The Southern herald., 1911-05-12


this fund vhen you did not need il At
al 70 settle war claims, for you paid
back s2,5ls fsee page sl1l
You say that you turned over every
cent Of this fund, and all other funds.
and apply coarse ePithets to those who
say otherwise, Of which is foreign to the
record, as it now stands that You used
that fund as a private PeFquisits. As to
you paying back every cent, after you
were pressed by committees, does not
satisfy a breach of trust. Burk the de-
faulting treasurer Of Louisiana, and
Morse, the New York bank wrecker. have
offered to pay back every cent if they
can only set pardon for their crimes and
because We have no law to punish a gov
ernor for a breach Of trust makes these
funds doubly sacred, and a still more
strict moral accountability is required.
9th. The same can be said of the con
tingent fund for the last two years of
your administration. You say that YOU
took it out Of the treasury and put it
to your credit at the bank. The cOntin-
gent fund committee, some of whom were
your friends, makes a unanimous re-
port showing many items of expense
needing explanation by you, but just
one, if you please;
On page 70 of that report it is shown
that you spent 81 SOC and left no vouch-
ers or explanation. Two items alone,
drawn out in seven days time, of 81 100
and still such large amounts as this did
not impress you enough to give any ex-
PLANTATION before the committee. You
could only tell them that you did not
remember, and tried to convey the i'm
preston that enemies had stolen your
vouchers. But one thing was notorious:
In the honest efforts Of the committee
to carry out their sworn duty and show
every cent expended by you from this
fund, you did not offer to show them
bank statement where you kept this
fund deposited. In the face of open
charges that you had placed this fund to
your credit as private money, you stood
securely, and are still standing, behind
the secrecy of said bank. 1t is not neces-
sary for you to say that enemies stole
your vouchers, when you have the chance
to show a bank statement of expendi.
lures of said fund.
18th. You dismissed the free pass epi-
sode by saying that your name written
across the back of said pass was an in.
famous forgery, but the fact still re-
mains, which you did not deny, that you
did ride on this free pass in violation of
the laws OF the state. Your name being
forgery is not material However, Con-
ductor Weaver, who took up the pass,
says that you signed it, and Former Sen
ator McGee and trustee of the Soldiers
Home, who was with you at the time, in
a letter says; "Thc reason Governor Var
daman signed the pass was that his
name appeared first on the pass, and the
railroad conductor said that the party
whose name appeared first could sign it,
and that would do for ALL" You said
in your paper that you had never used
free pass, and after a photograph of
said pass was published and the parties
that were with you at the time acknowl-
edged it, you said that you might have
used one. So it must be admitted, from
your own testimony, that your memory
on this subject is very poor.
sth. You acknowledged that you used
free passes over the wires of two tele-
graph companies, two of the largest cor
porations in the country. Notwithstand-
ing you used these fayors from corpora
tions, yet you did not explain why you
spent out of the contingent fund, about
five times more for kilograms than the
governor that preceded you.
In closing, allow me to again remind
you that you are hiding behind the Sc
crecy of banks, in the handling of sacred
trust funds committed to your keep
ing while governor, and you are beau
tifully and heroically proclaimng from
press and platform: let the blessed
sunlight OF publicity shine in" Respect
fully, JOHN H. WELLBORN.
fernando Times-Promoter: In read.
ing what Major Vardaman and his fol.