The Semi-weekly leader. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1905-1941, 1908-02-26
THE TEMPTER AND THE TEMPTED, OR
THE GOSPEL OF GRAFT.

I'LL VVJrLL VI uNhl !.
"Art thou so bare and full of wretched-
} And fear'st to die? famine is in thy
cheeks,
Need and oppression stareth in thine
eye,
Contempt and beggary hang on thy
back,
The world is not thy friend nor the
worlds law;
The world affords no law to make thee
rich;
Then, be not poor, but break it and
take this"
"My poverty, but not my will, consents. .
ST pay thy poverty and not thy will.
"There is thy gold; more poison to
mems souls,
Doing more murders in this loathsome
world
Than these poor compounds thou
may'st not SELL
Romeo and Juliet.
Fifteen to twenty years ago,
and from that time back, when
there were but very few banks in
Mississippi, it was the custom for
county treasurers to either depos-
it county moneys in safe OF vault
provided by the county for that
purpose, conceal it in some pri-
vate hiding place of their own, or
deposit it in the iron safe of some
friendly mercantile firm in whom
they reposed confidence; subject
to call when obligations of the
county had to be cashed.
For the last decade or more,
when nearly every county has es-
tablished in it one or more local
banks, this old custom has been
almost universally abandoned, and
it is now quite generally the Gus
tom for the county treasurers of
the several counties to deposit all
public moneys coming into their
hands in one or more of the banks
of their county, or if there should
happen to be no bank, in relia-
BILE bank in an adjoining county.
The county treasurer is not allow
ed to loan county funds for any
purpose whatever, or to receive
any interest or bonus whatever
for any public moneys deposited
or coming into his hands, and his
pay (in commissions shall not
exceed 81, 900 per annum.
The banks, however, where
county money is deposited, and
which pay the county no interest
and are supposed to pay the coun-
ty treasurers no interest or bonus,
can use the money and loan it out
to their patrons at pleasure, so it
is accounted for and ready when
needed for county purposes by the
treasurer. In county like Lin
coin, where the amount of public
money which passes through the
hands of the county treasurer
amounts to about $65, 900 per
year, and in larger counties still,
the advantage, to a comparatively
small bank, of being the custo-
dian of the oounty's funds with
out interest is considerable
item.
Along with the new custom re-
ferred to, kind of reciprocal ar
rangement has grown up between
county treasurers and the banks
chosen by them as repositories,
which is not, strictly speaking,
prohibited by law. The treasurer
by this arrangement secures safe
and reliable depository for the
public funds, for which he is
officially accountable, and the
bank in return for the favor de-
rived in business way by its Sc
lection, usually makes his Official
bond, keeps his books, acts as his
cashier and helps to make his
quarterly settlements required by
law.
SO far, so good. As long as
the law is to remain as it is, there
can be no valid objection to the
banks performing these functions
for county treasurers, which
office, under the prevailing Gus
tom, has become little more than
la mere sinecure. Indeed, the
fact that the banks afford fire
and burglar proof vaults, furnish
lexpert book keepers to keep the
treasurer's accounts, guarantee
his settlements, and their officers
or stockholders are accountable
on his bond, insure to the county
; greater security against loss than
would otherwise be afforded, and
it would seem that the chief OBJ
lection that could be raised against
tbo ,.wooa.A ,~r&o.. AL.A li..