before he was to enter upon his duties as Governor, and Philo C. Fuller,
a Whig, of Geneseo, was appointed in his place. Mr. Fuller had, in early
life, been a clerk in the land office of Mr. James Wadsworth. Thurlow
Weed met him at that time and recognized in him abilities of a high
order. It was probably at Mr. Weed's suggestion that he first entered
public life; it was certainly upon Mr. Weed's recommendation that he was
appointed Comptroller. It was one of the great secrets of Thurlow Weed's
long retention of political power that whenever he saw capability he
sought, and, to use a ranchman's expression, "corralled it." Mr. Fuller
was Member of Assembly from Livingston county in 1829 and 1830, State
Senator in 1831 and 1832, and Member of the Twenty-third and
Twenty-fourth Congresses. Later he moved to Michigan, and, being elected
to the Legislature, he was chosen Speaker. He was appointed Assistant
Postmaster-General in the Harrison administration, but, being unwilling
to follow President Tyler into the Democratic camp, he resigned, and
returned to New York. He performed the duties of his office of
Comptroller with ability, although doubt of his capacity was felt at the
time of his appointment.
For the forty years from 1840 to 1880 the Comptroller's office was one
of difficulty. During the first half of that period there was seldom a
year when the expenditures did not exceed the appropriations, and when
the Comptroller was not obliged to report a deficit at the end of the
year. There was also during that same period a rapidly-increasing canal
debt, and the Comptroller was in duty bound to find a market for bonds
and the means to meet the interest when it became due. In the latter
half of this period it was the Comptroller's duty to see that the
means were at hand to pay the principal of this and other bonded debts,
and the increased expenditures caused by the war.
[Illustration: Robert Denniston (signature)
_18th COMPTROLLER_]
Mr. Fuller was succeeded January 1, 1852, by John C. Wright, a Democrat
and lawyer, of Schenectady. He had been County Judge of Schoharie county
from 1833 to 1838, and State Senator from the third district in 1843,
1844, 1845 and 1846. He was an opponent of the Albany Regency during his
senatorial career. He was a ready debater but of impulsive temper, and
at one time engaged in a personal rencounter with Colonel Young on the
floor of the Senate chamber. His administration was unmarked by any
peculiar enlargement of the official power, or by distinguished
executive ability. That things run so smoothly that no attention is
attracted is oftentimes strong evidence of a successful working
machinery. By an act of the Legislature of 1851 the Comptroller was
authorized to borrow three millions per year for three years for the
completion of the canal enlargement.
Mr. Wright served one term, and was succeeded, January 1, 1854, by James
M. Cook, a lawyer and a Whig, of Ballston. Mr. Cook was a member of the
Constitutional Convention of 1846, Senator from the thirteenth district
for 1848, 1849, 1850 and 1851, and from the fifteenth district in 1864
and 1865. He served as State Treasurer during the years 1852 and 1853,
and was Bank Superintendent from January 30, 1856, to January 11, 1861.
He was thus continuously in the service of the State from 1848 to 1861,
a period of thirteen years. In 1854 the Comptroller was authorized to
appoint three commissioners to investigate the State prisons and report
on their financial condition, and also upon such laws as they deemed
proper for their better regulation. Under this abuses were corrected,
and the Comptroller was given closer supervision of the prisons.
For a short time in 1858 the Whig leaders had under favorable
consideration the nomination of Mr. Cook for Governor, but
circumstances forced a change, and E. D. Morgan was nominated and
elected.
[Illustration: L. Robinson (signature)
_19th COMPTROLLER_]
On January 1, 1856, Lorenzo Burrows, a banker and an "American" or "Know
Nothing," of Albion, became Comptroller. He had been a member of the
Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses. He later served as Regent of
the University by appointment made February 17, 1858, and in November,
1858, was one of the candidates of the "American party" for Governor
against E. D. Morgan. To the time of his death, many years afterward, he
never failed to make at least one visit yearly to the Comptroller's
office, and always maintained a lively interest in its affairs.
After one term of service Mr. Burrows was succeeded by Sanford E.
Church, a lawyer and a Democrat, also of Albion. Mr. Church had been a
Member of Assembly from Orleans county in 1842; District Attorney of the
same county from 1846 to 1850; Lieutenant-Governor from 1850 to 1854.
He ran for re-election as Comptroller in 1859 and was defeated, and
again in 1863 and was also defeated. He was elected one of the
Delegates-at-Large to the Constitutional Convention in 1867, and was
Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals from May, 1870, to May 20, 1880,
when he died. In all these various positions Mr. Church showed a broad,
liberal spirit, and great mental force. His reports as Comptroller are
valuable State papers, expressed in clear, strong and forcible language.
It is sufficient to say of Judge Church, that, as Comptroller, he
brought the same care, attention and strong mental grasp to his duties
that afterward won for him eminence and fame as Chief Judge of our
highest court.
Robert Denniston, a gentleman farmer and Republican, of Salisbury's
Mills, became Comptroller January 1, 1860, having been elected at the
November election of 1859 over Sanford E. Church. He had been
Assemblyman from Orange county in 1845, and Senator from the second
district in 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1845, 1846 and 1847, and had been an
unsuccessful candidate against Mr. Church for the office of Comptroller
in November, 1857. He was thus Comptroller in the first year of the war,
at the inauguration of high taxes and the large expenditures of that
period. His administration was wise and conservative.
On January 1, 1862, Lucius Robinson, an able lawyer of Elmira, assumed
the duties of the office. Mr. Robinson was a Democrat, but at the
breaking out of the war he was strongly for the Union cause, and it was
on the Union ticket that he was elected Comptroller, and he was
re-elected on the same ticket in 1863. At the close of the war, he
resumed his place in the Democratic party, from which he had never been
fully estranged. He ran as a Democrat against Thomas Hillhouse, in 1865,
and was beaten. He had been District Attorney of Greene county from 1837
to 1839, and Member of Assembly from Chemung county in 1860 and 1861. He
was re-elected Comptroller in November, 1863, and again in November,
1875. He was a member of the Constitutional Commission of 1872, Governor
of this State for the years 1877, 1878 and 1879, and defeated for
re-election in November, 1879, by Alonzo B. Cornell. He was Comptroller
during the dark days of our Civil War. At no period, however, of its
history was the work of the office more carefully managed. For the six
years from 1860 to 1866, the canal and general fund debts were reduced
$8,000,000. In the four years of the war, the State expenditures for
arms, bounties, clothing, equipments and various military purposes were
upwards of $20,000,000. To meet these large and abnormal expenses,
required of the Comptroller resourceful ability. When specie was at a
high premium in 1863 and 1864, Mr. Robinson earnestly recommended the
payment of the State's bonded debt, both principal and interest, in
specie. The Legislature, however, disregarded the recommendation. There
was precedent in the office for such a course. Comptroller Flagg, upon
the suspension of specie payment in 1837, made good the difference
between the depreciated currency and coin. Comptroller Allen followed
the lead of Mr. Robinson, and urged the payment of these debts in coin.
This was not done, however, until 1870, when the State went into the
open market and bought coin to pay the interest on its bonds, and
continued this policy until the resumption of specie payment in 1879.
This course, however, was not pursued with reference to the bounty debt.
In 1865, against the advice and almost protest of the Comptroller, the
Legislature assumed the bounty debt of the various counties of the
State, and for that purpose it became necessary for the State to issue
its bonds to the amount of $27,644,000. The act authorizing the creation
of the debt provided for a sinking fund, and the managing of this fund
and the issuing of the bonds was given to the Comptroller. This debt was
extinguished year by year until it disappeared from the Comptroller's
books in 1877. It was during Mr. Robinson's term, in 1863, that $66,000
were appropriated to purchase the lands adjoining the then Capitol, and
bounded by State, Hawk and Congress streets. This was probably the
first money expended on "That lofty pile where senates dictate laws."
[Illustration: Tho Hillhouse (signature)
_20th COMPTROLLER_]
In 1862, the Legislature placed an item in the appropriation bill which
still remains law. It provides that the Comptroller shall not draw his
warrant, except for salaries and regular expenses, until the person
entitled to the money shall present a detailed account, verified by
affidavit as to services; and if for traveling expenses, a detailed
account specifying the distance and places from and to which, and
receipted vouchers for all disbursements. By chapter 419 of the Laws of
1864, the officers of all hospitals, orphan asylums, benevolent
associations, educational and charitable institutions were required to
report to the Comptroller their financial condition, with their receipts
and disbursements. The Comptroller was, by concurrent resolution of the
Legislature, the same year appointed, with the Governor and the
Secretary of State, to take action properly to receive the returning
veterans, and for the health of the recruits. Mr. Robinson was a man of
great executive force, strict honesty, and with the courage of his
convictions.
He was succeeded by Thomas Hillhouse on the 1st of January, 1866, Mr.
Hillhouse having been elected in November, 1865. He was a gentleman
farmer and a Republican from Geneva, and had been Senator from the
twenty-sixth district in 1860 and 1861, and Adjutant-General of the
State from August 19, 1861, to January 1, 1863. He still survives as the
honored president of the Metropolitan Trust Company, of New York.
Thurlow Weed in his autobiography says: "For my direct responsibility in
the selection of Bates Cook, John A. Collier, Millard Fillmore,
Washington Hunt, Philo C. Fuller, James M. Cook, Robert Denniston and
Thomas Hillhouse, I look back with pardonable pride, for in few ways
could better service have been rendered to the State and people." Mr.
Hillhouse certainly deserved the confidence reposed in him. He was
careful, conservative and able.
On January 1, 1868, Mr. Hillhouse gave way to William F. Allen, a
distinguished lawyer and a Democrat, of Oswego. Mr. Allen served as
Member of Assembly from Oswego in 1843 and 1844, and was appointed
United States District Attorney in 1845, and was appointed Judge of the
Supreme Court in the fifth district in 1847, and elected to the same
position in the fall election of 1855. He was re-elected Comptroller in
November, 1869, but resigned June 14, 1870, to accept an appointment as
Judge of the Court of Appeals. This latter place he held with great
distinction until his death, in June, 1878. In 1864 he was the slated
Democratic candidate for Governor. Horatio Seymour was then Governor,
and Mr. Allen's friends at least understood that Mr. Seymour wished a
renomination as a compliment, but would decline. To their consternation,
however, Mr. Seymour came before the convention, thanked its members for
the honor done him, and accepted. It was during Mr. Allen's
administration that the Comptroller was authorized to appoint an
agent to examine into the reports submitted to him by the various
charitable institutions. By chapter 281 of the Laws of 1870, the
Comptroller was made, _ex-officio_, a member of the State Commission of
Public Charities. Judge Allen was distinguished by talents of the
highest order, and his long public career was a useful one to the State.
[Illustration: W F Allen (signature)
_21st COMPTROLLER_]
It is an interesting political fact that in the campaign of 1869 Judge
Allen had as his opponent in the run for Comptroller Horace Greeley. Mr.
Greeley's election was earnestly opposed by many of the leading
Republicans of the State. A letter of Thurlow Weed was made public, in
which he appealed very strongly to the people of the State to vote
against Mr. Greeley. He based his opposition quite largely upon the fact
that Mr. Greeley's time would have to be divided between his editorial
duties in New York and the Comptroller's office in Albany. He then went
on to say: "The office of Comptroller is most laborious and responsible.
I have known its incumbents for considerably more than half a century.
Among them were Archibald McIntyre, John Savage, William L. Marcy, Silas
Wright, Jr., Azariah C. Flagg, John A. Collier, Washington Hunt, Philo
A. Fuller, James M. Cook, Thos. Hillhouse and others, distinguished for
ability and industry, not one of whom have attempted to attend to any
other business, and all of whom found constant and full occupation,
physical and mental, in the discharge of their public duties. Without
regard to other reasons for withholding my vote from Mr. Greeley, I
consider those which I have stated sufficient. In his opponent, William
F. Allen, I found a capable and enlightened man, with some experience,
much industry and peculiar fitness for the duties of the office. I have
known him first, as an able and useful member of our Legislature, and
next as an eminently upright judge."
Upon the resignation of Judge Allen, Asher P. Nichols, a lawyer and
Democrat, of Buffalo, was appointed, and, in the fall of the same
year, 1870, he was elected to fill the unexpired term. He had been
previously a State Senator from the thirty-first district in 1868 and
1869. He ran for the office of Comptroller in 1871 and again in 1873,
and was defeated both times by Nelson K. Hopkins. Mr. Nichols was a man
of ability, who commanded the highest respect of those who knew him. He
was distinguished somewhat for an old-time formal courtesy of manner. It
is fair to Mr. Nichols to say that the deficiency in the treasury which
Mr. Hopkins found upon his advent was not due to him, or to lack of
recommendations on his part, but rather to the attempt of the Tweed
_regime_ in the Legislature to make a tax rate that would continue them
in power. "Among the faithless, faithful only he."
[Illustration: A. P. Nichols (signature)
_22d COMPTROLLER_]
Mr. Hopkins was a lawyer and a Republican from Buffalo, and he entered
upon the discharge of the duties of the office on January 1, 1872, and
continued therein for four years. This was the beginning and the end of
his career in State politics, but in those four years he left a record
of splendid and faithful work. He found upon his entry into office that
there had been for several years a growing deficiency in the general
fund. In 1869 the excess of appropriations over receipts was
$1,493,181.28; in 1870, $2,355,927.40; in 1871, $2,748,595.56; in 1872,
$1,785,762.97; in 1873, $254,253.53; making for the five years an
aggregate deficiency of $8,637,720.74.
The money to the extent of this deficiency had been supplied to the
treasury by using the moneys from the bounty debt sinking fund. Heroic
treatment was necessary, so disregarding political effect Mr. Hopkins
advocated and secured the adoption of the highest tax rate in the
history of the State, to wit, nine and three-eighths mills on the
dollar, and three and one-half mills of this amount went to make up the
deficiency. In this way the bounty debt sinking fund was again made
good. In 1873 the Comptroller was given power to examine into the
affairs of the prisons, with the power of a court of record to
subpoena witnesses, etc., and the same year he was authorized in person,
or by agent, to visit the various State institutions and examine their
books, papers and vouchers, both of which powers are still inherent in
the Comptroller's office. The same year he was authorized to set aside
cancellations of tax titles made by him whenever it appeared that fraud,
misrepresentation or the suppression of a fact, or a mistake of fact,
had induced the cancellation. This power, with slight modification,
still remains.
[Illustration: N K Hopkins (signature)
_23d COMPTROLLER_]
During Mr. Hopkins' four years of service the bounty debt was reduced
$14,401,700, and he was able to congratulate the Legislature and the
people of the State at the close of his term on the prospect of a
substantial reduction of tax.
On the 1st of January, 1876, Lucius Robinson again assumed the office of
Comptroller, which he held one year. He had defeated in the election the
November preceding Francis E. Spinner, whose services and signature are
so well known as to make comment unnecessary. His second administration
of the office was distinguished by the same care-taking ability which
was manifest in the first. The reduction of the bounty debt and other
indebtedness of the State continued. He was elected Governor in 1876.
The first official act of Governor Robinson was the appointment of
Frederic P. Olcott, of Albany, as Comptroller. It is a matter of secret
political history that Governor Tilden had desired to appoint Daniel
Magone to the office, and that for that reason Mr. Robinson would not
resign until it was too late for Governor Tilden to act. But he had to
act promptly, because, if no appointment were made before the
Legislature convened, the power to fill the vacancy would then be in
that body. Governor Robinson improved the fleeting moment. Mr. Olcott,
as the head of the firm of F. P. Olcott & Co., had been the State's
agent in transactions relating to the bounty debt, and, to Mr.
Robinson's mind, he had exhibited abilities which would make of him a
valuable Comptroller. That the Governor was not mistaken, Mr. Olcott's
career, both as Comptroller, and since his retirement from that office,
as president of the Central Trust Company, abundantly proves. He served
out Mr. Robinson's unexpired term, and was elected in November, 1877,
over C. V. R. Ludington, but was defeated for re-election in 1879 by
James W. Wadsworth. This was the only political office which he ever
held. Early in his term his attention was attracted to the abnormal
quantities of soft soap which one of the small State charitable
institutions was using, and he became satisfied that "soft soap," like
Pickwick's "warming pan," was a cover for something hidden. Among the
vouchers for May and June, 1875, were vouchers for seventy-eight barrels
of soft soap at a cost of $350, which, at the same rate, would make an
aggregate of $2,100 per year. The aggregate expenditure for soft soap
for the institution during the six years ending June 30, 1876, had been
$3,963.60. An investigation was instituted at the Comptroller's request
by the State Board of Charities, and it was found that "soft soap" in
that instance meant the laying out of roads and beautifying grounds to
an extent that the Comptroller's office would not have paid. The
designing institution learned to its surprise that the Comptroller could
not stand too much "soft soap." These revelations led the Comptroller to
ask the Legislature for power to investigate thoroughly all the
charitable institutions. This work was ably done by Edgar K. Apgar, who
made an admirable report, and this report was the means of establishing
a more thorough and systematic supervision of these institutions by the
Comptroller's department. In his report, transmitted to the Legislature
on the 1st of January, 1878, Mr. Olcott said: "Each of these
institutions is now separate and distinct from its fellows, and each is
governed by a local board of trustees. It is evident, therefore, that
there is no general system governing all, but each is a law unto itself.
There is no department of government which exercises any supervision
over their affairs or that has more than a superficial knowledge of the
manner in which they are conducted. * * * I would recommend for your
consideration the policy of abolishing all local boards of trustees and
the erection of a system by which the different institutions shall be
managed by one controlling power. As it is, the responsibility for
losses and expensive management is not centred in any one."
[Illustration: F P Olcott (signature)
_24th COMPTROLLER_]
[Illustration: James Wadsworth (signature)
_25th COMPTROLLER_]
On the 2d of May, 1878 (the good faith of Olcott's work in handling the
bounty bonds having been called in question), he sent a communication to
the Legislature which more than proved the faithful and able manner in
which he had performed his duties in respect to these bonds. The report
was called out by a resolution of the Senate. Some strongly partisan
members believed that they could unearth thereby, if not crookedness, at
least large compensation for services performed. The attempt failed
signally. Mr. Olcott's administration of the office ranks with the
ablest.
James W. Wadsworth, a gentleman farmer and Republican, from Geneseo,
became Comptroller January, 1, 1880, and was one of the youngest men who
have held the office. He had as a boy served with his father, the
gallant and lamented General James S. Wadsworth in the Civil War. He was
Member of Assembly from Livingston county in 1878 and 1879, and was
distinguished in the latter year as the only Republican in the
Legislature who would not vote for the return of Roscoe Conkling to the
United States Senate, and that, too, notwithstanding the fact that Mr.
Conkling had been duly nominated by a Republican caucus. Mr. Conkling
and he afterwards forgot differences and became quite warmly attached.
He ran again for Comptroller in 1885 but was defeated. He has faithfully
represented a discriminating constituency in the Forty-seventh,
Forty-eighth, Fifty-second, Fifty-third and Fifty-fourth Congresses, and
has been re-elected to the Fifty-fifth. Mr. Wadsworth took great
interest in the affairs of the office during his term, and his sterling
integrity and good judgment made him a most excellent officer. In 1880,
by chapter 100, the Comptroller was authorized to issue bonds in
anticipation of the State tax, payable on or before the fifteenth day of
May following, such bonds not to exceed in amount one-half of such tax.
It was necessary for Mr. Wadsworth to inaugurate the system of
collecting taxes on corporations. The original bill for that purpose was
passed in 1880. It has been amended from time to time, but the whole
duty of enforcing it has remained in the Comptroller. The number of
corporations taxed in 1881 was 954, and the amount collected
$1,539,864.27; the number in 1886 was 1,249, and the amount collected
$1,239,864.16. In 1892 there were 1,780 corporations paying, and the
amount collected was $1,430,719.86. In 1896 the number of corporations
was 4,401, and the amount collected was $2,165,610.12. The amount of
capital represented by these 4,401 corporations is believed to be fully
$766,000,000.
Mr. Wadsworth gave place on January 1, 1882, to Ira Davenport, a
capitalist and a Republican of Bath. Mr. Davenport had represented the
twenty-seventh district in the State Senate in 1878, 1879, 1880 and
1881, and was elected Comptroller over G. H. Lapham. He was defeated for
re-election as Comptroller by Alfred C. Chapin, November 6, 1883. In
1885, he received the Republican nomination for Governor, but was
defeated by David B. Hill. He was a member of the Forty-ninth and
Fiftieth Congresses. On March 1, 1883, the duty of auditing the canal
accounts, after having been performed for thirty-five years by a
separate officer--the Canal Auditor--was placed in the Comptroller's
office, where it still remains. The confidence which the Republican
party had shown in Comptroller Davenport was not misplaced. He was a man
of high character and attainments, and performed the duties of the
office of Comptroller with success.
[Illustration: M Davenport (signature)
_26th COMPTROLLER_]