Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-03-01
Council Passes Act to Bring
Final Settlement of Peniten-
tiay Accounts Without Fur
ther Investigation,
ORIGINAL BILL WAS AN
EXTRAORDINARY MEASURE
Several Amendments Are Put
Through Which Relieve It
Of its Most Unusual Fea-
tureS-Life of Law a Year,
The Morning Journal Bureau.

| The Morning Journal Bureau
Santa Fe, ~ NJ. Feb. IS.
| The council this afternoon took up
and passed with many amendments
council, bill No 65, by Mr.. SpiesS. the
tIle of which is AN act relating to
/ the settlement of The accounts of pub
/ lie officers and which is aimed pri-
| marily to bring about an immediate
and final settlement of the accounts
| Of the penitentiary under the man
agement of IL. O. Bursum, the meas
I ure being intended, as originally
drawn to preclude any long continued
investigation of the accounts Of that
institution under the Bursum man
agement an investigation which Is
still going on.
The original bill was most ex-
! traordinary work in legislation. even
| going SO far as TO carry a provision
seeking to prevent the holding to ac-
count of the houdSmen of amy terri
torial official in any action having its
origin prior to the passage of this act.
This extraordinary provision was
eliminated from the bill this after
noon upon motion of its author MI.
Spiess, vino also introduced several
other amendments tending to make
the bill a little less unusual in its
operation, Mr.. Cameron introduced
several amendments aimed to still
further eliminate the unusual features
from the bill, but he succeeded in
sds,Jli,ing anls' giio Of these amend
ments against the opposition OF MI.
Spiess. that one being an Amendment
making the life Of the bin but one
year and requiring that actions uu-
der il be filed within twelve months
after its passage,
Mr., Cameron made this amend
mcnt upon the ground that since the
bill was for a particular purpose it
should not be allowed to remain upon
the statute books any longer than
necessary.
Briefly the amendment provides
that any territorial or county official
or former official whose accounts are
in dispute may bring an action against
the county or the territory to COM
pei an immediate settlement of such
accounts. The bill provides that the
district court shall appoint a referee
who shall be an expert accountant,
and whose findings. should the court
accept them, shall become the basis
for a final Judgment, which will close
the case
In other words. if additional irregI
ularities or shortages in the accounts
of any official should be discovered,
after such accounting by the court
through a referee the country or the
territory would have no recourse and
would have to let the matter drop.
Consideration of this bill occupied the
council during the entire afternoon.
Mr.. Cameron continued running
rife of amendments, in a few of which
he had the support of six members Of
the council, in others of which he had
the support of but three. The council
had gone into committee of the
whole with Mr.. Spiess on the floor
-and Mr.. Dalies presiding. Mr.. Cam
eron first introduced an amendment
to eliminate the provision extending
the bill to county officers. Mr. Spiess
Immediately objected to the amend
ment. He said the object Of the bill
was for the sole purpose of giving
district courts the power to audit and
settle the accounts Of public officers.
and he thought the law should also
apply to county officers Mr. Cam
eron defended his amendment vigor-
ously. 1T is well known he said,
that the states and territories do
not allow themselves to be sued with
out permission. a citizen may not
sue the United states without special
permission. This bill is in the ma
ture of special permission to bring
suit against the territory, and re-
veal no secret when | say that II Is
for the purpose of allowing single
former official to go into court and
Al. 1Hf
reason why the provision Of this bill
should be made general and appli-
cable to county officials. The private
citizen already has the right to bring
suit against the county commission.
The presumption is that when an Of
ficial goes out Of office his accounts
are all right. Should they not be cor
rect. the territory would sue him. If
his books were not straight or If he
were an embezzer and II must do il
I'm two wears or his boudsmen are no
longer responsible. while in -four years
he himself becomes exempt why
should the bars be let down to short
en- the period in which the county
or territory now has Ia check up
such accounts. The next day after
county collector goes out or otfice,
under this bill he may go into court
and force the county 10 an immedl-
ate accounting. getting court decls-
ion which viii relieve him from any
future prosecution Such a suit would
be a mere pro forma matter and
default Judgment | do not believe
there is any demand for bill of this
kind. for the relief and protection OF
county officers In the time ! have
had to examine the law | have found