The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-06-25
From the Ohio State journal
WORE Of OCR STATE LEGI>LATTEE


tur'-s oi the Legislature do not appaa
on tie levy for State purpose, - mucl
a. in the authorization Of all sorts nl 10
cal schemes, 10y which the Tax f.atcl
gobbI-s Oursubstance. The Lrgislat;,r.
fingered 10y all kinds Of disr-pntaiie
eXpedi-nt- 10 make au OsteBsihic r,'dur
ton ia the levy for State purpose, tread
ing over the real sore plac" Of local oy-
penditures as gingerly as If walking on
rotten eggs. a reduction Of one tenth
Of a mill for State purpose amounts IL
how much do you suppose, my 2sroan-
ing friend. Precisely ten cents on every
thousand dollars OF taxable property !,
And the whole Democratic press is emit
ting wild and weird shrieIls of Joy over
the tremendous 'retrenchment" accom-
plislIed by such a reduction but even
this reduction Of the levy Is accomplish.
ed by the simple and convenient process
ofneglecting to provide foreXpenditurcs
To which the faith of the Statv is pledg
ed. 1t is the same thing as for a privai,.
person TO reduce expenditures by resoly-
ing that he will not pay his debts, and
to force his housekeeper to skin around
at the groceries and get necessary aTti-
cles of substance for year on tick
So unblushingly was this policy acted
upon, that the Legislature adjourned
without appropriating funds to pay even
the ice dealer who supplied ice for the
Legislative water coolers, or the wash
er-woman who washed their towels.
Other large expenditures are left to be
provided for in deficiency bills by fu-
ture Legislatures, because of Indefinite
appropriations of money mot other
wise expended"-of which there is not ii
nickle. We are assured, on the most
undoubted authority, that the levics
| provided by the late Democratic Lrgis-
/ lature will in 1875 fall three hundred
thousand dollars short OF providing for
the necessary expenses of the State, aud
the expenditures ''on tick" provided for
under the convenient phraseology
be paid out of any money in the State
| Treasurer otherwise unappropriated. -
| This is no partisan statement, prepared
for the purpose of throwing discredit on
a Predetermined head of the Finance
Commitee-it is the plan, practical,
straightforward, busineSs-like quotient
of the figures as they stand, after divid-
ing the States available assets by IFS
4.
partisan feeling in "A calculation Of this
kind as there is in the scanning of a trial
balance by the head of a large manu-
featuring establishment. 1t is business,
pure and simple.
As the results of anxious d-librr5tiiOn
by the disbursing offices of the State, we |
have the dilemma presented, whether |
they shall transfer to the Sinking Fund, |
as directed by the Legislature, two hun
dred thousand dollars OF the fund upon
which our benevolent aud punitive and |
reformatory institutions are to he sus-
tanned, and leave the public institutions |
to disband; or whether they shall save |
the public institutions by nCglccting to |
reimburse the Sinking Fund for "a Trans |
fer which saved the State so, 600 i'll la
terest under Republican Legislature. !
One or the other they NUT DO. lf they |
transfer 500, 600 from the Asylum Fund |
TO the Sinking Fund, as ordered I y the |
Legislature, with no adequate levy to !
support the extra Fund, they must aban- |
don the State institution. If they dis
pute the appropriations for the institu
tions, also ordered by the Legislature,
they must leave the State to meet its OIL
legations for the debt due in December,
1875, by a temporary loan, or 10y tempo
rarily repudiating it altogether.
This is the plain business like state
ment of the case, stripped of the poetry
of partisan literature, and the eXieence
of President-making.
1t is not to be supposed that even the
Democratic members of the Legislature
themselves understood this business in
its full significance. Many of them were
no less surprised than delighted 10 lind
themselves carried into such position
| by a reaction which they neither under
stands nor cared to question, and they
had no appreciation Of the grave duties
of the position to which they were acci
dentally called. Their own party organs
ridiculed them without stint, and begged
them to go home weeks before they
could make up their minds to surrender
emoluments which We're so far in al
vance of their usual earnings. a lead
ing Ohio Democrat, complaining Of the
stupidity OF the Legislature in n public
measure of great interest, said to the
writer one day on the floor Of the House
Il can put my finger Oh eighteen ineom-
| peteut Democrats on the iOor of this
House who would have stood better
chance to be struck by lightning than
to be nominated, if their constituents
had supposed they had any chance Of
election-f4nd they are running the par
tyl"
The Cincinnati Enquirer was espe-
cially severe upon them, assuring them
that the best service they could do the
State was to 60 home and never come
back. Yet, since the Democratic lead
ers resolved TO adopt and defend the
record of this infinitely feeble body, the
Enquirer has Topped over, and has be-
come its most Jealous defender, as it did
of the GUNNER candidate FOR Mayor
in Cincinnati. 1t is gratifying to find
the whole party leadership now ready to
shoulder the responsibility for the Legis-
lature which had been eontemptuously
ridieuled by every democratic organ of
.repute in the State, for its ineiiiciency,
its corruptions, and its Infamous record
generally. 1t is not difficult to find a
reason for this change of tone in the
Democratic organs, under the whip of
the leaders.
The Legislature had won the approval
of the Roman Catholic hierarchy by
piece of sectarian legislation which led
the Catholic organ of Cincinnati TO
pledge the solid vote of the Church to
the Democratic party, and it became
necessary to defend the Legislature