The New Board: 1864-1920 69

We have seen how, in the management of the Fishery Force, the board came to
exercise a fair amount of patronage, appointing the commander and an increasing
number of deputy commanders. The legislature must have been favorably impressed
with the manner in which the board carried out that responsibility, for it soon placed
additional appointments, of an even more sensitive nature, in its hands.

In 1878 the General Assembly created offices of tax commissioner and insurance
commissioner and provided for the appointments thereto to be made by the governor,
comptroller, and treasurer. Although the board as such was not designated as the
appointing authority, its minutes show that the three designated officials exercised
their power while sitting as the Board of Public Works.⁴² These were significant ap-
pointments, each for a four-year term. The tax commissioner was responsible for the
assessment of all corporate stock for state tax purposes; the insurance commissioner
licensed all insurance companies and their agents and had the authority to examine
the companies and revoke licenses if he found an insolvency or other violation of law.

Subsequently the board's appointment powers were extended to the bank com-
missioner, the state auditor, and the shell fish commissioners, when those offices were
created.⁴³ The board retained most of those appointment powers until 1922, when, in
the course of a comprehensive reorganization of the executive branch, they were vested
in the governor alone.

Another new area of responsibility imposed on the Board of Public Works was
that of public finance—superintending the issuance, management, and redemption of
the public debt. This, too, started small and grew larger.

With the exception of the two correctional institutions and the two normal schools,
there were very few public construction projects of any significance until a decade or
so into the twentieth century, and thus the need for new borrowed capital for con-
struction purposes was limited. Indeed, the immediate post-Civil War era actually saw
a substantial reduction in overall state debt. When the war ended in 1865 the state
had an outstanding debt of over $14 million against which there were sinking fund
balances totaling $8.3 million. By 1899 the aggregate debt had been reduced to $5.7
million against which there were sinking fund balances of $2.6 million.⁴⁴ The state
did continue to float general obligation bonds, however, not to provide new capital but
rather to refinance, in whole or in part, existing loans about to mature. These were,
in effect, "redemption" or "exchange" loans, and they required the board not only to
do the routine work of advertising the proposal, preparing certificates, and receiving
and opening bids, but also to supervise the exchange of securities. In the process the
board had to determine what proportion of the new issue, if any, should be purchased
for the state sinking funds.⁴⁵