No Appropriation, No Warrants: Washington's 1891 Budget Standoff
The state treasurer refuses to honor university and militia warrants the legislature never funded, the Supreme Court backs him up, and Governor Ferry — in poor health — lets the idea of an extra session die.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The morning paper on Sunday failed to give the state treasurer credit for refusing to endorse illegal warrants. The truth of the matter is, the state auditor had issued several thousands of dollars' worth of warrants for the University, which the state treasurer refused to endorse, and a suit was brought against him (the state treasurer) and not the state auditor, to compel him to endorse said warrants. The supreme court said no. Sound treasurer. Sound court. Sound policy. No appropriation, no warrants.
As a matter of fact the state military warrants are in the same fix, there being no constitutional appropriation by the legislature for their payment, and if the state treasurer follows the strict letter of the law, there will be no more military warrants endorsed. In fact, there is no constitutional appropriation to pay the interest on the state bonds.
One of the commissioners of the university is authority for the statement, it is said, that Governor Ferry was exceedingly wroth at the state auditor for suddenly stopping the issuance of any more university warrants, but it is evident that the state auditor and the state treasurer understand the law.
"There will hardly be any extra session of the legislature notwithstanding the decision of the supreme court on the university warrants," said a close friend of the governor this morning. "The governor is opposed to it. He thinks the state can get along without it, and his health is not sufficiently robust to stand the strain of an extra session."
“Sound treasurer. Sound court. Sound policy. No appropriation, no warrants.”
Then as now, the fight was over who may spend money the legislature never voted for. A treasurer's refusal to sign paper the state could not lawfully back reads like a nineteenth-century version of a shutdown standoff, with the state university and the militia caught in the middle. The detail that the governor's health — not the constitution — settled the question is a reminder that the purse strings were pulled by people, not principles.
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