Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1875-07-01
FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE.
Democratic Reform.
The work of our state LegisIasu,

whole levy. The profligate expendi-
lures OF the Legislature do not appear
on the levy for State purposes, so
much as in the authorization of all
sorts of local schemes, by which the
the Tax Eater gobbles our substance
The Legislature ''jiggered" by all
KINDS of di5reputable expedients to
make an ostensible reduction in the
levy for state purposes, treading over
the real sore place of local expendi-
lures as gingerly as walking over rot
ten eggs. A reduction Of one-tenth
of a mill for State purposes amounts
to-how much do you suppose nv
groaning friend? Precisely ten cents
on eUery thousand dollars of taxable
property! And the whole Democrat
ic press is emitting wild and weird
shrieks of joy over the tremendous
''retrenchment," accomplished by such
a reduction! But even this reduction
of the levy is accomplished by the
simple and convenient process of neg
lecting to provide for expenditures to
which the faith of the State is pledg-
ed. 1t is the same thing as for a pri-
vate person to reduce expenditures by
resolving that he will not paw his
debts, and will force his housekeeper
to shin around at the groceries and
get necessary articles Of subsistence
for year on tick. So unblushingIv
was this policy acted upon, that the
Legislature adjourned without appro-
priating funds to pay even the ice
| dealer who supplied ice for the legis-
| latiVe water coolers, or the washerWo-
man who washed their towels Other
large expenditures are left to be pro-
vided for IN deficiency bills by future
Legislatures, because of indefinite ap-
propriations of money "not otherwise
expended"-of which there are not 8
nickel. We are assured, on the most
undoubted authority, that the zeUies
| pTOVided by the Democratic LegtslG-
| tuTe IN 1875 fall three hundred thou
sand dollars short Of providing for
the necessary expenses Of the State,
and expenditures son tick' provided
for Wnder the coma e1aiegat pltTaseoEogy
ito be paid out Of any monies IN the
State Treasury otherwise asnapprapri-
ated." This is no partizan statement,
prepared for the purpose of throwing
discredit on feeble minded head of
the Finance commi ttee-iti is the plain,
practical, straightforward, business
like quotient of the figures as they
stand, after dividing the States avail
able assets by its current liabilities
There is as little of partizan feeling
in a calculation of this kind as there
is in the scanning of trial balance by
the head of large manufacturing es-
| tablishment. 1t is business, pure and
simple. AS the result of anxious de-
liberation by the disbursing officers of
the State, we have the dilema present
ed, whether they shall transfer to the
Sinking Fund, as directed by the Leg
islature, two hundred thousand dollars
of the fund upon which our beneVe-
lent and punitive and reformatory in
stitutions are to be sustained, and
leave the public institutions tn-dis-
band or whether they shall save the
public institutions by neglecting to
reimburse the Sinking Fund for q
transfer which saved the State $4,000
in interest under Republican Legis-
: lature. One or the other they must
do. If they transfer 100000 from
the Asylum Fund to the Sinking Fund
as ordered by the Legislature, with no
: adequate levy to support the extrs
l temporary drain upon the Asylum
Fund, they must abandon the State
: institutions. If they disburse the ap
; prepriations for the State institutions
also ordered by the Legislature, they
must leave the State to meet its obi
=, cations for the debt due in December
u 1875, by temporary loan, or by tenn
!, porarily repudiating it altogether.
- This is the plain business-like state
u ment of the case, stripped of the po
. etry of partisan literature, and the ex
II igencies of President making.
u It is not to be supposed that eve
the Democratic members of the Leg
,7 lG islature themselves understood th
~ business in its full significance. Ms
- ny of them were no less surprised tina
Z delighted to find themselves carrie
% % into such a position by a reactio
!" which they neither understood nc
- =. cared to question, and they had n
- ~ appreciation of the grave duties {
~ the position to which they were acc
= dentally called. Their own party OF
y gans ridiculed them without stint, an
. begged them to go home weeks befoI
10 they could make up their minds
~ surrender emoluments which were S
W far III advance of their usual earnings
es A leading Ohio Democrat, complain
7i' ing of the stupidity of the Legislatul
in public measure of great interes
- said to the writer one day on the foC
u of the House, 81 can put my finger {
les eighteen incompetent Democrats {
ao az the floor of this House who wou
he have stood a better chance to
I'll. struck by lightning than to have be-
ny nominated, if their constituents h
=. supposed they had any chances of ele
~ tion-and they are running the party
'oi The Cincinnati Enquirer was espe
10 tally severe upon them, assuring the
'" that the best service they could do
State was to go home and never col
gel s back Yet, since the Democratic les
1wne w ers resolved to adopt and defend
on record of this infinitely feeble bod
seo the Enquirer has Topped over, and b
lS lUI become its most Jealous defender,
'ne it did of the "bummer" candidate
OF Ot Mayor in Cincinnati. 1t is gratifyi
ol to find the leadership now ready
ne shoulder the responsibility for
the Legislature which has been conten
tuously ridiculed by every Democra
10 organ of repute in the State, for
"A inefffciency, it's corruptions, and its
oSe famous record generally. 1t is l
ms difficult to find 8 reason for t
aily change of tone in the Democratic
1ies gans, under the whip of the leade
ne The Legislature had won the appro
pen of the Roman Catholic hierarchy
l!n9 piece of sectsrian legislation VIII
ing led the Catholic organ of CincinI
'h"i to pledge the solid vote of the Chu
to the Democratic party, and it beca
necessary to defend the Legislatl