Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1873-01-30
rTUEwA COUNTY, THURSDAY. 1879
STAT : rIHArcrs.

Tos Ne ossanwa Co ,ersa. \
STAT z TIxAMcRs.
Mnssns. Er 1roRs :-As there 10
general wall In the papers Of the Stat
evsr me lov condition Of the treasury
and . disp osition to blame somebod,
without : single practical suggestion
70 RENE ~ the evil. would 1t not b.
Wal TO inquire what has brought abou
tns gr' lps 70 severely ~ to reduce th,
iund' from $500 900 three years ago t.
~ at the Arst Of this months CON
dl' ion not very encouraging for thu
= commencement Of an adjourned ses.
sion Of the Legislature, that will COS,
some q, 200 Or 1880 per day.
There ID no doubt that the immedi.
ste cause Of the collapse may be found
In tho appropriations made by the last
Legislature, without ever stopping to
inquire whether there would be mon.
ey to meet them, or making any pro-
vision shout the time they should be
drawn. Now, Il It any more excusa-
bic for > Legislature to make appropri-
ations without the means to meet them
than for . business man to contract
debts without the means to pay them
In the one case We cay he 10 liberal,
sohols sosssd pubic spirttsd man; In
the other, hs isn't capable Of manag.
ing business.
But should ws not look further back
than the last Legislature for q part Of
the cause Of our financial difaculty1
The l1th Gen. Assembly provided for
the publication Of oil laws ofa general
natureinths pspers. Under that law we
paid for publishing the laws Of that
session s26,l42; for the laws Of the
next session, or 18th General Assem-.
bly,, N7,226; for the 18th, )65,034.-
The llth expended for papers, ST.
24S; the 18th, $2s,7O9; the 18th, $2O,-
6l0; making 500, 0,l62. That amount
ought to have been saved, or at least,
el76,000 Of It, which would make 1
nice addition to the amount that We
can spare for continuing the work on
the State House for now that We
have commenced to build . State
House there can bs no surer plan
adopted to make It cost one.fourth
more than II ought to, than TO dole out
the appropriations Of $l00, 900 or $125,-
900 q year, 90 that We viii be twelve
or fifteen years In building II.
But ] am not done with the Legisla-
ture prior to the 18th. The 18th General
Assembly established the Circuit
Court. or al measures adopted by
the State for the last ten years that
has proven to be the most expensive
luxury. II has largely increased the
expenses Of the counties; largely in
creased the expenses of settling es-
Eates. - well a. delaying settlements !:
and under It we had paid In salaries
up to Nov. 9th, 1871, $9o,Sl6; from
hat time to Jan. lst, 1873, little over
10000 more making el600o0 paid
,ut Of the State treasury to the Cir
init Jndges alone. The 1Ath General
Assembly. extravagant ~ We charge
hem with being, decided that there
we're double the number Of Judges
hat were needed, 90 that we had ex-
pended 81, 600 more out Of the State
'unds than was needed. That little
'um would be very acceptable now in
he vaults to draw on for expenses of
his extra session.
And now about the new penitentia-
y; we cannot afford the expense of
wo. Illinois tried that when she had
loubls the population that we have,
Ind abandoned it.; and now with i've
lines our number Of prisoners, she
Keeps them oil in one prison. And I
I'm persuaded, from personal observa-
ion, that We can provide for 500 at
Fort Madison for less than the amount
hat It would cost to run an extra pris-
m i've years, n IL were already built;
% II We have sunk $66, 900, let us stop
md not sink any moro until the treas
lry gets In . condition to honor the
Irefts ON Il.
Now what say the tax-paysrst Shall
~ continue these expenses or shall
~ try to hsish our State House and
'thsr public buildingss We cannot
increase State tax sbovs ~ mills;
,or can We increase our State debt
without hrst having the Constitution
amended 10 enable us TO increase taxes
,r create . debt and I don't believe
;hs tax-payers are anxious TO increase
axea
VIII the papers Of the State black.
ball every one that dsrss to cay . word
lgainst publishing the laws in the pa
psrs ~ they have. for the last seven
veara with . few Aosora0ls szcspttoms :
Win those papers that were 20 ready
o hold myself and others up to ridi-
,uls q being opposed to circulating
he papers for fear the people would
lind ont what we were doing, again
publish our votes and motions on those
1uestions, 20 the people may not for
rot how benighted We were, and how
much We need enlightening1
There are several other QUESTION:
which Il would be profitable to re.
view, but enough for this time.
G. DUDLEY.