discharge of his duties January 1, 1884. He was Member of Assembly from
the eleventh Kings county district in 1882 and 1883, and in the latter
year was chosen Speaker of that body. He was re-elected Comptroller in
1885 over Mr. Wadsworth. He has, since his service as Comptroller,
served four years as Mayor of Brooklyn, from January 1, 1888, to January
1, 1892, and is now about ending a term as State Railroad Commissioner.
In 1891, he was a prominent candidate for Governor before the Democratic
convention, but was beaten by Roswell P. Flower. Mr. Chapin is an
educated and cultivated gentleman, and as Comptroller was not afraid to
run counter to established ideas. He strongly recommended, in a special
message to the Legislature in 1885, and subsequently in his annual
reports, the abolition of the common school fund, and its transfer to
the treasury. By chapter 483 of the Laws of 1885, the Legislature laid a
tax of five per cent upon collateral inheritances. This inaugurated a
system of taxing transfers at death, which has come now to yield
annually about $2,000,000. The Comptroller was largely intrusted with
the duties of enforcing this law. It was amended in 1891 by making a tax
of one per cent upon all direct inheritances. In 1886, the Comptroller
was authorized to approve the bonds of banks designated as depositories
of the funds of State institutions. The same year, the Comptroller was
directed to make assessments on the various companies liable therefor to
meet the expenses of the Subway Commissions in the cities of New York
and Brooklyn--a duty which still rests on the office. In 1887, he was
authorized to sell or exchange detached lands in certain counties of the
Forest Preserve, upon the recommendation of the Forest Commission and
the Attorney-General, the purpose being to consolidate the State's
holding of lands in the Adirondack Park. The same year a tax was laid on
racing associations for the benefit of agricultural societies to
improve the breed of horses, etc., and the collection of this tax has
since remained a part of the duty of the Comptroller, notwithstanding
the various vicissitudes through which racing and pool bills have
passed.
At the November election, in 1887, Edward Wemple was elected Comptroller
over Jesse S. L'Amoreaux. Mr. Wemple was a manufacturer and Democrat,
residing at Fultonville. He was a Member of Assembly from Montgomery
county in 1877 and 1878, and a Member of the Forty-eighth Congress, but
was defeated for re-election to that office by George West. He served in
the State Senate from the eighteenth district in 1886 and 1887. He was
re-elected Comptroller in 1889 over Martin W. Cooke.
In 1888 the Legislature passed an act requiring the agent and warden of
each of the State prisons to file with the Comptroller a bond, approved
by the Superintendent of State Prisons and Comptroller, in a penalty of
not less than $50,000, to be fixed by the Comptroller. The same year
the Legislature declared that the Board of Claims should have no
jurisdiction over private claims required to be presented to the
Comptroller for audit, until after his action on the claim. It further
required all public officials and other persons receiving or disbursing
moneys of the people of the State to deposit the same in some solvent
bank or banking institution, to be designated by the Comptroller, and
that every bank receiving such moneys should execute a bond to the
people, to be filed with and approved by the Comptroller. By chapter 586
of the Laws of the same year the Comptroller, the Superintendent of
State Prisons, and the President of the State Board of Charities, were
constituted a board to fix the prices of all goods manufactured in the
penal institutions of the State for the use of other State institutions.
All these provisions of law are still in force, except that the board to
fix prices has been changed by the addition of the State Prison
Commission and Lunacy Commission, and by omitting the President of
the State Board of Charities. In 1889 the right of the Comptroller to
supervise the financial affairs of the prisons was enlarged, and the
agent and warden required to make monthly reports of receipts and
expenditures to him. He was also allowed to revise and readjust the
accounts theretofore settled under the Corporation Tax Law. In 1890 he
was made a member of the "Board for the Establishment of State Insane
Asylum Districts and other purposes," together with the State Commission
in Lunacy and President of the State Board of Charities. In 1891 an act
was passed requiring all institutions receiving moneys from the State
treasury for maintenance, in full or in part, to deposit their funds in
some responsible bank or banking house, to be designated by the
Comptroller. He was also authorized to appoint commissioners to hear
evidence and take proofs on applications for cancellation of title or
redemption of lands.
[Illustration: Alfred C. Chapin (signature)
_27th COMPTROLLER_]
On January 1, 1892, Frank Campbell, a banker and Democrat, of Bath,
became Comptroller. He had been chosen in the previous election over
Arthur C. Wade. He had held no office previous to that time. He served
one term, ran for re-election in 1893 and was defeated. He has held no
office since. By chapter 651 of the Laws of 1892 the supervision of the
funds deposited in court was transferred from the General Term of the
Supreme Court to the Comptroller, and this work the Comptroller's office
has since performed; and by chapter 681 of the Laws of the same year he
was required to approve all official undertakings.
In 1892 the authority was given to the Comptroller to license common
carriers. He was relieved from this duty by the new Excise Law of 1896.
By chapter 248 of the Laws of 1893 he, with the Secretary of State and
Treasurer, was directed, before the first day of January of each year,
to designate the State paper. The largest amount thus far collected in
any one year under the Inheritance Tax Law was $3,071,687.09, in 1893,
during Mr. Campbell's term. The amount collected under the
Corporation Tax Law was increased during his term.
[Illustration: Edward Wemple (signature)
_28th COMPTROLLER_]
On January 1, 1894, James A. Roberts, a lawyer and Republican, of
Buffalo, became Comptroller. He had served as Member of Assembly from
the third district of Erie county in 1879, and from the fourth district
of the same county in 1880. He was unanimously renominated from the
fourth district in 1891, but declined. He was re-elected Comptroller in
1895 over John B. Judson. In 1894 the Comptroller was given power to
appoint appraisers in cases of tuberculosis and glanders. In the same
year the chancery fund, so called, which had been managed by the Clerk
of the Court of Appeals after the abolition of the Court of Chancery,
was turned over to the Comptroller. This fund, amounting to $169,935.52
in securities and cash, besides real estate of the possible value of
$10,000, was the residue and remainder of moneys that had been deposited
in the old Court of Chancery and never called for. By a rider on the
appropriation bill of that year the superintendent or other managing
officer of each State charitable institution or reformatory in the State
was required to estimate monthly, in detail, the articles required by
his institution for the ensuing month. The expenditures were to be
limited to the estimates, and the treasurers were required to make
monthly reports of their expenditures. This inaugurated substantially
the same system, with reference to the expenditures of other charitable
institutions, that was then used by the Lunacy Commission with reference
to the hospitals. In 1895 this last provision was made more definite and
explicit. The Comptroller was authorized the same year to appoint a
second deputy, who was to have the same powers as the Deputy
Comptroller. Twice before in the history of the office there had been a
second deputy, but, after the continuance of the office for a few years,
in each case it had been abolished. Chapter 79 of the Laws of 1895
provided for the issuing of canal bonds and created a sinking fund
for their redemption. The issuing of the bonds and the care of the
sinking fund were intrusted to the Comptroller. The same year the
trustees of the Saratoga monument were authorized to transfer the
property held by them to the State, and the Comptroller was made
custodian of the monument.
[Illustration: Frank Campbell (signature)
_29th COMPTROLLER_]
While in the hundred years there have been thirty Comptrollers, there
have been but eleven Deputy Comptrollers. Upon the passage of the act
authorizing the appointment of a deputy, in 1811, Comptroller McIntyre
appointed John Ely, Jr., and he held the position until 1822. He was
succeeded by Ephraim Starr, who continued in the position until 1828. In
1828 Mr. Marcy appointed as deputy Philip Phelps, and, with the
exception of two years, from February 28, 1840, to February 28, 1842,
this being substantially the administration of Bates Cook, when the
office was filled by W. W. Tredwell, Mr. Phelps held the place until
1876, or in all for forty-six years. It was long felt that his services
were indispensable, and while Comptrollers might come and Comptrollers
did go, the deputy seemed likely to go on forever. It is related that
late in his official career he found himself growing footsore and lame,
and no longer able to stand at his desk, as had been his custom, and
scarcely able to reach the office, and there was talk of his
resignation, and grave fears for the future finances of the State were
expressed. In this emergency an attentive clerk found that the floor
where the deputy had so long stood had been worn away so that an
obdurate nail protruded, and it was standing upon this nail which had
worked the woe. One blow of the hammer saved the State. Mr. Phelps was
an able man, and his services in the office made him invaluable to the
frequently-changing Comptrollers. At his death high testimonies to his
worth and character were given by Sanford E. Church, Thomas Hillhouse,
Wm. F. Allen, Robert H. Pruyn, John V. L. Pruyn, and many others. A
meeting of State officers was held, at which Wm. Dorsheimer, then
Lieutenant-Governor, presided, and resolutions expressing his great
worth and service were adopted. It was well said that "no prospect of
pecuniary advantage could swerve him from the strictest line of truth
and justice."
Mr. Phelps was succeeded by Henry Gallien, who worthily filled the
office from 1876 to 1884, when he died. Thomas E. Benedict held the
office from 1884 to 1886. He has since been Deputy Secretary of State
and Public Printer at Washington, and in all positions has acquitted
himself as an able and upright man. Charles R. Hall succeeded to the
office for a little more than a year, and was himself succeeded by Zerah
S. Westbrook, who had the office for four years, from January 1, 1888,
to January 1, 1892. Calvin J. Huson was Deputy Comptroller during Mr.
Campbell's term. At the end of his term he was succeeded by Colonel
William J. Morgan, who still holds the office.
The custom seems to have grown up in these degenerate times to make the
term of the deputy co-terminous with that of Comptroller. This is of
doubtful propriety. Too many men of tried integrity, familiar with their
duties, cannot be retained in such an office. But the danger which would
naturally be expected from a frequent change in both Comptroller and
deputy has thus far been avoided by the retention, through succeeding
administrations, of some of the most important clerks. Willis E.
Merriman has now been in service in the Comptroller's office for
thirty-one years, and, having worked up from the lowest to the highest
service in the department, is familiar with all its details, and his
services have thus become indispensable. Upon the creation of the office
of Second Deputy Comptroller, in 1895, he was appointed to that
position, and he has since discharged its duties with the fidelity and
intelligence with which every Comptroller for many years has found him
fortunately endowed.
No sketch of the office is complete without mention of George H.
Birchall. He came into the office in 1883, at the time of the
abolition of the Canal Auditor's office. He had served seventeen years
in the last-named office. He has had charge of the canal accounts since
their transfer to the Comptroller's office, and has rendered most
efficient service. Messrs. Williams and Bliss came into the office in
1877, and Mr. Graham in 1882. Several employees have been in the
department's service for six or eight years or more, and no department
of the State government is better equipped with honest, faithful, public
servants than is the Comptroller's office.
[Illustration: James A. Roberts (signature)
_30th COMPTROLLER_]
It can be seen from the foregoing that the duties of the Comptroller's
office are varied and important. The boards of which he is a member give
some indication of this fact. He is _ex-officio_ a member of the State
Board of Canvassers; of the Board of the Commissioners of the Land
Office; of the Board of the Commissioners of the Canal Fund; of the
Canal Board; of the State Commissioners of Charities; of the board to
fix prices for prison made products; of the board for the establishment
of State insane asylum districts, etc.; of the legislative printing
board; of the department printing board, and one of the officers to
designate the State paper. He manages the finances of the State so far
even as to supervise the expenditures of the State institutions. He
designates the banks in which funds of all institutions shall be
deposited. He levies and collects the tax on corporations; supervises
the collection of the transfer tax, and sells the lands of delinquent
taxpayers in the counties in which are included a part of the Forest
Preserve. He audits all accounts against the State; acts as a court in
applications for cancellations of tax deeds or sales, and in disputed
corporation tax matters; examines the court and trust funds deposited
with the treasurer of every county in the State, and regulates the form
of accounts and the manner of their investment, and performs many other
less important duties too numerous for mention.
Of the men who have held the office of Comptroller nineteen were
lawyers; three were gentlemen farmers; three bankers; one a merchant;
one a manufacturer; one a capitalist, and two were business men. In
politics two were Federalists; fifteen Democrats (including under the
word Democrats original Republicans, whether Clintonians or otherwise);
four Whigs; two Anti-Masons; six Republicans, and one American or Know
Nothing.
[Illustration: Philip Phelps (signature)
_Deputy Comptroller, 46 Years._]
The total expenditures of the State for each tenth year since the
establishment of the office were as follows:
1797 $322,831 37
1807 425,689 69
1817 1,296,590 88
1827 1,908,346 73
1837 4,926,449 04
1847 5,275,164 09
1857 10,176,939 70
1867 20,496,050 59
1877 [1]26,186,744 70
1887 16,771,448 98
1897 26,510,425 77
================
[1] Includes $10,453,805.95 bounty debt.
Each of these would very nearly represent the average annual
expenditures for the decade which it ends.
The total expenditures of the National Government for the year 1797 were
$8,625,877.37, and if we deduct from this the amounts paid for interest,
and payments upon the public debt, it leaves the amount of ordinary
expenditure but $2,836,110.52. The ordinary expenditures of the National
Government did not reach the amount expended in this State for the year
1896 until the year 1847, if we except the years 1813, 1814 and 1815,
when the expenditures were abnormal by reason of the War of 1812, and if
we except also the years 1837 and 1838, and in none of those excepted
years did the annual ordinary expenditures very greatly exceed this
State's expenditure for 1896.
During the century, the State has expended for lands, construction,
enlargement or permanent improvement:
Of its five canals $74,347,000 00
Of its new Capitol 22,254,023 60
Of the twelve hospitals erected by it $15,204,099 59
Of its seventeen other charitable institutions 6,369,110 70
Of its forty-five armories and arsenals 3,349,543 73
Of its three State prisons 4,528,058 65
Of its twelve normal schools 1,826,350 06
--------------
Making a total expenditure for those various
purposes of $127,878,186 33
===============
[Illustration: Willis E. Merriman. (signature)
_2d Deputy Comptroller_
_Connected with the office 31 years_
]
Far the greater part of this money has been handled by, and drawn on the
warrant of, the Comptroller, and no suspicion has ever arisen that this
duty was not honestly performed. Nearly all of the sinking funds of the
various bonded debts of the State have been managed by the Comptrollers,
who, in these 100 years, have never been the occasion of the loss of a
single dollar.
Jenkins, in his political history of New York, says that the Comptroller
bears the same relation to the State that the Secretary of the Treasury
does to the National Government, and this is largely true. I cannot do
better in closing this brief sketch of the Comptroller's office than by
quoting from Thurlow Weed's autobiography. His opportunities for, and
keenness of, observation make his statement of peculiar value. He says:
"It seems proper to say, amid all the mutations of party, and the
liability under our form of popular government to occasionally find
unworthy men elevated to high places, our State has ever been singularly
fortunate in its highest financial officer. We have had unfaithful men
in almost every other department of the State Government. We have had,
in two or three instances, comparatively weak men in the office of
Comptroller, but as a rule its incumbents have been capable, firm and
incorruptible."
* * * * *
[Transcriber's Notes:
The transcriber made these changes to the text to correct obvious
errors:
1. p. 19 Fom --> From
2. p. 41 place, Mr. Cook's --> place. Mr. Cook's
3. p. 70 James W. Wadworth --> James W. Wadsworth
4. p. 82 protuded, --> protruded,
End of Transcriber's Notes]