Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-12-31
THE STATE FINANCES.

TIE Comptrollersbip of the State Treas.
ury is one question for the immediate con.
sideIation OF the rev General Assembly
which should not oe mixed up with party
politics. For, in the election of that officer,
is, to great extent, wrapped up the fnan-
cial standing Of Tennessee for the next four
years. The length of time prescribed and
the compensation paid members Of the Gen
eral Assembly, neither admit or justify that
body, nor any Of its members, in that sys-
tematic thinking and development of q tinan-
cial policy, only TO be attained through the
most careful thought and enlarged expert
ence, past or prospective. Members of the
Legislature are not paid enough nor given
sufficient time, with the brief limit OF seventy
days, to devise such financial policy as
will relieve the State, assuming that such a
desired cOnsummaiion is at all feasible.
The i5ea has been suggested that before
the State can find relief from its
present financial embarrassnents, il will be
compelled to Clothe some responsible and
competent citizen, or number of citizens,
with the necessary power to act, and to be
paid for the acting. The late Constitutional
Convention limited the pay Of members of
the Legislature TO a per diem Of four dollars
and the number OF days to sit, not more than
seventy. So ifevery member should hap
pen to be a VeTitable SolOn, time would not
admit of the development Of policy Of State
finance. The present pay of the Comp
troller Of the Treasury throws that office
open 10 the competition of third-rate men
as well as of tirss-class men. What is i'm
peratively demanded is TO pay somebody to
do financial thinking for the State, and af-
ter they shall have thought-to act, if pos
sible, 10 lit our State credit from low to
a higher and honorable standard. The
salary to so important an Office as that of
the COmptTollership of the Treasury, it
seems to us, should be increased to such re-
muneratjon as would make that Office inde.
pendent Of and free from temptations to
speculate. It should also be supplied with
sufficient clerical force to do the routine Of
fee work, TO leave the Comptroller free to
think and devise. For so responsible and
important an UfiIe-never more urgently
responsible and important than in the pres
ent financial situalion-should be selected
the est man possible TO be had, regardless
of politics. Without disparsgement of the
efficiency of any aspirant, and without re-
tleC.l,l upon the previous conduct of the
functions Of the Office, this prerequisite
should be imperative. Selecting such az
officer, upon such conditions, there might
then e selected from among the best tinan-
Cial minds il The State, such a number of
persons as would be required, in the judg
ment Of the Legislature, to constitute an
able Financial Board for the State-such
clizsns to hold no other official position.
We Cifsr these suggestions for what they
may ne worth, though we should be per-
fectiy reconciled to any better programme
Uf 2 icy for the future that may be sUbsti-
,uted and agreed upon. In any event the
question is one worthy of timely and grave
consideration and the most judicious legis-
i.Liys action -ReDubBcdn Banner.