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.