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

Senator T. B. Butler and Rspresen.
tatives Richards and RaineSford Tues
day submitted report on the ex-
animation OF the Offices Of the secre-
tary 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 OIL
GERS and find the Cffices of state treas
urer, comptroller general and sinking
fund correct, with proper vouchers,
the Offices and the books neatly and
well kept, and the. committee, with
pleasure, commend the efficiency of
the otticers and assistants in these sew.
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 en- 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, unples sint and extremely
difficGat matter to ascef tain the exact
and true Ce9ddii u,un I'll the finarces of
this Cffice-due to many reasons which
we will attempt to show later.
When we first went to this Office in
inf Il hot
we could conclude our labors ''in ten
minutes" and were shown the bank
Books and mere statement,
Of amounts, aggregate, received
In that ofllce, 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
l5 committee went to work but soon
s fot1nds on account OF 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 secured the
services OF an account, Mr. j. Q. Hol-
lis, Of Gaffney, S. c., and with bis
valuable assistance made up a book Of
every item We could find and was furn-
ished by Mr.. r. M. McCown, the as.
Bistant clerk, said book being now In
the possession OF your committee. AT
ter adjournlng, 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, applica-
tion for notary public-in fact, every
paper during Mr.. Gantt's adninistra-
tion. Seeing that considerable time
would be consumed in this examina-
tion, we did not feel justified In 60.
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 unrecordcd and
Others enormously recorded, such as
where charter had baen granted IN
the sum OF 8 8, 900, same was recorded
as having been issued in the sum Of
$4,000. 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
677 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
ties sending them" We do not agree
to such proposition. On the book
which was supposed to be kept items
were left of entirely. To Illustrate:
Camperdown mills, chartered April
80, 1904: charter fee 800, and others.
Improper amounts credited to state:
Puckaber Bros, Charleston; charter
fee $50; amount state credited with,
sl5, March %, 1904. We feel cCm
pelled to condemn this careless ness In
handling the peoples money, and In
not keeping proper entries OF all mon.
eys coming through this office, clso
th3 method that has prevailed In
many instances where O. credit systom
has teen allowed. TO give an instance,
the Norris cotton mills, charter in
creased on April 10, 1903; charter fee,
$50, amount received after charter Is
sued e25, and the claim was made
that the late Col. d. H. Norris con
tended that "the office already owed
him S25." Either this money is lost
10 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
a refund. The charter was granted on
February 90, 1904, and refund made
June 23, 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.
qulred by law, same being held, In
some instances, considerable time af.