The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-08-11
THE ssTRUTH" ABOUT KELT,Y.

OF the Journalistic defenders of L. L.
Kelly use in discussing Kelly's thefts is
given by the Lawrence Gazette, edited
by G. S. Finch. Finch is, in some re-
spects, one of the brightest paragraph
ers in the country, but he is absolutely
daft" concerning Tom Kelly. If he
has ever uttered a single true state
ment about Kelly's troubles the State
Journal does not now recall it. Here
is the sample of Ffnch's statements re-
ferred to:
Bailey investigated Kelly and failed
to find shortage, although Bailey
would have given his right hand to
md one. Hoch has had experts at
work for weeks. and they have not
found a thing wrong"
Not only did the Rowett- Moxey re-
port in the Bailey administration dis
close many thousands of dollars short
during the time that Kelly was assist
ant state treasurer. but it showed up
the Garden City shortage and others
which occurred at the same time after
Kelly become state treasurer. And the
Rowett-Moxey report covered only half
! of the counties in the state.
In another editorial attacking w. r.
Stubbs for what he said about Kelly.
Finch tries to Justify Kelly's deposit
ing state funds in the banks for his
own personal profit. Finch says:
For forty years it has been a GUS
tom that every legislature has refused
to interfere with, we'll knowing that if
the treasurer was not allowed to do it.
his salary would have to be increased.
1t was not a good custom, but it was
adopted by the people, and no one
objected until Stubs came on the
scene"
Why anyone should be so foolish as
10 make such statements as this is not
apparent.
NO state funds were ever, under any
circumstances, deposited in a single
Kansas bank prior to 1891, fourteen
years ago. Up TO that time remittances
could not even be made through the
banks, but the county treasurers had
TO come to Topeka in person twice a
year, bringing their cash with them.
1t was to do away with this method
of paying state taxes that the law was
passed allowing county treasurers TO
remit by drafts and allowing the state
treasurer to designate one or more To-
peka banks through which these drafts
could be collected. after the banks had
given the state sufficient bonds to pro-
tect the state against any possible loss
that might occur during the collection
of the drafts.
This law had been in force seven
years and a half when the Grimes
Kelly administration took possession of
the state funds There was a Repub-
llcan administration in force when the
law went into effect. 1t was followed
by a Populist administration, then
came another Republican, and then
another Populist. During that time it
became rumored that somebody had
profted by leaving the state funds in
banks longer than they ought to have
been left there.
S. G. Slower was treasurer when the
law went into effect. He was followed
by w II. Biddle, a Popu1ist. Then
came Otis L. Anterior, a Burton man
who is one of T. T. KeIly's hackers and
who qualified on his recent bond for
$4,000; and he was followed by
Uncle Dave" Hef1ebower, a Populist.
Do you think it would be very hard
to guess which of these originated the
practice of depositing the state funds
in the banks and profiting thereby?
The law of course was to make the
state absolutely safe and to guard
against any possible bank failure,
I SQCtl edl1 OIl6 DIS mas luSC occurred
volving the state for over a half mil
lion dollars. The bend given by the
First National was for even less than
the amount that had been carried in
the bank for months-even were the
bond good.
Only seven years and half under
this law had elapsed when Tom Kelly
first went into the treasurer's office.
and he has been there six and a half
years. When F. e. Grimes became
state treasurer and Kelly his assistant,
Grimes looked after the politics of the
office and Kelly handled the money, as
| rule. When Grimes had been state
treasurer less than two years a prose-
cution was started against him charg-
ing him with profiting by the use of
state funds by the banks, but his
friends claimed it was a political suit
and it was finally dropped.
But the deposits in the Topeka
banks were never nearly as large dur
ling the Grimes administration as they
have been recently under Kelly. In the
legislature of 1903 an effort was made
to pass a depository law similar to the
one passed last winter. 1t was recon-
mended by Governor Bailey and passed
the house, but Kelly's senate defeat
ed it,
In the face of this history c. S.
Finch has the nerve to say of this
crime of depositing state funds in the
banks and prohting thereby: For
forty years it has been custom that
every legislature has refused to inter-
fere with, we'll knowing that if the
treasurer was not allowed to do it his
salary would have to be increased It
was not a good custom, but it was
adopted by the people, and no one OBJ
jected till Stubs came on the scene''
I
KANSAS CORN.
We are accustomed to thinking OF