Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-05-09
Madison, MAY Z.

Madison, May Z.
The special committee appointed to
investigate the system Of public &C
counting prepared by Messrs. Bartz
and Gilman made a report to the SEN
ate last night recommending that it be
adopted and made to apply to all de-
partments of state. The report SAYS:
THE system proposes to enforce
certain fundamental principles which
have always been recognized as es-
sential to the proper conduct of public
| affairs, namely;
Il. All moneys collected by every
| officer or employe of the state or of
any institution under state control,
shall be deposited with the state treas
urer, either in his office at the capt.
toll or in such bonded public deposit
tory as the treasurer may certify for
the purpose.
y. All deposits of money with the
treasurer shall, at the same time, be
| reported to the secretary of state, who
| shall keep an independent account of
all money deposited with the treas
| urer
80. All payments of whatever kind,
for each and every purpose, shall be
made from the state treasury upon
warrants issued by the secretary of
state after duly authenticated vouch-
ers have been presented to and ap-
proved by him.
'As an effective check upon all per-
sons receiving money for the state, it
shall be unlawful for any such person
to receive money unless at the time
of receiving it he shall give an official
receipt upon blink which has been
prepared and furnished to him by the
secretary of state, all such blank re-
ceipts being numbered consecutively
and charged to such person by the sec
rotary of state, who shall require an
account for every receipt furnished.
"The constitution of the state
makes the secretary of state by virtue
| of his flee, auditor, and he was such
in fact during the early days of the
| state government; but in the growth
of the state laws have been passed by
the legislature, which have in large
degree lost sight of this fact, and as
| consequence many officers and agents
have been allowed to receive and dis
burse money without proper audit by
the secretary of state. Your commit
tee recommends that this practice be
discontinued and that records of the
secretary show all transactions of the
state.
During the short time the commit
tee has had at it's command to investi-
gate this matter, they have not been
able to make report showing in all
the changes which may be necessary
in order to carry out the provisions
| of the central plan of state account
ing, but in order to put the matter in
practical operation in the state we
recommend that authority be given
the governor to take such action as
may be necessary to do so, and we
have prepared a bill which we beg
leave to introduce, and we recommend
it's passage"
Resuscitates Land Office.
The committee on state affairs intro
| duced bill to repeal the law passed
at the last session by which the state
land Office was abolished. Under the
new law the chief clerk is to receive
salary of $500 a year and his as
sistant $1,000, while the other clerk
ships are not named nor the salaries
specified except in a general way by
| the provision that the entire amount
expended for salaries, including the
chief clerk and his assistant. shall not
exceed $4,000.
ASSEMBLY.
The assembly held three sessions
yesterday, morning, afternoon and
evening but did not succeed in finish
ing the calendar. In the morning
the most significant action
taken was the advar cement to a thir1
reading of Mr.. Brunson's railway conf
mission bill. The measure seeks -
accomplish the same ends as the Hall
bill which was overwhelmingly de-
feated. Instead of creating a commits
sion of three to handle disputes over
discriminating it delegates that power
to the railroad commissioner. 1t will
come up for final passage tomorrow
The Fenelon bill compelling railroads
to sell mileage books for two cents a
mile was also advanced.
In the afternoon the Hall three-cor-
nered poison bottle bill was ordered
engrOssed, and Senator BisselPs bill
authorizing the appointment of deputy
county superintendent where there
are more than 100 schools under the
supervision of one man was concurred
in.
In the evening Senator BisselPs bill
giving state aid to graded schools was
advanced to a third reading. The
Green fish and game bill, after being
amended times without number, was
ordered to third reading, with Mr..
linn protesting that it should ,e
killed as it was practically worthless
in the new form.
Both houses meet again this morn
ing at 10 o'clock
Drowned in Cloud Burst.