XXXVI REPORT OF THE

good practical results. The power exists entirely and only with the
General Assembly in its sovereign will, to practice economy in the
public expenditures, and in view of the present depressed condition of
the business of the country, the lack of remuneration to all produc-
tive industries, and the consequent comparative inability of the people,
to meet oppressive taxation, I cannot too forcibly impress its impor-
tance upon your attention. If these suggestions are carried into
effect, I think the rate of State taxation can be safely reduced to
seventeen cents in each hundred dollars of the property of the State,
and I know of nothing more likely to raise the spirits and gladden the
hearts of the people generally, than the knowledge that a safe reduc-
tion of the rate of taxation is practicable and is to be made.

INVESTIGATION BY THE LEGISLATURE.

It is due to the people of the State, and especially to the Comp-
troller, that the soveral items of expenditure and the vouchers therefor
should be carefully examined and reported upon by a Committee of
the Legislature. The importance of such action appears to have boon
clearly appreciated by the framcrs of the Constitution, the provisions of
which, require the appointment of a Joint Committee for this purpose
by the two Houses of the General Assembly at each Session. Justice
to the Comptroller demands that this duty should never be neglected by
the Legislature, but that every voucher should be examined and every
item of payment should be reported upon, in order that an acquittance
and approval may be certified to him for his protection. In the ab-
sence of such an examination and report, the displacement of a few
vouchers either designedly or by accident, in after years, might be a
source of grievous injustice to a faithful officer. When we consider
how much a single malicious and unscrupulous individual, by ingenious
and plausible inuendoes and concoctions, aided by the prejudices of
vicious men, and sustained by a corrupt party press, may do to damage
the fair fame, which only yours of punctillious faithfulness have estab-
lished, the importance to the Comptroller of a strict attention to this
duty on the part of the Legislature, cannot be overestimated. It is
also a well known fact, that no man can for any considerable length of
time occupy the position of Comptroller of the Treasury, with a proper
appreciation of his duties to the State, without incurring the ill will
of men who have had plans of self aggrandisement from the Treasury,
more or loss corrupt, and have been foiled in attaining a successful
execution of their schemes. For these reasons I feel that I have a
right to demand of the Legislature a faithful performance of this duty.