The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1882-12-01
MR.. HENsEL AND REFORM.

A few days after the election, W. u.
HenseI. Esq, Chairman of the Demo-
cratic State Committee. in an interview
with a reporter of the Philadelphia
Times. published in our paper two weeks
ago. referred at some length to certain
reforms by the nexs Legislature which
we propose to notice as briefly as possi-
bic.
The first caucus held said Mr..
Heusel, "should be to determine not
who shall fill the Offices appended TO the
Legislature. but how many of them can
be abolished - and then heIProceeded TO
specify several useless and unnecessary
! offices that ought to be done away wlth'
We cannot follow Mr.. Hensel in all that
he said. but If the Democratic members
at their first caucus will act on his ad-
vice. as given above, they will do the
State an important service. That there
are twice as many subordinate officers
in and about both branches of the Leg
islature as there ought to be, has long
been known, and now that the Demo-
CIdLb " III dl lthSG litNC NOAA1AOA - N@-O
House. their duty is plain one and can
not and must not be evaded. Thousands
OF dollars are annually taken out Of the
treasury to furnish roosting places, as
Mr.. Hensel says, for ''bummers, " and a
hospital for ''decaying political loafers, $"
and all sinecures should be remOrseless-
ly wiped out; all unnecessary clerkships
wiped out and abolished, the salaries re-
duced to a fair compensation and the
pernicious system of voting themselves
incidentals and contingents, to cover
multitude of steals, should be abandon
ed. - The taxpayers of the State will
expect to see Mr.. Hensel's proposed re-
forms carried ont, ard if the Democrat
ic majority fail to do SO in the face of all
the promises made during the recent
campaign, they will be held to stern &C
countability by their betrayed constitu-
ents.
In the same interview Mr.. Hensel
made a centre shot when he said:
IF the members OF the Legislature elect
will reject free railroad passes and conhne
their travelling expenses to their mileage
money the sessions will be shorter and in
stead of meeting on Tuesday evening and
adjourning Friday afternoon they will earn
their $40 day with six days service in the
week"
No man can tell the amount of money
it has cost the people Of the State on ac-
count of members Of the Legislature
holding free railroad passes. 1t is SIM
ply because they have them that they
really do not sit more than three days In
a week, ,adjOurninE on Friday until Mon
day evening, some going home, but most
of them going toPhiladelp phia. What pro-
longs the session to $50 days, or FIVE
months, when three ought to be all suf-
ficient ? One reason is the clause in the
salary act of 1874 which entities the
members to receive ten dollars a day for
each day beyond one hundred, but not
exceeding fifty. No Legislature since
1874 has failed to take advantage OF the
fifty day cIauseand probably no one ever
will until the act is repealed and a
specific sum fixed as the salary for a ses-
sion, without any regard as to its dura-
tion. Free railroad passes furnish the
other reason for a five months session,
because they save railroad fares, IL there
were no railroad passes in the pockets
of members, there would be no induce
ment to leave their business unattended
every week from Friday until Monday,
aud the session would be brought to a
close at the end OF one hundred days, a:
it ought to be, unless. for exceptional
/ reasons. The action of the Democrat:
in the next Legislature will be closely
scanned by the people and they will de
termine whether thoir professions. of re
/ trenchment and reform are sincere and
real, OF whether they are sham, made
only to deceive.