Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1853-09-24
Legislative f14travnr1ncA.

The Dayton Goxste, gives the snneEsdin-
tetcstlng statistics relaling TO she expenditures
Of Of the late Legislature. The figures tells
tale Of reckless ekstavagance, and are Of them
selves sufficient evidence OF the necessity Tor
reform. The people out Of whose pockets IN
the money comes, have. an -opportunity ssfAe
approaching election. to elect men 70 the Leg
islature, who will have soss regard fof econ.
omy. Will they avail themselves vfitf
Why do they not show how much money
was paid for the per diem Of members--how
much for Clerks Sergesnt- alarms, and their
Assistants-how much for printing! Thsns
are the items Of expense Of which the people
complain; and these, msiuly, are the issms
which the Wing Convention meant TO chsrsc-
terise as extravagant So the resolution 10 IN.
derstood by every body except those who
have special reasons for giving Il some ether
direction.
The Constitution-that instrument which
was placed "in the hands Of its frieads'--pro-
vides that "All regular sessions Of the Gensr.
al Assembly shall commence on the first Mon
day Of January. biennially"-that is, thers
shall be one session every two years. In
stead of this, the last Legislature held two
sessions in one year--each session covering
about 100 days The members, however
like the fellow who was brought up twice IN
course Of week to be fined for drunkenness.
plead in bar of the second offence that it wac
'the same old drunk"-got round ths Difficult
ty and over the Constitution, by saying thss
the second session was only the last half Of
the first: or in other words that Il was the
same old session oil the time Be this ~ il
may, there was waste Of time, and by eoa-
sequence a waste Of the peoples money, fos
which no parallel can be found in the history
Of Ohio
the expense accounted footed up as folows:
Per diem of 40 Clerks. Sergeauts-a at Arms
and their Assistants. 12o days at a per
day. $l9,200.
Twelve messenger boys 100 days n4
at 81 per day. LAO
Per diem of members 100 days, at
a day. e2,4oo.
Paid for Printing. 10000
Total. eli3,ls0l
The last half Of the Session was as long ss
the first. Perhaps two or three Of the su-
perAuous Assistant Clerks were discharged
VI tuc tttucp tOt tuo eahG W
appearances, but the total Of expenses was
not materially diminished; so that the expen.
ses of the entire session cauld not have been
much if any. below $225,00o. -.
If our estimate is above the truth, is win
be an easy matter to show wherein the error
consists. He was member of the House.
and is no doubt in possession Of the dosu-
ments." Nearly two thousand dollars Of the
amount which we figure up. went into his
own and his brothers pockets-beiDg o. .
day each for the entire session.
Contrast the first session under the rev
constitution with previous sessons and We
think the people will decide that the former
as the Wing resolution declares. "wss luxu-
ry altogether too expensive for this ecoromi-
cal age" In ls44--5. the Wings came into
power and held possession of the Legislature
Till ls4s. During those four years. under
the system Of annual sessions, the entire pay
Of members, clerks. sergeant. alarms, and
messenger boys, amounted to $ll4.478---an
average of only $2s,6l9 year. The same
items, during the last session, amounted 70 o.
yer tl66. .0Oo-a sum sufficient, under Whig
rule, to have lasted nearly six years To this
contrast We invite the serious attention Of thu
1peope. as5