The age-herald., 1897-09-19

account or the department for the pre-
 cedins month, and an estimate of the
 expenses for the succeeding month, and,
 with the approval of the governor, en-
 dorsed on such estimate, may retain
 from the monies received a sum not ex-
 ceedlng $o0O, to meet such expenses, not including the salary of the commis- sioner; such estimate with the approval
 of the governor to be filed in the office of the auditor. The travelling expenses
 of the commission of the clerks. of the
 chemist, an account thereof being yeri-
 fled, may be paid from the money SD
 retained. About the first of September
 lS96, he obtained from the treausry the
 sum or $500 for expenses for the month
 On the flrst of October succeeding. he
 hled his report and vouchers for the
 preceding month. accompanied by a k statement of the estimate of expenses
 Tor the succeeding month and retained
 the S5O0. The same thing was done on
 the first of November and again on the
 first day of December. No estimate of
 expenses has been filed since. the incom-
 Ing of the present administration except
 one on the 9th of January, 1897. but his
 books and reports show that the $500
 obtained in September last has been
 carried forward from month to month.
 down to the present time. His monthly
 reports do not show that the expense accounts of himself, clerks or chemists
 have been sworn to, as the estimate
 requires On the 18th of July, 1S97 he
 drew from the treasury an additional
 $50O on account of expenses, making
 $1,OO0 or $500 more than the statute au-
 thorzes him to retain. This additional
 5000 does hot appear upon his books and l ascertaised this fact from the auditor.
 In my general summary, I have
 charged this amount to him. In exam ming his accounts and vouchers, I find quite a number of errors, alterations and irregularities In his December report,
 I find an error of 50 cents in addition
 of the commissioners expense account
 against himself. I have allowed him
 credit for the same. In his February
 report I find an error of 25 cents in one voucher l|o. against the state on ac- count of the Western Union Telegraph company, one of the items being marked
 ID. F. Sessions, Personal, 25 cents." In
 his March report I find an error of $3
 against the state in addition of the eX-
 pense account of H. G. Mccall.
 In his April report I find an error of $10 against the state in the account of w. c. Holt For the same month an er- TOT of $10 against the state In the ec- counl. of Joseph Manegd'd; also an errcr of $10 against the state in the account of r. $. Persons; also an error of $10 against the statei in the account of H. 0. Burton, Jr In his May report I find an error of $5.25 against the state in the ex- peri3e account of J. O. Turner. It seen $ that the commissioner received credit twice for the same item. For the sane e month find an account of White, Wood ruff & Fowler fer $12495. This account bore the name of the firm at the bottom, but seems net to have been receipted Upon investigation I found that 1t had net besn paid consequently was not proper voucher. For the month of June I found the following improper vouchers: Error in the account of Prof. J. F. Dug ger, hack hire alt AbbeviCle, $10; error in account of same party $9.25 expenses to Abbevl1s, duplicated; error in allowing account of D. F. Sessions, S2.05, personal; error in account of Prof. F. s. Earle, ex- penses to Evergreen, s11 .36, duplicated; error in account of Dr. G. A. Cary, ex- penses, $20.63; error in account of same party, expenses to Hamilton, $1S.S5
 It appears that the errors in the ac- counts of Profs. Dugger and Eare and Dr. Cary occurred this way; they each gave a receipt for their expenses incur rsd and afterwards rendered itemize q statements of their expenses covering the same amounts. The receipts former ly given and these accounts were filed as vouchers hy the clerk, and if allowed the commissioner would receive double credit. For the same month appears an error in the hotel bir of the commissi h. CT at Nashville of $10 against the state, also sn errer of $10 against the state in the addition of the expense bill of the commissioner. For the month of July l findNamong the vouchers receipt from Prof. B. B. Ross fer $30 expenses.
 This amount was allowed the commits sioner in the month of June on an item ized account rendered by Prof. Ross covering the same amount, and is an inn proper voucher. For the month of Au- gust is an account of White Woodruff & Fowler for $SS.30. This account as one for the same parties in the month of May. had the firm name stamped at the bottom, but was not receipted by any one, which, upon investigation, I found had not been paid. For the same month I found an account of the Mont gomery Journal for $1 for funeral notice of D. F. Sessions. I do not consider this a proper charge against the department and have thrown 1t out. I also found an error of IA cents in addition of the expense account against the state for the same month. All the items have been charged back to the commissioner and will appear in the statement accompanying this report.
 The total amount of. errors and m- proper credits taken in these monthly re- poits amount to $3S503. Of this sum, two errors appear in taking credits for bills not paid, amounting to $213.25. The amount of vouchers taken credit for twice agg-re gate $95.34 Items in six accounts were raised in each account $10, aggregating $6O, and sundry small errors in addition and otherwise aggre- gate $16.44. l find many accounts which have not been itemized; simply the .-ss are given. The commissioner explains that the failure to make mori h. ly reports s.nca March and the numl- CT of errors appearing in his vouchers were caused by the oorlhnue1 illness of his chief clerk, which detained him from his duties and subsequently, terminated in Ifs death in August of the present year. Ihsi: he had suggeated to him that the books were getting behind and that it | would be best to employ some one to | post them and make the reports; but | that his clerk insisted that he would nst | do so, as he understood the bussncs ss and would straighten up everything as l soon as he recuperated his health By | yielding ito this request of his clerk | would in great msasura account for | the condition of the books and the fail | lre to make monthly repo.t.s.
 In order to make nay examination of | this office clearly understood I have at l tsched a detailed monthly statement to | this report, nlafked exhibit "C," to be i considered p Tt of sa-ne. Tn this state | ment appears an account of how the stood with the department | It the close of eaC[l north, as shown |