George Hubert Bates (Democrat), the thirty-second state treasurer, was born on a farm near Bates City, Missouri on December 8, 1884.  He was educated in the public schools at Bates City and Lexington and went to college at the University of Missouri.  In 1905 he started working at the Commercial Bank of Lexington and in 1915 he became deputy county clerk of Lafayette County.  He returned to the banking business in 1931 as a cashier at the Traders Bank in Lexington.  In January of 1933 he came to Jefferson City as chief clerk for State Auditor Forrest Smith.  In 1934 the legislative body set up the new Sales Tax Act, which became a responsibility of the state auditor’s office: Mr. Bates supervised this new department.  In 1946 Governor Phil M. Donnelly appointed him collector of the newly created Department of Revenue and in 1949 Governor Forrest Smith advanced him to director of that department.  Mr. Bates was elected state treasurer in 1953 with an annual salary of $7,500 and employed approximately 26 persons during his tenure in that office.  He was married to Miss Norma Comer on June 18, 1913. They had two sons and a daughter.  Mr. Bates died on July 22, 1978.