The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1905-02-17
Books of State House Officials
Examined.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Numerous Irregularities and Discrep.
ancies, Caused by Failure to Keep
Proper Set of Books in
Proper Way. Secretary
of State Complains.

Senator r. B. Butler and Represen-
tatives Richards and Ralnesford Tues
day submitted report on the ex-
animation of the Offices OF the secre.
,ary of state, comptroller general and
state treasurer. The report was or
dered printed in the journal and is
considered one of the most sensa-
tional yet fled.
The report says Of some of the Of
fees:
That they have examined the book
OF accounts of the above named oiil-
Cors and find the ff1ceS Of state treas
ufer, comptroller general and sinking
rlnd correct, with proper vouchers
tho Offices and the books neatly and
we'll kept, and the committee, with
pleasure, commend the efficiency of
the oftlcers and assistants In these sev.
eral departments"
The report then recommends that
the comptroller general be supplied
with file cases for the keeping OF the
records Of the Office.
The report cn the secretary Of
states office Is In part as follows:
This Office has not been included in
the examination heretofore, but last
year this additional duty was placed
>on this committee, and 1t has been an
enormous, unplea slnt and extremely
difi1cGat matter to ascertain the exact
and true ceaadii ceaadiito,,oh o,oh I'll the finarces of
this Cff1ce-due to many reasons which
we will attempt to sho1 later.
When we first went to this Office in
April, 1904, we were informed d that
we could conclude our labors lin ten
minutes" and were shown the bank
BOOKS and a mere statement,
OF amounts, aggregate, received
in that office, and amount paid
state treasurer. Ga insisting that
We came for real examina
tion, we were begged for time to
prepare books, etc. However, your
committee went to work but soon
foI1nds on aoc9unt Eos the absence of
& books and in proper entries of cash
received, wrong and improptr entries
made In the books furnished, which
had been badly kept. Your commit
tee feeling the need OF a thorough ex-
animation adjourned, and sc cured the
services OF an account, Mr.. j. Q. HOl-
lis, Of Gaffney, S. c., and with bis
valuable assistance made up book Of
every item We could fnd and was furn-
ished by Mr.. r. M. McCown, the as
sistant clerk, said book being now In
the possession Of your committee. AT
Ter adjourning, and before our return
With Mr.. Hollis, many erasures and
corrections were made on the books
attempted to be kept. The only way
We could do was to handle each de-
claration OF charter, return, applca-
tiOn for notary public-in fact, every
paper during Mr.. Gantts adn1inistra-
tiOn. Seeing that considerable time
would be consumed In this eX,mina-
tion, we did net feel justified In go.
Ing back OF lis term without express
authority, SO did not do so, but feel
now that this should Re done by the
committee to be appointed.
In comparing the return Of corpora
tors to the charters that were record.
ed, we found some unTecnrded and
others enormously recorded, such as
where charter had bzen granted in
the sum OF 8 5, 900, same was recorded
aS having been issued In the sum of
$50, 600. This work we did not com
plete on account OF very damaging
fire In the office where, principally, all
records were kept, and since that time
we have been unable to do any such
work for the books were badly injur.
ed, hence, such examination was nee.
essarily suspended
In many cases we found where over
collections had been made aggregat-
ing 1867 55, ranging from so cents to
977 so. There was no evidence that
these various items had bsen return
ed to the pr per parties, but, on the
contrary, the secretary Of state In.
formed us we had nothing to do with
these excess amounts as that was a
matter between himself and tine par
ties sending them" We do rot agree
to such proposition. On the book
which was supposed to be kept items
were left off entirely. To Illustrate:
Camperdown mills, chartered April
80, 1904: charter fee 500, and others.
Improper amounts credited to state:
Puckaber Bros, Charleston; charter
fee $50; amount state credited with,
els, March %, 1904. We f=e! com
pelled to condemn this carelessness in
handling the peoples money, and In
not keeping proper entries OF all mon
ey5 coming Though this office, also
tbs method that has prevailed In
many lDSUd OCeS WiicTe q CECulu SSSISlL
has teen allowed. 10 give an instance,
the Norris cotton mills, charter in
creased on April 10, 1903; charter fee,
$50, amount received after charter is.
sued s25, and the claim was made
that the late Col. d. X. Norris con
tended that 'the office already owed
him S25." Either this money is lost
to the state or is loss to the secre
tary Of state; at any rate, such prac
tice should be discontinued. There
are other Instances. These items OF
over collections may have been re.
turned, but we have no evidence Of
same. Your committee Is cognzant
Of one instance where there has been
refund. The charter was granted on
February 90, 1904, and refund made
June %, 1904, after these matters had
been called to the attention OF this
Office.
We regret to report that "all mon,
eys" have not been paid over quar-
terly" to the state treasurer as Is re-
quired by law, same being held, In
some instances, considerable time af-