The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1910-06-21
Of the adjutant general.

OF the adJutant general.
I'm view of the further fact that the
loan is entirely good and every dol
lar will be recovered, or rather paid
back to the State, and the further fact
that the State Of South Carolina, ulti-
mately, has to bear part of the ex-
penses of Lieut. Bennett, We are not
prepared to criticise Col. Brock in
this matter. We do find, however,
that the matter is irregular and the
practice should be discontinued.
Matter of Mileage Books.
1.-THE charge is made that Col.
Brock never used 1000 miles of trans
p~ortation in making the inspections
any one year.
I'VE find that, in 1907, Col. Brock
purchased three mileage books, and
in the years 1908, 1909 and 1910 he
purchased each year four mileage
books. The most accurate data which
the court had before it as to the num-
Der of miles necessarily travelled in
making the inspections showed that
the mileage absolutely necessary was
about 1900 miles.
I'm addition to this, Col. Brock tes-
titled that he was at various times
called to Columbia, off Of the route,
which entailed extra travel, in round
numbers to the amount of about 500
miles. He further claimed that at
the n of each inspection tour he
had left practically a thousand miles
Of unused mileage, and in fact eXhib-
tied to the court two mileage books,
bought in April, 1910, which contained
7 in the neighborhood of 1000 unused
= miles. This would account for the
t mileage purchased in 1907, but would
2 fail to account for from 500 to 1000
miles of the mileage bought each in
: the other three years. The testimony
also showing that Gen. Boyd in one
year used two mileage books and In
the other years had n mileage book.
it appears to the court that the public
business did not demand so much
travel on the part of the accused Of
fcer.
= with respect to the charge that
Col. Brooks accounts are in a tangled
, condition we find the following:
System of Accounting Condemned.
: "Col. Brock was in the habit, upon
, his return from an inspection tour, of
| handing to the comptroller general
what purpoTted to be an itemized &C.
l count of his expenditures, to cover
E, the contingent warrant previously
: drawn. Col. Brock admitted that the
, items set forth in these various, &C
t counts did not represent what they
seemed to represent, but that many
of the entries embraced other charges
than appeared therein.
This system of accounting the
court condemns in no uncertain
terms, for the reason that whether so
intended or not it is a rendering of
false accounts; it affords no correct
information to the officer whose duty
{ it is to scrutinize the accounts; it Of
fers no protection to the person whose
accounts are to be scrutinzed, at a
time, possibly, when he is not in posi-
ton to explain, and if such a system
is allowed to obtain in the States gov
ernmental Offices, it will as surely
{ lead to peit theivery as the night fol-
lows the day. This court, however,
|. does not charge Col. Brock with petit
thievery.
}, "A Ridiculous Farce.s
Several of the expense accounts
handed in by Col. Brock, were appar-
emily scrutinized by the adjutant gen.
eral, but the approval endorsed
thereon is not in the handwriting Of
General Boyd, but that Of
Colonel Brock. It may be
possible, and very likely probable,
that Col. Brock was authorized to
use the name of the adjutant general
from time to time, but the idea of an
officer passing upon his " accounts
and vouching them in the name of
the officer supposed to have examined
them is such a ridiculous farce that it
brings the matter of alleged over
sight into contempt.
"CoI. Brock claimed that in his
methods he was only following the
custom Of the office. If such is or
has been the custom of the office it
CONTINUED on page seven).