The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1853-09-23
EXPENSIVE LEGISLATION.

In the absence of any official statement, we
are left to depend upon our own knowledge
of the facts, to form our estimate. We know
that members voted themselves four dollars
per day. We know that the clerks and SER
geants-at-arms and their army of assistants
were paid the same sum. We know that the
printing of the first year was very large, and
at prices vastly above the contract prices of
the last year. The Dayton Gazette, in an
article on this subject, sums up the expenses
as follows:
The constitution-that instrument which
was placed Sin the hands of its friends'-
provides that "Allregular sessions of the Gen
eral Assembly shall commence on the first
Monday of January, bienuially;" that's, there
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
the course of week to be fined for drunken
ness, and plead in bar of the second offence
that it was "the same old drunk"-got round
the difficulty and over the constitution by
saying that the second session was only the
last half of the first; or in other words, that
it was the same old session all the time. Be
this as it may, there was waste of time, and
by consequence waste of the peoples mon-
ey, for which no parallel can be found in the
history Of Ohio. .....
For the first half of that "same old session."
the expense account footed up as follows:
Per diem of 40 clerks, sergeants-at-
arms a. their assistants, 100 days
at 81 per day, $4,000
Twelve Messenger boys, 100 days
at 81 per day, LAO
Per diem of members l20 days at ...
$4 day, 62,4OO
Paid for printing, 10000
Total, .... $4,000
The last half Of the session was as long as
the first. Perhaps two or three Of the SUPER
fiuous Assistant clerks were discharged during
a portion of the time, for the sake of appear
ances, but the total of expenses was not ma
terially diminished; so that the expenses of the
entire session would not have been much, if
any, below $225,OOO!
The same article farther says:
Contrast the first session under the new
constitution with previous sessions, and we
think the people will decide that the former,
as the Whig resolution declares, "was a lux
ury altogether too expensive for this economi.
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 nav of
members, clerks, sergeants- alarms, and mes.
senger boys, amounted to $1l4,47S-an aver,
lge of only S2s,6l9 year.
Now, if the expenses Of the last two years
iave been msstated, let US and the people
,now wherein. 1t will not do to say that the
ak for State purposes is no more on the dol,
ar than it was under the Wing administra.
iol. The basis of taxation is vastly increas,
d since that time. The same per cent. of
axation this year will give large sun over
he amount of last year, because there Is an
lcrease OF probably sixty millions of dollars
n the personal property Of the State The
mount in dollars is the only true test, andto
lat we appeal. We saw what every man of
ltellgence knows, that the expenses of the
st two years have very largely exceeded the
xpense Of any two years under Wing rule,
the knowledge of these facts are worth
nything to the tax payers they have them
nd they can govern themselves accordingly,
%. s. Journal.