whatever expense the librarian incurs in the
discharge of his duty, and nothing more.
The PRESIDENT. After this distribution,
and sometimes even before the distribution is
effected, a draft is presented at the treasury
department for one hundred and fifty dollars.
The legislature has passed upon the subject.
What right has the comptroller to open the
question which the legislature has passed up-
on, prescribing a definite sum for a specific
duty? It is not analogous to the case of the
payment of members, because that payment
is prescribed to be a per diem. But here for
a specific service the legislature appropriates
a definite sum; and whether the cost is five,
fifty or seventy-five dollars, the treasurer has
nothing whatever to do with that. He must
honor the draft of the librarian for that spe-
cific sum. It is with this view that the comp-
trollers heretofore have always audited the
draft of the librarian. There has never been
filed within the knowledge of the present
comptroller, at any time, any statement of
the expenses incurred by the librarian in dis-
tributing these books. The appropriation
has been one hundred and fifty dollars, and
if twenty dollars would have covered the ex-
pense, the comptroller could not refuse to pay
the full amount appropriated.
Mr. PETER. The former clerk in our coun-
ty has stated to me that on several occasions
it was considered hard that the clerk of the
county should becompelled to pay the expense
of the books sent there; and I know that at one
time he permitted the books to lie over a
month on that very account, refusing to pay
the expense, but afterwards paid it and took
them.
Mr. DANIEL. There does not seem to be
any real conflict here. There must be an es-
timate of this thing made to the legislature
before they adjourn. They cannot make that
estimate to a cent, because it cannot be ascer-
tained until the books are sent out.
Mr. SANDS. Will the gentleman allow me
to suggest an idea? Could not the appropri-
ation be for one hundred and fifty dollars, or
so much thereof as is necessary to meet the
expense, requiring the vouchers for the actual
expense ?
The PRESIDENT. That is for the legisla-
ture.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. They are all made so.
The PRESIDENT. No, sir.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. "Be it enacted by the
general assembly of Maryland, That for the
expenditures in the support of the govern-
ment, for the year ending on the 1st day of
January 1865, the following sums of money,
or so much thereof as may be necessary, be and
the same are hereby appropriated," that is to
say, for the salary of this, that and the
other, "for the expense of distributing
bound copies of Maryland reports to the clerks
and registers of wills of this State, fifty dol-
lars; for the expense of distributing copies of |
Mayor's Digest, subscribed for by resolution
of the general assembly, fifty dollars," &c.
And here let roe say that that was an ap-
propriation made for a book which, by the
failure of another resolution, was never pub-
lished, and consequently has not been distrib-
uted. Is that fifty dollars to be paid for the
distribution of a book which was never
printed?
The PRESIDENT. That has not been the con-
struction placed upon it by the treasury de-
partment.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. It is as plain as words
can make it.
Mr. HEBB. Is not the comptroller to pre-
some it costs as much as the librarian drafts
. for ?
The PRESIDENT. The draft of the librarian
is the voucher in the comptroller's depart-
ment.
Mr. STIRLING. Look at the 2d section of
this act, which says expressly: "That the
treasurer of the State shall, upon the warrant
of the comptroller of the treasury department,
disburse the said sums of money herein appro-
priated for the objects and purposes specified,
to or upon the order of the person or persons,
bodies politic or corporate, severally entitled
thereto."
That authorizes the librarian to draw the
amount appropriated. The only accounta-
bility is in the words following :
— " And that the several public officers to
whom the game or any part thereof may be
paid, shall render quarterly, to the comptrol-
ler, accounts of the expenditures thereof,
with the proper vouchers, verified by affi-
davit," &c.
That they are to do after he pays it.
Mr. DANIEL. That is the very point 1 was
coming to when 1 was interrupted; that the
comptroller mast honor the draft of the libra-
rian, the legislature having estimated that it
will cost about that amount, and that the
librarian must return his account and vouch-
ers afterwards, either to the comptroller or
the general assembly, in order to show how
much was the actual cost. That I think is
the precise state of the case. There is no oth-
er way of getting at it.
Now it does seem to me that one hundred
and fifty dollars, when you consider the box-
ing up of these books, the drayage to the ex-
press office, and sending them out to every
county and the city of Baltimore, and then
perhaps hauling or other expenses there before
they arrive at their destination upon twenty-
two or twenty-three boxes of books—and I
have seen them come up to my own county
after the adjournment of the legislature, and
I know that the copy of the laws, and of the
journals of the senate and of the house of
delegates, &c., fill alarge box—would amount
pretty nearly to one hundred and fifty dollars.
It is a question merely of estimating, and I
suppose the legislature estimated that. There |
