Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-09-03

authority for the payment OF salaries.
Nothing can be clearer than the fact that
the sole compensation allowed the Direct
ors by the Constitution is to be for ex-
penses incurred while engaged in the
performance of official duties. This
language implies that the expenses must
have been incurred before the claims are
presented and it excludes the idea of a
salary completely. A salary cannot be de-
fined as compensation for expenses in.
Cured while engaged in the performance
of official duties, for it is a COM
pensation which is paid whether such
duties are performed or not, and without
any reference to Expenses incurred The
Constitution unquestionably intended that
the members of the Board should serve
without pay. 1t intended merely to pay
their actual expenses, so as to protect them
against positive loss. 1t was supposed
that the men who would be appointed to
these offices would be persons possessing
sufficient public spirit and interest in penal
administration to give so much of their
time as was needed, to the State. 1t was
supposed (however erroneously) that under
the new system politics would be eliminated
from the management of the prison, and
that there would no longer be any thought
of making places on the Board the rewards
of partisan service. II did not enter into
the mind of the Convention that the men
appointed to the Board. would seek to
make money out of their positions. 1t
was sought to secure the appointment of
citizens who would be above such sordid
considerations.
1t is not our purpose now to enter upon
consideration of the question whether
the Convention was not mistaken altogether
in its ideas, and whether in fact it did not
by its perverse instincts more than coun.
terbalance whatever dim reformatory
dispositions it may have had. We are
here only dealing with its action in regard
to the compensation of the Board, and
upon that we do not think there can be
two opinions. Under the Constitution the
members are entitled to nothing more than
their expenses incurred during the per-
Torrance of their official duties, and that
this clause is correct is further demon.
strated by the provision that these claims
and vouchers shall abe audited as the
Legislature may direct" This of course
indicates that the Convention had in view
the presentation of claims for expenses
already incurred, and nothing more. No
auditing is required for salaries, as a matter
OF course. The Legislature, by what in
fuence moved we do not know, omitted to
make any provision for auditing the claims
of the Board, however, and the con-
sequence is that the members go
through the farce of passing upon
one another's claims, and of course
no objection has ever been made to
any of them. The Constitution, in fact,
has been entirely disregarded and set aside
by the Legislature in this matter. A sal
airy has been given the members of the
Board in open defiance of its provisions,
and on the other hand no provision has
been made for auditing their other claims.
How this arrangement works in regard to
mileage has been already shown In the
course of the present investigation. From
these officers, meant by the trainers of
the Constitution to be unpaid save as re-
CARDS actual expenses, has been evoked a
system under which these men contrive to
draw on an average larger salaries than any
of the State officers except the Governor.
The mileage charges are an open scandal.
mile allowed. 1t makes every journey to
and from the prisons an imposition upon
the State. And we regret to have to add
that the Directors appear to have been only
too willing to take advantage of the oppor.
tunities afforded them in this way.
The genesis of the salary bill has not
thus far been traced with any precision.
| The Directors who have been examined
have sworn that they did not lobby for it.
At the same time it is well ascertained
that some of them were here at the time
of its passage, and that they were seen
about the Legislature. The theory that
Senator Sears introduced the bill entirely
of his own motion, and that it was COM
plete surprise to the Directors who were to
profit by it, unfortunately does not possess
the merit of FEASIBILITY. Bills of this
character never are introduced spontane.
ously. When the Constitution is to be
evaded, and plain wrong is to be done,
we must look to those who are to benefit
from the act, for the inspiration of it..
This bill was smuggled through the Legis
lature. 1t was not discussed. 1t was
kept away from the press. All the
circumstances of its passage, in fact, show
that those who planned and lobbied it
through were well aware that it could not
pass unless it was thus wrapped in secresy.
This whole affair is an ugly one. 1t is not
only square violation of the Constitution,
but evidently a deliberate and purposeful
violation. The meaning of the Consritu.
ton is too clear on this point tC be con-
tested, and We cam OF do SO much injustice
to the intelligence of the Directors as to
pretend belief that they did not fully un.
derstand the Implications of the proceed.
ing. The Salary Act is unconstitutional,
and under the circumstances we would sug-
gest that the Attorney General ought to
take immediate action to have it set aside.
EDGED FROM THE HALL.
We cannot declare the origin of the Gus
tom nor perpetuate the immortal memory
of its originator by naming the
author of the idea, but certain it
is that decayed eggs have been