Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1839-03-30
L rom the Maalsonian
A GOOD RIFORN.

An amendment 10 the civil Appropriation bill
that was adopted, Is good reform IN the way of
retrenchment as tar 1T goes. Ii Is as follows,
VIZ: Nor shall any executive officer. other
than the heads of departments, apply more than
thirty dollars annually, out of the contingent,
fund under his control TO pa, for newspapers,
phamphalets, periodicals, or other books prints,
not uecessar. for the business Of this Office
On looF ing over the official reports of the dis
bursemen, OF the contingent fund of The various
departments for the year ending the Both Sep
iemher, 1888, we find that there paid by
the First Comptroller, of the contingent fund
appropriated by Congress for his department. for
newspapers and periodicals only, the sum of one
hundred and twenty-nne dollars and eighty -four
cents; and by the Second Comptroller, for the
same, one hundred and nineteen dollars and forty
one cents. We have not examined into the dis
bursemen,s of the other bureaus for those of u
similar character, which will be cartailed here
after by the prov Ision of the law above quoted,
with the exception of the Solicitor of The Treas
ury. Besides, about three hundred dollars paiG
by that officer for law books binding public doc
umcnts, &c.-apd about sixty dollars for news
papers. periodicals, charts maps &c; find
there paid for :. | American Diplomatic
Code. , vols. for Washington's Writings.
II vols, and for ''.,;} vols Gales s. Ssaton's
Debates" &c, the aggregate sum OF one hun
dred and twenty seven dollars. Neither OF these
works, we should suppose, were necessary for
the business of his the Solicitors office. y
In looking over the disbursements to obtain
the above facts, our attention fixed some
other items contained in the report of the Solicit
or, which struck somewhat curious. One
is, paid g Bust Of Forsyth So Another, pain
g State Department large easy chair S2i."-
Now, as to the purchase of the bust of the Secre
tary of State embellish the office of the So
licitor of the Treasury with, il may be all RICH,
and useful as holding the mirror up to nature
and rs to the large easy chair, if it was no long
or necessary for the State Department, and was
absolutely for the Solicitors Department, il
was well that the purchase made, for Ia
went out of one contingent fund, went into tn.
other, aDd was, III fact, tax upon the people
L t think the ''heads of Departments
should have been restricted also We find tha
during the year ending the Both Of September
1898, the Secretary of the TIeasury paid to
newspapers and periodicals $3.50 SO; and thu
Secretary of War 1901 90, exclusive Of o,he
payments for books Four copies of the Glob.
for each, at $40! and of the Secretary of III,
/ Treasurv's expenditure, more than so dollars wa
for English newspapers. What the expenditure
by the Other denartnenis nj L. ~''"'A 90. nav
ocen, we have not examined to see. We cal
hardly believe the people will DO made to thin
such expenditures Of their money by the head
of departments, for political newspapers, neces
sary to aid in the discharge of their official du
ties.
We believe that every department and ever
bureau under each, takes the DEMOCRATIC RE-
VIEW; and every bureau, one copy each OF tn
Globe. In addition to the four copies which tn
chief departments each take. 1t is thus the dem
agogue who edits the official organ and the cor
, ductors of the Review arc supported out of III
peoples money.