The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1905-02-10
COMMITTEE SEVERELY
CRITICIzES RECORDS
IN THE OFFICE OF THE SEC
RETARY OF STATE.
Long Document Filed in the General
Assembly by Committee Ap-
pointed to Examine Ger
tain State Offices.

port OF the legislative committee, ap-
pointed to examine the Offices Of the
secretary of state, comptroller gen.
eral and state treasurer, which has
been submitted to the general assem-
bly,. criticizes the records as they
were found in the Office of the secre-
tary of state The committee con-
sister Of Senator T. B. Butler and
Representatives Richards and Rains
ford.
The report says OF some of the
Offices:
That they have examined the
book of accounts Of the above named
officers and find the Offices of state
treasurer, comptroller general and
sinking fund correct, with proper
vouchers, the office and the books
neatly and we'll kept, and the commit
tee, with pleasure, commend the eftl-
cheney of the officers and assistants
in these several departments"
The report then recommends that
the comptroller general be supplied
with file cases for the keepin~ of the
records of the office.
The report on 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 it has been an
enormous. unpleasant and extreme
" difficult matter to ascertain the ex-
act and true condition of the finances
of this oh7ce-due to many reasons
which we will attempt to show later.
When we first went to this office in
April, 1904 we were Informed that
we could conclude our labors "in ten
minutes" and were shown the bank
books and a mere statement Of
amounts, aggregate, received in that
Office, and amount paid state treasur-
er. On insisting that we came for a
real examination. we were begged tor
time to prepare books, etc. However
your committee went back to work
but soon found, on account of the ab-
sence OF books and in proper entries
of cash received, wrong and improper
enteries made in the books furnished
which had been badly kept. Your
committee feeling the need of
thorough examination adjourned, and
secured the services of an accountant,
Mr.. J. c. Hollis. of Gafney, S. C.,
and with his valuable assistance made
tip a book of every item we could
find and was furnished by MIR. K. w.
McCown. the assistant clerk, said
book being now in the possession OF
your committee. After adJournlng,
ard before our return with Mr.. Hol-
lis, many erasures and corrections
were made On the books attempted TO
be kept. The only way we could do
was to handle each declaration of
charter. return, application for notary
publc-in fact, every paper during
Mr.. Gantt's administration. Seeing
that considerable time would be con-
sumed in this examination, We did
not feel justified in going back of his
term without express authority, so
we did not do so. but feel now that
this should be done by the committee
to be appointed.
In comparing the return of co-por-
ators to the charters +.Iat were re-
corded, we found some unrecorded
and others erroneously recorded,
such as where a charter had been
granted in the sum Of $4,000. same
was recorded as having been issued
in the sum of $4,000. This work we
did not complete on account OF very
damaging fire in the office Whereprln-
ciDa!lv. all records were kept, and
since that time we have been unable