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."
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 subpœna 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.
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."