The record-union., 1898-11-21
STATE TREASURER'S REPORT
A SYSTEM oF DEPosIToRIEs
ADVOCATED.
Mr.. Green Thinks Public Moneys
Should Not be Hoarded
as Junk.

State Treasurer w. S. Green has
fled with the Governor his biennial
report, which is as follows:
l feel that l would not be doing my
whole duty if 1 did not call attention
TO the fact that California is still FOL
lowing the method of collecting mon
ey semi-annually from the people ana
storing it up as old junk, when the
object and only object of money Is
circulation. We also pay large sums
for the transportation of money to
and from the treasury, which is a
most useless proceeding.
When / took charge of this office IN
the latter part of April last-just be-
fore another taxpaying time-I found
S2,961, ,201.66 in the vault, and after
the June settlements there was S4,O6S,-
4191l on hand, and / found that the
monthly balances for the fiscal year
ending June Both last averaged $3,39o, :
fI2.55. When considered these fig-
ures, together with the large amounts
continually in the county treasures.
l could not help thinking that it was
condition which called for a remedy,
and set about maturing a plan that
would make the people perfectly safe,
put the money in circulation. and
make it a source of revenue instead
of expense, as at present. Upon thor
ough consideration and investigation
I am of the opinion that system of
State and county repositories ought to
be established.
Taking up the matter of State mon
ey first
I would advertise, asking banks to
reply, stating how much money each
bidder would handle and how much
interest would be paid on daily bal
ances, for the amount proposed to be
taken. A minimum should be fixed,
say, at 212 per cent In considering
bids preference should be given to To-
calities in which are located State in
stitutions so as to avoid transportation,
and where bids are the same a proper
disposition of the money between bid
ders should be made and locality
should also be considered.
Each depository should be required
to deposit bonds of the United States,
this State or some county or munich
pality in the State to the maximum
amount of the money deposited with
the depository, as security that the
checks will be paid when presented.
The Controller should draw his war
rant on the Treasurer as at present,
and the latter draw his check on the
proper depository, keeping in view as
nearly as possible an equal distribu-
ton of the amount drawn.
To make home bonds equal to Gov
ernment bonds the amount of taxes
paid on bonds deposited should be de-
Quoted from the interest to be paid.
A board of deposits should be created
from some three of the State officers
say Governor, Treasurer and Attorney
General-who should supervise the let
ting and settle all matters of dispute
that might arise.
The county system might be almost
the same except that there could be but
little use for a County Treasurer. The
Auditor could draw his warrant di-
rect on the depository and the Tax
Collector could pay into the depository
or the offices of both Tax Collector
and Treasurer might be consolidated,
thus doing away with one office. Did
/ expect to be active in political life L
should hardly dare to suggest de-
crease in the number of offices, for IT
is not a popular suggestion. / am
however. trying to tell the people how
money can be saved. The Supervisors
might be the Board of Deposits for
the county. but it should be the duty
of the State Treasurer to supervise
the amount and kind of securities pre-
sented, and where necessary the state
board might have supervision of any
matters arising out of the matter OF
deposits.
To save the cost of so much trans
portation a system of checking snould
be arranged between the repositories
and this might be left to the State
Board of Deposits.
The law should provide that in case
of municipal or county bonds those
of counties or municipalities that had
a debt greater than fixed percentage
of the assessed value of the property
should not be taken.
am of the opinion, from balances
taken from the books of the county
treasuries-T did not get all-that the
monthly balances in all the counties
will foot up over $5,000,0O0.
1 have no means of determining, even
approximately, the cost of transporta-
tion of money, but $4,000 per month
is a conservative estimate.
III we aDOllSn one COQhly Oll1IC We
viii have a saving of about $123,OO0.
The interest on the States money at
3 per cent would amount to over $780,
600. and the county money at the same
rate to $150,000 making a grand total
of S39O,000 per annum saved.
There are many millions of dollars of
bonds afioat in this State on which no
taxes are collected, and yet when they
are sold every bid is made with the as
sumption that the Assessor might get
hold of them, or that the wear and
tear of conscience in making false
statements under oath is worth some
thing. The plan proposed would make
q demand for this class of bonds, and
the price would advance, making an
other material saving to the people.
Neither would there be any loss on ac-
count of remitting taxes, for we do not
get any taxes on them now TO speak of.
But great as the savings appear. do
not regard them as Of as much import
ance as letting the money out into free