The age-herald., 1898-04-05
TALLAPOOSA ] COUNTY OFFICERS Examination of Accounts of Pro-
 bate Judge and Tax r2 Assessor.
Special to The Age-Herald.


 Montgomery April 4.-Assistant Exam- iner of Public Accounts Cowan has sent the governor reports of his examination of the books and accounts of o. H. Walker, tax assessor and R. A. J. Cumbee, probate judge of Tallapoosa county. In the former some irregularities were found in the books and the probate judge failed to collect the tctal amount of license from lightning rod agents. It was also found that the fee was not collected for issuance of several documents of interpretations. The report says:
 By am act Of the legislature passed and approved February. 1898, all corporations were required before any commission was issued. that a fee should be collected b.y the probate judge from such corporation for the use of the state. The fee was graded according to the capital stock of such compensation. I find that since this law ent into effect commissions have been issued to the following corporations and the probate judge failed to collect the fees as required by this act. The Alexan- der City Handle Works, commission is- sued March Il, 1S9S with acapital stock of $5000. The New Era Publishing company, commission issued March 10, 1894, with a capital stock of s2,5OO and the Tallapoosa oll NulPS COnpdiiy, COlliiIilSs1Oib iSSutu I - cember il, 1894, with acapital stock of $20,000 The fee which should have been colle ected from each one of these corpora tions was $25 Judge Cumbee having failed to collect these amounts is therefore liable to the amount of S5 Upon calling his at- tontion to the matter, he explained that he had overlooked the law, but that he would proceed at once to call uupon them for these amounts
 "Under an act passed and authorized by the legislature of 1S96-9 all corporations dcing business in this state are subject to a license tax, before doing business. The record in this county shows that not single corporation has complied with this law and ann aware that there are a num- Der in the county subject All licenses ex- pire December 31, of the year in which they are issued From an examination or the license record I ascertain that num- ber of dealers subject to pay licenses do not take out a license until some time after the first of January While 1t Is true the parties doing business run the risk Of in- dictment it is equally true thalt the state s out of the use of the money. I mention one insance of a party who runs bar and fifteen ball pool table. For 1Ss3 the Hcenees were not taken out unhtii Marci' March 1T. for 1894; March 17, for 1895; Jacl- uary, 22: for 1S96 February l; TOT lo''' March 13. and for 1898. March ls.
 
 +be commissioners court, I find the mln- utes fail to show any record of the exam- nation and acceptance Of the DOCK oi as sessment. There is no record shoWlhs the taxes due either for the state or county and for the years 1895 and 1896 there IS no reoord of any settlement made with the tax commissioner. These are matters or great importance, and a record of same should be kept. examined Judge Cum bee and three of the commissioners Tn re- gard to these matters, and they all testily that the book is examined as required by law, but through some inadvertance no minutes of the transactions appear upon the records of the court. There IS no eVi- dence that the lists of errors ana the Ists of insolvents are ever sworn to by the col lector, as required by law The records do show that at the regular terms in May these lists are allowed TAt law requires that within twenty days after the adjourn ment of court the probate judge shall make A list of the insolventS for each precinct and deliver them to the collector. This list for the year 1896 was not given to the col lector until March of this year. The law requires the collector when in the dis charge of his duties, if he finds any escape taxes, to assess and collect them and re- port the names and taxes to the probate judge, who shall enter them in the back of the assessment book and report the same to the auditor in the form of an ab- stract. I find that none of these escapes are ever entered on the book; the abstract sent the auditor is taken from the list re- tained by the collector am informed by the present collector that he has collected a number, but they do not appear to have been entered on the assessment book for this year. The other records of his office seem to be in good condition.
 The irregularities in the books of Tax Assessor Walker are mainly that he did the writing with a pencil. and the figures and footings were illegible.