report was accompanied by re-
port from Secretary Casson and Treas
urer Peterson explaining n seeming in
crease in the state expenditures for the
biennial period ending September 30,
1896. The report explains that an ar
tlcle IN morning paper was misleading
because it had not explained the method
of bookkeeping in the state departments,
which makes every dollar coming into
the general fund of the state show as an
expenditure and is therefore easily mis-
Under this system S132,a1
raised for the support of the university
appears as an expenditure of the state
government when in reality It Is not.
The increase of expenditures alleged
for the fiscal years 1895 and 1896 over
those for the fiscal years of 1893 and
1894 may be accounted for as follows:
Increase of expenditures, 81, 342 1915.
This increase consists of the following:
Payment of trust funds, $260,000: i
mill tax paid from general fund surplus,
5000, 600: part of 9-40-mill tax for uni
yersity paid from general fund surplus,
So, $40; taking of census as required
by the constitution and laws of the state,
$50, S25.45: printing census reports,
S7529.29; increase for maintenance of
chronic insane in county asylums, caused
by an increased number of insane, S102,-
1866; paid to charitable and penal in
situations, 81. c. Clark, treasurer, but
refunded by said treasurer TO the general
fund under chapter 202 Of the laws Of
1898, SAG, 2o2.71; money received from
and expended for charitable and penal
institutions. under chapter 202 of the
laws OF 1885, S114, 6O6S1, making total
of 81, 337 ,3S1.22; balance, S14, S9o.41.
Deducting the $732, SIC raised for the
university, S98,354.74 expended on the
taking of the census, and some other
things that should be deducted, the actu-
al expenses for running the state gov
eminent are shown to have been $14.-
$50 Al less than for the preceding bien-
NAL term.