The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-03-09
PROBE SHORTAGE < .,.tsOF STATE FUNDS
Mississippi Has Two Scandals
 Of Its Own To Worry With

JACKSON, Miss, March S.-(Spe. ciaD-The special house committee ap, pointed by Speaker Bailey under the Walker resolution to investigate the al legged shortage of insurance Commis lsioner T. M. Henry, was a little. lat. in getting started, owing to the faci that one of the members was away dur ing a portion of the week, visiting hi; home in Clarke county, he being J. l. Fatherree.
 The most important question devOl. wing upon the committee will be the SC. lection of certified public accountants to audit the books and it is hardly prob able that much testimony will be taken until this work has been completed.
 Since the beginning of the controversy over the affairs of the insurance com missioner's office, which began more than two years ago, and later developed a fued between ex-Governor Lee NJ. Rus sell and former Revenue Agent Stokes v. Robertson, on the one hand and Commissioner Henry on the other, fol lowed by endless chain of litigation JuCIC ANVG DCCA tlNC 4uu1lO nduC VA LIN books of that office. In all probability the committee experts will ignore all these audits and start in the beginning and make complete, independent audit of it's own, developing fully what there is in the contention of the political enc. mics of the commissioner that he is short in his accounts.
 Commissioner Henry has won every decision in the courts so far, but is still fighting charges filed against him.
 Another Probe
 However, there is another investiga. tion underway that promises to bring more startling developments than that of the Henry inquiry. That is the one instituted under the Whitworth reso. lution which prefers charges against the general board of trustees of state edu cational institutions and Captain A. B. Schauber, secretary of the board.
 In brief the charges are that the heads of several of the state education, al institutions, including the secretary of the board of trustees, have been ''hogging' the state in increasing their own salaries beyond the constitutional limit.
 The law specifics that the salary of the heads of the University and State Colleges shall be $4, 800 per annum but the, claim is made that they have attached other titles to their names and are paying themselves salaries under both titles.
 Out of an expense account of slightly more than fourteen thousand for the entire board of trustees, the resolution claims that $S,27S was paid to Captain Schauber. E.
 Proof Demanded -
 The explanation of Captain Schau- Der is that he drew the entire amount in his own name and then paid each of the board what they were entitled to. This may be all right but the members of the board were insisting that he pro- duce proof in the shape of vouchers.
 President Joe Cook. of the State Teachers College at Hattiesburg; Dr. D. c. Hull of the A. and NJ. college at Starkville, are both charged with boost. ing their salaries from $4,S00 to $6OOO while Chancellor Powers of the Univer- sity, is charged with having charged the state $1 1.457 as rent on household furniture" that he was using himself, Secretary Faulkner of the University is charged with having added to his title that of business manager" and is drawing an extra $2, 100 on that ae- count,