The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1901-04-25
TEACHERS TO WAIT
Georgia State Treasurer Refuses
to Honor School Warrants.
MATTER GOES TO THE COURTS
Friendly Test Case to Be Made
By State Officials of a Long
Standing Contention.

Georgia's state treasurer, Mr.. Park,
refuses to use the public property
fund for the purpose of paying the
school teachers Of the state and tiding
over the deficiency in the deficiency
in the treasury, and Governor Gambler
asserts that the teachers shall be paid,
and that he will endeavor to make the
state treasurer pay them as soon as it
is possible to do so.
Treasurer Park made the announce
ment Friday afternoon that he would
refuse to honor the school warrants by
borrowing from the public property
fund, and Immediately preparations
were made looking to bringing man
damus proceedings against him, and
suit will be fled before Judge Lump
kin. in the superior court Of Fulton
county.
The matter will, of course, 60 to the
supreme court which ever way it is
decided. In any event it will be six
or seven weeks before the public
school teachers of Georgia get their
money.
The supreme coart cannot assign
the case for hearing before May Goth,
and it will be at least a week or ten
days before decision can be secured
from that body.
This means that the merchants and
the boarding house keepers and others
to whom the nearly 5000 teachers in
Georgia are indebted, will have to
wait that much longer for their money.
Treasurer Park says he did not
finally decide what he would do until
O'Clock Friday afternoon. In the
meantime the warrants for the school
teachers, amounting to S247, 900, were
waiting in the Office of the comptroller
general. Comptroller General Wright
had declined to countersign them, as
he is required by law to do, until he
had been advised of what the treasurer
would do.
Knowing that the situation was
waiting on his decision, Treasurer
Park took steps to determine what he
would do. At the dinner hour Friday
he went to meet Washington Dessau,
of Macon, who bad already given an
opinion contrary to that of the attor-
ney general, and with him he had q
final consultation.
Upon his return to the capiti Treas
urer Park called on the comptroller
AID asked him what he intended to do
about the warrants.
EFF you are going to refuse to pay
them," said the comptroller general,
est will only be necessary for me to
countersign one. That is enough for
attest case"
s.But T would not refuse to pay one
of them," the treasurer replied. 81
have about $1,000 in the treasury
which I can use for that purpose, and
I would not refuse to pay them until
that is paid out.
The comptroller general said he
could not decide that point. Re did
not know whether the governor would
care to pay a few of them and leave
others unpaid. Treasurer Park said
he would see the governor, and he
did.
81 have determined to pay them all
or none," was the decision the treas
urer got from the governor.
"Then I shall pay none of them,"
was the conclusion the treasurer
reached.
Governor Gambler stated that he did
not intend to select any of them for
payment at this time; when one was
paid all must be paid. This decision
was reported to the comptroller gen.
eral and he declined to countersign a
portion of the warrants. Thus the
matter will go directly into the courts.