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THE CHAIRMAN: Does your amend-
ment have a letter?
DELEGATE STERN: AU.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair suggests
Delegate Stern that this is properly a mat-
ter for the Committee on Style. If you
wish, I will put the amendment.
DELEGATE STERN: Mr. Chairman, I
thought of that and I thought since this is
a change, that some people may object to —
THE CHAIRMAN: I will put the amend-
ment. Will the pages please distribute
Amendment AU. This will be Amendment
No. 11.
The Clerk will read the amendment.
READING CLERK: Amendment No. 11
to Committee Recommendation EB-1:
Wherever the word "comptroller" appears
in Committee Recommendation EB-1, it
shall be spelled "Controller".
THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment,
having been seconded by Delegate Willoner,
the Chair recognizes Delegate Stern to
speak to the amendment.
DELEGATE STERN: Mr. Chairman,
Members of the Committee, one of the rea-
sons for this change, as you just heard
the amendment being read, is it is read and
pronounced incorrectly. Both words in
quotations are pronounced identically the
same.
I have here WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY: the
usage of both terms are identical. The pro-
nunciation of both terms are identical, but
we are down here to write a modern Con-
stitution and the modern usage of the
word "Comptroller" should be to go along
with the modern spelling of it. In the last
30 years, the word "Controller", by busi-
nesses, has come into usage, and it has
been spelled and shown here the latter way,
C-o-n-t-r-o-l-l-e-r.
I call the attention of the Committee,
also, that in the dictionary, both terms are
listed. Both terms are cross-referenced as
having the same meaning. I would like to
read a couple of the definitions because I
think it would be quite helpful.
The first definition of "Comptroller" is,
"a royal house official, who examines and
supervises expenditures, " and yesterday in
Mr. Weidemeyer's remarks as to the defini-
tion of what we establish as Comptroller,
I would like to read the second definition:
"A public official, audits government ac-
counts, and sometimes certifies expendi-
tures. "
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This is truly what we established yester-
day as the Controller.
Really, what I am saying is, we are not
changing pronunciation since they are both
pronounced identically. We are just taking
out an archaic spelling and putting in a
modern spelling. It becomes quite confusing
because, for quite a few people, in fact, the
office holder is the one who mispronounces
this more than anyone else, but it is cor-
rectly pronounced, "Controller", and in
writing a modern Constitution; we should
have modern language.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Morgan.
DELEGATE MORGAN: Mr. President,
I would have to defer to some of the ex-
perts on this Convention as to whether
"Comptroller" or "Controller" is the more
common term today. It just seems to me, as
long as the person Comptroller is spelled,
C-o-m-p-t-r-o-l-l-e-r, I don't see particularly
any need for changing it to a different
spelling, unless it has become an archaic
spelling. I will defer to some of the CPA's
in this room.
Delegate Finch, you are a CPA.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gill has the
floor.
DELEGATE GILL: May I ask Delegate
Stern a question?
THE CHAIRMAN: Do you yield to a
question, Delegate Stern?
DELEGATE STERN: Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gill.
DELEGATE GILL: I was wondering if
he would amend it to eliminate one of the
"L's"?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Stern.
DELEGATE STERN: Again, going to
the WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY, which I used
as reference, the WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY
uses two "L's". I would not accept it. May
I answer, also, there are only two CPA's
in this body and that is Mr. Finch and I.
Mr. Finch, I guess, would answer the same
way I do.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Finch.
DELEGATE FINCH: I agree with Mr.
Stern, that his suggestion is a very fine
one and that is the way it should be spelled.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Penniman,
as Chairman of the Committee on Style,
Drafting and Arrangement, do you have
any comment for the enlightenment of the
Committee of the Whole?
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