The Green Forest tribune., 1915-07-23
ATTY GENERAL AND PRObERS
 ENTER INTO CONTROVERSY

stances to collect the penalty, but i l his letter to the delinquents demand 1 ing payment, he states, however, tn law does not permit me, under any cil l cumstances, to remit or waive tn penalty assessed in any instance : list of these delinquent taxes will b found by reference to the accountants report. exhibit c, now on file in ln governors office. We find that tn attorney general has paid into tn treasury during his term of office up t, June 22, 1915, inheritance taxes u the amount of $93,741.99. He has pait into the treasury from sand and grave and other miscellaneous sources, SAP, 00015
 Ills Contingent Expenses.
 "We note the following expenditure: from his contingent expenses, to covel expenses of himself and others:
 "Trip of attorney general to Charles ton, s. C., sS2.S5.
 "Trip of Moose and Downie to Jack son, Miss, S65.5O
 "Trip of Moose to Washington, D C., s12s.
 "Trip of Streepey to Washington, D. C., $129.
 "Trip of Streepey to Jackson, Miss, S3540.
 "Trip of Moose to Des Moines, Ia., S5470.
 "Trip of Moose to Chicago, S5550.
 "Trip of Streepey to St Paul, S120.
 "As to just what benefit the state of Arkansas derived from these trips we are not informed. In this connec- tion, we note the attorney general on June 29, 1914, drew from the public funds in the Southern Trust Company his check for S75 to pay the expenses of himself and Downie to Jackson, Miss. We note also that on July l, 1914, state warrant was issued and charged to his contingent expenses, for himself and Downie to Jackson, Miss, for $6550. We have no explan- ation of these transactions.
 $11,431 For Special Counsel.
 we further find that he has paid out for special counsel S2,089 in addi- tion to the amount paid in railroad It. igation cases of $9,332.O2, making total of $11, ,431.02 of special counsel fees.
 "Just here we desire to call atten- ton to the well-known fact that the work of an expert accountant is to ake the records in an office or de- )artment and from those records tfone try to make up a balance of the books.
 From the records in the attorney generals office and the Southern Trust Company, the accountants found that, IS stated above, the attorney general lad to his credit in the Southern Trust Company S2,23696 more money han he could account for with his receipts from the treasurers office. The attorney general being unable to ell what fund this should be credited ,o in the treasurer's office, he was un- able to turn it over to the treasurer, and he informed us that he had placed 1t in the savings department of the Southern Trust Company to the ac- count of W. l.. Moose, attorney ger- eral, marked public funds where it IS now drawing per cent interest. We feel the attorney general deserves he severest criticism and condemna- -ion for using the Southern Trust Company for a depository for public funds.
 Violation Made Felony.
 The criminal statute of the state of Kirby's Digest, section 1890, reads as follows:
 Here the report quotes from the fol- lowing sections of Kirby's Digest: Section No. 1890, which makes it violation of the law for state official to have in his possession public funds: Section No. 1891, which makes it un- lawful for any person to receive pub lie funds from an official for the pur- pose of applying them for personal use or for the benefit of other persons or a corporation; section No 1892, which provides that the penalty of the above sections shall be from five to 21 years imprisonment; section No. 1842, which provides that any officer who shall fail or omit to pay the amount found due him on settlement shall be guilty of felony and be imprisoned for from five to 21 years.
 Bad Business Practice.
 "It is certainly a very bad practice from a business standpoint, for the states interest, that a private bank ing corporation should be used as a sub-treasury or depository for public funds without warrant or authority of law, and to the average citizen it will certainly appear from the foregoing sections that such practice is in vi olation of the criminal statutes of Ar kansas, both on the part of the pub lie official and the banking corpora tion, and subjects them to prison --->-'----~-"-0----~---