xviii REPORT OF THE COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY.

of all State offices and institutions receiving State aid, by
duly authorized and competent persons, there cannot be
the slightest doubt,, in order that the State should receive
its own and the public the best and. most intelligent serv ice.
These opinions 1 held when called to fill the responsible
position I now occupy, and my official connection with the
Treasury Department has only strengthened those convic-
tions.

During the session of the last Legislature, after much
research and careful consideration, and after consultation
with Your Excellency and the State Treasurer, there was
prepared, under my direction, a bill known as the Spec-
ial Auditor," and by Senator Stevenson A. Williams intro-
duced in the Senate on the 10th of March last. Notwith-
standing he gave it his earnest and intelligent support, it
failed to become a law by reason of the opposition of those
officials whose offices and institutions it effected. Section
42 of said bill read as follows :

"It shall be the duty of the Special Auditor to Exam-
ine, tinder the direction of the Comptroller as often as, and
whenever the Comptroller may direct and determine, all
State institutions, institutions or corporations receiving
appropriations from the State, or in which the State may
be directly interested, all savings banks and institutions
not otherwise by law required to be examined, all State
Tobacco Warehouses, building and loan associations, and
all offices created by the Constitution or laws .of this State
and receiving fees or funds for which they are required in
any manner to account with the State or with any State
officials Full and ample power is hereby conferred upon
the Special Auditor to make such examinations for the
purpose of ascertaining the status and condition of
the affairs of the institutions, banks, corporations, associa-
tions, warehouses and offices aforesaid, their methods of
.accounting and doing business, how the moneys received
by them are expended or applied, and whether or nob they
are in all respects complying with the several provisions
of law to them respectively applicable."

Had such bill become a law, I am fully persuaded a
more intelligent and trustworthy service would now be
given th.e State.

It has been a pleasure to present to you the above
operations of the Treasury Department. That the exhibit
thus made must meet your hearty approval, I feel well as-
sured ; for the record herein given challenges the favor-
able considerable of every citizen. It is also my pleasure
to again bear testimony to the emminent financial ability
of the present State Treasurer," to whom is equally due the
credit of the management of the State's finances ; and I