New Britain herald., 1921-12-14

 BEFORE BOARD
Legion Treasurer at Capital Tues
 day--InVeStiSatiOn?

The meeting of the board of con- tro at the capitol in Hartford yes- terday at which time Frank $. But terworth, treasurer of the state branch of the American Legion and chairman of the state fund committee, was a rather tame affair.", according to re- ports from the Dome city" Governor Lake and Attorney Gen. eral Frank Healey both expressed great confidence in Treasurer Butter worth's ability as distributor of the fund. Comptroller Bissell didn't seem l to feel that way about the manage ment of the fund, and he and Mr, Butterworth exchanged words so that there was no doubt in the minds of the rest of the listeners whether or not the two arguers would exchange Xmas cards this year.
 The Investigation
 The investigation, according to Frank Butterworth, is just the board of controls sanction to go over the accounts for Implications. That is to make sure that there are no eX-service men who are receiving aid from too many sources.
 The following is a letter from Frank S. Butterworth to Governor Evertt J. Late
 Dec. 12, 1921 His Excellency, The Governor,
 State Capitol,
 Hartford, Conn.
 My dear Governor:
 In reference to the accusations ot the comptroller of which we are first advised by the public press today, we recall that two years ago, the board of control, acting in accordance with the law, appointed the American Le- zion it's agent to administer and dis purse fund created by the state tC partially pay it's debt to soldiers dis abled and in need of care. The Amer ican Legion impelled by sense Of duty to it's comrades and to the state after careful consideration, consented to administer the fund after a ruling made by the attorney general, con- hrmed by the then board of control Of which Governor Holcomb was mem Der, that the proper expenses of ad- ministering the fund were payable out of the fund. The American Legion was not and is not financially strong enough to meet all the expenditures of administering this fund although believe 1t to be true to say that today it pays out dollar for dollar with the state in caring for comrades.
 The History
 Some months after you took office and the present board had bN3n per forming it's duties, public criti, m Wa' made of our administration of the fund and this criticism being brough to your attention and after investi gating you reiterated to usyour conf dence in us as your agent Only a agents enjoying your confidence working in cooperation and sympa thy toward the merciful and humane ends intended by the act, could we O. any other agent efficiently administe1 1t. It therefore appears surprising tC us that q member of the Board O. Control should publicly accuse us o unlawfully and improperly administer ing the fund and should criticize cer' tain small expenditures which have been before him for some time anc which were proper. We need not cal your attention to the fact that we render report in accordance with the law four times year or that we re peatedly appear before the board tt advise in regard to what we are doing and have always been in readiness tc confer with you on any or every de tail. It would have been only courte'