Albuquerque morning journal., 1922-03-10
THE SANTA FE GRAND JURY.

The gentlemen at Santa Fe who have started in
to have fun with the Journal over its statement
that rumors afloat that the records of the
meetings of the Finance Board had been removed
from the office of the state auditor. welcome to
all the information they get out of it. We will
do our best to entertain them.
The public should understand what the merri-
ment is all about. 1t is very funny CO. Essential
records of the state are missing. We stated that
there rumors to this effect Now the plan
to be to heckle the Journal In order to divert
public attention from investigating what actually
became of the records
The point is this The legislature of 1917 passed
a bill creating finance board made up of the gov
ernor the state auditor and the state treasurer IT
provided that the banks of the state might make
application to this board for the deposit of public
monies and upon being designated might have
a of public deposits not exceeding IS per cent
OF their capital stock and surplus and exceed
ing 80 per cent of the face amount of surety bonds
given the state to protect the deposit such bond to
be signed by a surety company authorized to sign
bonds in this state A pententiary sentence was
provided the penalty for violation of the law
by the state treasurer
Under the terms of this law the state treasurer
limited to a deposit of $45, 900 in the Santa Fe
Bank under the first provision and to 500 OOO under
the second provision. He had SS53,OO0 of state
money deposit in the bank when it failed
Mr.. Strongs defense TO the charge of having
committed felony is that the Finance Board never
functoned under this law and never designated
any repositories Therefore he declares the law
a dead letter. imperative, and not binding on him
treasurer. He declares he was at liberty to
deposit public monies where he pleased and in such
amounts he pleased.
Ex-Governor Lindsay says the board did func-
tion during his term lie declares that its minutes
were in the hands of the auditor. They are missing
Therefore the proofs of Mr.. strong's cupability
are gone. Because the Journal called attention to
these rumors it is to be harassed, assaied, sub
poened and otherwise annoyed. All of which is
the great modern outdoor sport in Santa Fe.
Instead OF subpoenaing us suggest that the
grand jury call Reed Holloman, judge of the Dis
rict court at Santa Fe. He told the editor of the
Journal that the Board did function and that de-
positories designated which he believed made
the law operative and binding upon Mr.. Strong He
did not give US the source of his information but
he will give it, doubtless, to the grand jury.
The Journal has given, through its columns all
that it knows about the matter Calling its editor
before the grand jury is pure foolishness, but we
have no serious objection to responding
What the public wants to know is, what became
of the records which will disclose the guilt of Mr..
Strong? Being neither governor. auditor or treas
urer, the editor of the Journal is unable to tell the
grand jury. We did not abstract these minutes from
the states vaults
Judge Holloman, who presides over the grand
Jury, evidently knows something which will help
fix Mr. Strongs guilt. He should go before the
grand jury, IL necessary.
The Journal has great confidence in Judge Ho-
loman and in his good faith in this investigations.
We know just how he will be hemmed in and an
effort made to prevent indictments We hope he
force just investigation, letting "the chips
fall where they may
There banks in the state which probably
have in their files correspondence with the Finance
Board since 1917 which will show that they were
designated repositories. These banks owe it to
the public to produce this correspondence. If they
will send it to the Journal will that the facts
get to the grand jury. Let's investigate!