Judsonia weekly advance., 1915-07-21
LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE
 ENTER INTO CONTROVERSY

ing payment, he states, however, the law does not permit me, under any cir Cumstances, to remit or waive the penalty assessed in any instance A list of these delinquent taxes will be found by reference to the accountants report. exhibit c, now on file in the governors office. We find that the attorney general has paid into the treasury during his term of office up to June p, 1915, inheritance taxes to the amount of $93,74199. He has paid into the treasury from sand and gravel and other miscellaneous sources, S42, 00015.
 His Contingent Expenses.
 "We note the following expenditures from his contingent expenses, to cover expenses of himself and others
 "Trip of attorney general to Charles ton. S. C., $82.S5.
 "Trip of Moose and Downie to Jack son, Miss, S65.50
 "Trip of Moose to Washington, D. C., s129.
 "Trip of Streepey to Washington, D. C., $129.
 "Trip of Streepey to Jackson, Miss, $354O.
 "Trip of Moose to Des Moines, Ia, S5470.
 "Trip of Moose to Chicago. $55,50.
 "Trip of Streepey to St. Paul, S120
 tAs 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 $75 to pay the expenses of himself and Downie to Jackson, Miss. We note also that on July l, 1914 a state warrant was issued and charged to his contingent expenses. for himself and Downie to Jackson, Miss, for S65.5O We have no explan- ation of these transactions.
 $11,431 For Special Counsel.
 We further find that he has paid out for special counsel $2,OS9 in addi- tion to the amount paid in railroad lit igation cases of $9,332O2, making a total of $11, ,t3f.02 of special counsel fees.
 Just here we desire to call atten- tion to the well-known fact that the work of an expert accountant is to take the records in an office or de. partment and from those records alone try to make up balance of the books.
 From the records in the attorney generals office and the Southern Trust Company, the accountants found that, as stated above, the attorney general had to his credit in the Southern Trust Company $2,236.96 more money than he could account for with his receipts from the treasurer's office. The attorney general being unable to tell what fund this should be credited to in the treasurer's office, he was un- able to turn it over to the treasurer, and he informed us that he had placed it in the savings department of the Southern Trust Company to the ac- count of w. l.. Moose. attorney #geu- eral, marked public funds where it We feel the attorney general deserves the seyerest criticism and condemna- tion for using the Southern Trust Company for a depository for public funds.
 Violation Made Felony.
 The criminal statute of the state of Arkansas, Kirby's Digest, section 1920, reads as follows:
 Here the report quotes from the fol- lowing sections of Kirby's Digest: Section No. 1890, which makes it a violation of the law for a 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 he 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 a felony and be imprisoned for from five to 21 years.
 Bad Business Practice.
 Tt is certainly very bad practice from business standpoint, for the states interest that q nrivata boply 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 a prison >-7~-7---~-------~-~---~-- The victim ic ipoonobIo of xuaII-ir er