The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1880-03-13

lorresnnnaenea Mae0 Ielenhone

lBHlhpl WIN lAlkn hhnlllpNA wv fHp why w
foes received by the land office and other de-
partmenls, swell tho revenues Of tho Stats 10
At least quarter Of u million dollars more
than they wero during any previous admins
tration IN Governor llubbarl'a last annual
messageil was shown that II tho Legislature
should make no reduction In expenses and no
Increase In resources tho deficiency NJ the
close Of the fiscal year. ending August alst
1879, would bo 100000, Now does II OK
hIbit any extraordinary 4 Onoal ability, If
Governor Roberts has pNld 100000 when
furnished with S260,0O0 10 pay 1t with 7
The Governor cannot egpenl one cont
more, for any purpose, thnn tho Leglala-
ture 500 III TO appropriate lie Il not there
fore entitled " any credit for keeping Inside
the appropriations, lle could not do other
wise, Then, II the Legislature should appro,
pirate $1,000 for specific purpose, and
should so arrange that There should be $1,000
In tho treasury 70 pny II with, II docs not ro-
quiro any remarkable foresight or slntosman-
snip 70 figure out n cash balance OF 500 In
the treasury, and II will not be regarded as
n wonderful stroke Of good management that
the Governor Is able 10 take ten from twelve
and have two remaining, or that ho can ocp
on hand 5000 dollars which he 10 expressly
prohibited from spending,
Notwithstanding 4 cash surplus In tho iron-
sury, there may BIO and often isR "dellciency,"
For instance, the lust Legislature Hppruprl.
atod for pay Of District Attorneys, Clerks
and Sheriff. fees In felony cafcs, for the year
onding February -, 1850, the sum Of Si6l,.
800, which Ii the amount Governor Roberts
asked for and estimated 10 DO sufficient.
This appropriation WINS 0XnusiCd beio the
year was out, leaving many claims unpaid,
and although there Is money In the treasury,
II cannot DO used TO pny these claims, until
tho Legislature makes Nh appropriation.
There Is, therefore, nj this timO, deficiency
In the appropriation for the pay Of these
officers for the period named and their UNI
pad claims Nro selling 1T 90 TO G5 cents on
The dollar,
1t las been shown that oven IL T. @ OK.
pOnses OF the State government should re-
main the same ms under llubbNrd's admins
trAton, the Legislature has so Increased the
taxes and other revenues ms 10 pluCe in the
hands Of Governor Roberts sum much
larger than that which any Of his predeccs-
sors had nj their disposal and il appears
that this largely increased revenue II more
than sufficient to onnblC tho Governor to pay
ns he goes, Without the exercise Of the lcnst
bit of skill II Is clenr that the Governor
does not control tho matter Of the amount OF
appropriations or of revenues, any
farther than MS he may make
suggestions. which may be acted
upon by the Legislature. The present
large revenue results from an increase Of Tux.
alton; if the friends of Governor Roberts
claim that he is entitled to credit for our
seeming ability to pay MS we go, why do they
not candidly shy that the Governor caused
the already heavy burdens upon the people
to be increased and in that way realized The
means TO pay the expenses of his adminstra-
ton? So far are they from this that we never
hear m utterance from that source about
the increased taxation. They appear to be
quick to claim credit for the effect,
but assume no responsibility for the
cause. Another thing worthy of
note is, that while Governor Robe Is had
considerably more means to to pay with, he
had vastly less to pay for, than did Governors
Coke or Hubbard, He was relieved of an
annual expense of 100000, by the repeal of
the law granting pensions to the veterans of
the Texas revolution. The expense Of protect
ing the frontier and of furnishing a fierce for
the suppression of lawlessness and crime in
Southwest Texas, during the Inst year of
Hubbard's administration, was about $780,
900. Then the Legislature cut down the
salaries of all clerks and employees in the
various departments and public institutions
at Austin, resulting in another reduction of
$4,000 Some of these reductions are of ex-
ceedingly doubtful propriety, but that does
not alter the fact that the Governor was
thereby relieved of a quarter Of million
dollars of expense.
Now, taking Governor Hubbard's estimate
of the anticipated deficiency (Sl02,000) rs
correct it does seem that these reductions in
expenses, amounting to S2j0,000, ought to
have enabled the Governor to administer the
State government within the revenues, and
that any increase of taxation was entirely UNI
necessary. Another advantage possessed bv
Governor Roberts is in the new laws taclita-
ting the prompt payment into the treasury
of taxes collected, for the purpose of specu.
lation and as consequence, the treasury
was often behind, and warrants
deprecated, when the money for
their payment Ind already been
collected from the people Under the i'm
provements in the law on this subject, the
transmission of funds to the Treasury, as
rapidly rs collected, is easily secured. Again,
under former laws, the occupation tax was
paid quarterly and the fiscal year began on
the first day of September. Under the pres
ent law, the bulk of the occupation taxes is
required to be paid for a year in advance.
These taxes are paid for the most part in
September and October. The fiscal year now
ends on the last day of February following
so that next fall at least 100000 occupation,
taxes will be paid, and will appear to the
credit of Governor Roberts administration;
whereas near three-fourths of it will have
been paid fora period Of time that will ex-
tend into the administration of his successor.
Another important fact is that Governor
Roberts has not been required to pay any de-
ticiencies that had occurred prior to his
own administration, while his predeces-
sors have all had such load to carry. In
addition to the appropriation for current ex-
penses, the Legislature of 1876 saddled Gov
ernor Hubbard with debt of Sl61007 for
back deficiencies. The last Legislature re-
lieved Governor Roberts of this drawback
by funding all deficiency claims in four per
cent. interest bearing warrants, payable at
the option of the State within five years from
the first day of July, 1879; and holders on
such claims cannot demand payment during
Governor Roberts administration With ey-