The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-06-29
Cost of a Convention
Judge Ferguson's Estimate.
FIGURES THAT DON'T LIE.

"eeuuS III Shoi'S''o" WI WIZ S0S" VI
June, Judge FERGUSON presented the
following carefully prepared estimate
of the cost OF a Constitutional Conven.
ton:
The great objection and the one
most harped upon is the immense cost
OF a Convention. 1t is persistently
alleged that it will cost hundreds Of thou
sands Of dollars, by men who ought and
do know better. Now in order to ar
rive at right conclusion as to the cost
of a Convention let US appeal to the
figures, and figures, it is said, won't lie,
and they won't when fairly dealt with.
The Convention is to be composed OF
seventy-eight members, and their pay
is So per day, and the costs OF the Con-
vention per day including its officers
will be as follows:
IS members at SO each per day .s2S4.0O
Secretary at $40 per day ..."....:........ l0.00
Sergeant-at-Armsa at So per day.. 800
Doorkeepar at So per day 800
2 Pages at 81 per day, each...........-...... 400
Ja1itor al 5 per day ..................... 800
Total per day
Say the session lasts IS days, the same
time as the legislature at S265 per day,
the costs of members and officers will
,SZo
Room rent, fuel and lights ........ 1000
Printing and stationery OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 5,OOO
Total .sl7 ,925
But, suppose the convention to sit 30 days,
fl,n .f 70 officers
he $1,000
Room rent, fuel, lights, printing and
o,VV
Then suppose we add $500 for contin-
gencies, and we have the whole cost Of 60
days session of the convention...........
And it is useless to talk about the
Convention sitting more than 90 days,
and my opinion is that it will not git
more than IS days The sort of Con-
stitution to be adopted is as we'll under
stood to-day as it will be when COM
pleted, and it will not take long to put
it in shape. And | am not without evil
dence of the correctness Of my estimate
of the costs OF the Convention. ! have
taken the trouble of examining the sew
eral appropriation bills passed by the
Legislature since the organization of
the State, to see what it has cost to
run the Legislature. That body as you
are aware, is composed OF IS members,
the same as the Convention, but IT Is
more expensive for the reason that 1t is
composed of two branches, and has
double set Of officers, while the Con-
vention is a single body with but one
set of officers. And then the printing
for session OF the Legislature is neces
sarilv five times as i.uch AS it can be
for the Convention, and my estimate OF
5000 for this item is very extravaSant
one. But to the facts:
The first session OF the legislature under
our Constitution was in actual session over
one hundred days. and the appropriation
they made for their expenses, including pay
of officers, printing, stationery, and rent OF
Lindsey Institute was 49,: 80. :sS'''oo
appropriation, including pay OF
Officers, printing, stationery, rent
ofLindslty Institute, and repairs to -oo
FSr the Session Of 1855 for Is days. the
appropriation, not including the
rent OF Lindsey Institute, was.........Sl.,OoO
For IsS8. As days. 10000
For 1857, As 5000
For 1868, regular session, 45 days, and
special session to max the code, lO2
DAYS in ali IN 1000
For 1859 a. s..,.,.,..................2 $500
For 1870, 40 IU'VVO
Thus in eight years we have had In
ALL including the year 7O.nine SEES
siOns of the legislature. The whole
number of DAYS occupied at these
nine sessions was 583, and the whole oo
Take the seven sessions OF 10 days
each, and the everage cost was; ...;..s2i,o'l
Take the whole nine sessions, includ-
ing the two long ones, and the aver.
age cost
With these figures before me, | ap-
peal to you if | am not warranted IN
nv assertion that the whole cost OF the
Convention will not exceed twenty-five
thousand dollars, and we can hold 1t as
we did the extra session OF the leglsla'
ture in 1868, without increasing the
taxes one single cent. But suppose we
do have to increase the taxes to pay
the costs of the Convention, let US see
what it will amount to.
The taxable property in 1870 amounted ed to to
the sum Of ,O1 ,UlIVD
Two cents on each slOO value of
this property will merchandising, ~
Three cents will produce...............S s,oll.lV
A sum more than sufficient, after
paving all the costs of collection, to pay
the expenses of a session Of sixty days.
So that a man worth 500 will pay,
say three cents, taxes for this Conven-
ton. If he is worth 5000, six cents
$500, fifteen cents; $1,000, thirty cents;
$4,000, $3.50; and if he is worth $4,000
he will pay 50 additional taxes.
Now, after all this, will any one be
frightened out of the support OF a Con,
vention by this silly and false hue and
cry Of its immense cost?
New York city is under Democratic
rule. The Radicals manage Philadel-