Year: 1864




large extracts from what it denominates
the official report of Mr.. Ristine, the
State Auditor. A brief glance at the
passages quoted will make it quite appa-
rent that so far from being truthful Of
fetal statement of affairs Of the State,
it is mere partisan pamphlet, sof the
shabbiest and most unscrupulous kind.
The best description of its character may
be found in the history of its birth and
its first appearance in the world. That
shows that it is not an official report at
all, but vile fraud, intended as vehicle
for the circulation of falsehood and mis-
representation among the people under
an official garb. The law declares that
the Auditor shall make his annual report
to the Governor onthe 1st day of No
vember in each year, and provides that
the Governor may cause the same to be
printed. { lst vol, Gavin & Hord Stat,
page 538.) Mr. Ristine made no report
the 1st of November, nor at any time
during that month. December came
and past, and he still made no report
About the lst of January Colonel Ter
rel, the Governors Financial Secretary,
by direction of the Governor, called on
him and enquire d why he had not slb-
mitted his report as the law required,
at the same time calling his atten-
ton particularly TO the law. He
assured the Secretary that the report
was not completed, but that as
soon as it was completed it should be
submitted TO the Governor About three
weeks afterwards Mr. Ristine was at the
Executive Department, when the Gov
ernor asked him for his report, stating
that he desired to see it7before it was
printed, and that the law conferred upon
him only the authority to have it print
ed. Mr.. Ristine assured him, as he did
Mr.. Terrell, that the report was not fin
ished, and should be sent to him imme-
diately on completion. About a week
afterwards the report was again inquir-
ed for, when it was stated that it was
already in type, and, as was subsequent
ly ascertained, was actually in the Prin-
ters hands at the time of the last assu-
rance that it was not completed. This
conduct not only involved a direct and
palpable violation Of the law, but vio-
lation of personal honor. The Auditor
broke his word as well as the statute.
Such equiYecation and concealment in
dieated q fraudulent purpose, which
could be carried out in no other way,
and has been only too fully carried out
in that way The explanation of it all
was manifest the moment the document
was examined, as it came from the hands
of the Printer


Aside from the ordinary tables con-
tainedin an Auditors Report, the body
of it IS made up of political and partisan
stuff, much of it of shamefully false
and iibelous character Among other
matters dragged in for partisan uses are
the decisions of the supreme Court upon
the subject of paying interest upon the
State debt, and the substance of the Re,
port of the Senate Committee on Finance
in regard to the disbursement Of the, Mil
itary Contingent Fund The decisions
of the Supreme Court are as much out
of place in an Auditors Report as they
would be in treatise on geology; and
a Democratic Senate last winter struck
out of the Report of the Committee on
Finance all that part which referred to
or censured the Governor, in connection
with the expenditure or overdrawing of
the Contingent Fund, as being mani
festly unjust and absurd. The part
stricken out has been embodied in the
Auditors Report. But the part of the
document which excites the most sur
prise is the following letter, found upon
the second page:


OFFICE OF THE AUDITOR OF STATE,


INDIANAPOLIS, Nov. 2, 1868. !
To His Ereetency, o. P. Norton, Gov.


ernor Of Indiana:


In obedience to the requirements oi
the statutes ofsIndiana, l have the honor
to report to Your Excellency the re-
ceipts and expenditures Of the Treasury
4 Department for the year ending October
81, 1853, together with such general re
marks as have suggested themselves a
worthy of the attention of Your Excel
lency and of the people of the State.


Very respectfully,


j. RIsFINE,
II Auditor of Stota