Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1905-02-15

Records in the Office Not in satisfac.
tory Condition For a Considerable
Period.
The report Of the legislature special
committee to examine the books Of
State officers in part al foil6ws:
50 tbs General Assembly Of South
Carolina:
Your committee appointed to make
quarterly examination OF tie Offices of
the State treasurer, comptroller gen
eral, sinking fund commissioners ani
the secretary Of htate beg to leocrt:
That they have examined tie book
OF accounts of the ai6eye Hamhd 0lfirers
and fn1 tha fEIasS ar Staie treasurer.
comnt:oller general and sinking fund
correct, with proper vouchers, the Of
ilces and the books neatly and well
kept, and the committee, with pleasure,
commend the efficiency and courtesy Of
the officers and assistants In these sew
eral departments.
Appended arr. Statement fiGIfi the
books Of fhe' Several departments.
We beg to call attention to the fact
that the Office OF the comptroller gen.
sfaI is soEely in need Of cases. etc., for
The preservation of the valuable records
in that Office. Papers CT great value
are compelled to be left uncovered and
unprotected for lack OF safe and cen
venient places to file them; and should
fire occur in that hffice, as did occur
in the secretary Of states office, the
less would be ,irreparable aid nothing
would be saved. except such records and
books as can be and are Kept in the
already crowded safe. We earnestly
urge supplying this office with proper
fixtures actd that sufficient appropria-
ticn be made for this purpose at this
As: to the secretary OF states office,
the report says:
This Office has net beer iBc|idhd in
the examinations hafhtOfOre, But last
year This additional duty was placed
on this committee and it has been an
one-ous, unpleasant and extremely diff
fcult matter to ascertain the exact
and true condition of the finances OF
this office-due to many reasons which
we will attempt to show later Obj:
When we first Went 10 this. 1fice t5
April, 1904, wR WERE Informed that we
could conclude our labors in 10 mir
.utes'Sand.were shown the bank books
and mere statement Of amounts, ag-
gregate, received in that office and
amount paid State treasurer. On in
sisting that we came for real eXami-
nation we were hegged. faf Tina to pre-
pare b9ekH. etc: However, your commit
tee went to work, but soon found, on
account of the absence of books and
improper entries of cash received.
wrong and improper entries tttade in
the books furnished, which had been
badly kept. Your committee feeling the
need CT thorough, examination adj
journed and secured the services of an
accountant, Mr.. JIG. Hollis Of Caffaay,
S. c., and With his valuable assistance
nladeeups book Of every item we could
find and was furnished b. MiI. Il: NJ.
McCown, the assistant CLERK, Said book
being. noW III the possession Of your
committee. After adjourhing and be-
fore our return with Mr.: Hollis maliy
errasuressand corrections WIRE made on
lie books attempted to be The
only way We could do was to handle
each declaration for charter, return,
application for notary public-in fact
every paper during Mr.. Gantt's admin
tration. Seeing that considerable time
would be consumed in this examina-
ton, we did not feel justified in going
back or his term without. express ati=
tho7ity, go did net db so, but feel now
that this Should be done by the COM
mittee to be appointed
In comparing the return of corpora
tors to the charters that were re-
corded, we found some unrecorded and
others eroneously recorded, such Is
where a charter had been granted III
the sum of $4,000, same was recorded
as having been issued in the sam Of
$4,000. This work we did not complete
on account of a very damaging fire in
the office where, principally, all records
we're kept, and since that time we have
been unable to do any such work, for
the books were badly injured, hence
such examination was necessarily sus-
In many cases we found where over
collections had been made, aggregating
S36755 ranging from so cents to S17.5O.
There was no evidence that these va
rious items had been returned to the
proper parties, but on the contrary,
the secretary OF state informed us we
had nothing to do with these excess
amounts, as that was a matter be-
tween himself and the parties sending
them We do not 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 s100, and others.
Improper amounts credited to State:
Puckhaber Bros, Charleston; charter
fee $50; amount State credited with,
SIS, March %, 1904. We feel compelled
to condemn this carelssness in hand
ling the peoples money and in not
keeping proper entries of all moneys
coming through the Office, also the
method that has prevailed in many in
stances where credit system has been
allowed. To give an instance, the Nor
ris Cotton mills, charter increased on
April 10, 1903; charter fee SEQ; amount
received after charter issued S25; and
the claim was made that the late Col.
D. K. Norris contended that "the office
already owed him s25.' Either this
money is lost to the State or is loss
to the secretary of state; at any rate
such practice should be discontinued.
There are oher instances. These items
Of over-collections may have been re-
turned, but we have no evidence Of
same. Your committee is cognizant of
cne instance where there has heen a
refund. The charter was granted on
February %, 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
cys,''..rhave not been paid over guar
terly" to the State treasurer as is re-
CURED by law, same being held, in"some
instances, considerable time after the
expiration of the several quarters.
Your committee begs to report that,