Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-12-19
Ads,saslex :Dntelligcnrer
7uERDAY EVENING DEC. 10. 1882,
Expenses OF the Senate.

Expenses Of the Senate.
Tie Democratic members of the next
s...'e Senate are not likely to be respon-
siG,'e for tie organization of that body.
Tlfr combined Republican factions con-
.ii,ute majority of it and show no dis
rosition as yet to divide over the matter
of selecting officers. None the less the
Democrats have a rare chance to put
themselves and the independents on the
record with regard to some vicious
practices which have long prevailed in
the Senate, and which were emphatically
condemned by the people III the late
e'yc!iOns. 1t needs no demonstration to
prove that if the Independents lend their
votes to the retention Of the Cochrans
and Delaneys, wLo have in times past
ofiiciated in the Senate, they approve
their practices and become responsible
for their continuance.
It has been from time TO time pointed
ont in these columns what waste and
fraud attach to the service Of the House,
by the employment of supcrnumeraries
and the mysterious dispensation Of Icon
tingent" and ''extra' funds. But, if
possible, it is worse in the state Senate,
where for fifty members are required
nearly as many officers, and, in scme in
stances, larger contingents than fer the
House with over four times as many
members. According to the report OF
the auditor general for the pas! year, the
expenses of the state On account OF the
Senate we're Sfi ,5oG.O1, and for the year
before S114,l19.O5, making a total of
Sl5S,645yOG for a single session of the
Senate. AS previously noted Auditor
General Lemon does not set forth in de.
tail in his reports where the money goes
and how the contingents and the pay for
the minor officials are distributed around.
OF the i4,526.G1 paid out during the
past year some $4,000 was owing to
members Oh account of their salaries
the remainder must have gone to the
minor officers and the multitude of mys-
terious purposes covered by contiDgents.
OF the Sll4.1l9.O5 paid cut for the pre-
vious year there was allowed S.
1920 for clerks and assistants; 81, ,22777.7O
for speakers clerk; SS,7l3 for door
keepers, sergeant alarms, etc; SG,sl1.7O
for pastors and folders; $3.50 GO for
janitors; So, JAG for pages; S2,O54.2O for
liremen /; Sl,2SS for postmasters ST.
Cos T1n Il
Delaney doubles up upbeautifully, drawing
S1,2S3 for "services as librarian and
$1,000 additional for services during
the recess, ending December 81, 1881.
The impudence of this rogue is illus.
trated by the fact that though an
officer of the Senate he takes double pay,
charging one salary for his services
"during the session " and an almost
equal amount for his services during tie
recess. For the year 1850, in which there
was no session OF tho Senate at all, the
scamp drew 81 800 ''saiary,'' while in
the succeeding year, when there was a
session, beside S2,iS3 for services, he
drew s., ,6i3 for postage and other alleged
expenditures.
In 1881 when the Senate expenses ran
up to $l1i,119.O5, being about TIVE.
thirds of the cost If the session, Chief
Clerk Cochran drew $500 for con
tinge,it expenses OF the session, $500
during the recess, 500 for indexins the
journal and So for taking care of the
electric clock. There are 81 ,i35 l.aid to
ID. X. BurkhOlder and Jno. II. Leonard,
Of this city, for I" forwarding documents
to senators"
To get a proper idea Of what details
make up these vast expenditures We need
to turn back to Auditor General Scllell's
report of 1879, wherein they are more
fully accounted for, and as the expenses
of the two sessions, 1S79-'S0 and 1885,
81, aggregate nearly the same, il is a
fair inference that they were on the
same scale in their parts. In 1879 the
pay of the fifty senator's, mileage, sta
tiOnary and postage allowance amounted
to $S1 ,5S5.40 but, besides Librarian De.
laney, referred to before, the chief clerk
got sS,Ss2.2i, journal clerk $2,315,
reading clerk 81 ,3S9 50, two transcribing
clerks 81 ,22S3 and $l,279, message clerk
S1,5lO, speakers clerk S1,2OS, sergeant
alarms 81 900 and two assistants each
the same; postmaster 81 ,229, two mes
sengers 1927 and $3.50, three doorkeepcrs
$685., go, 1876 and S923.SO; seven pastors
and folders about $3.50 each, three jani-
tors about the same, two firemen, an
engineer and two watchmen from 1925
to 1850 each. a chaplain $i25 and ten
pages $500 per session. The Senate,
with fifty members, had within one of as
many clerks as the House with two
hundred members, and about two. thirds
as many attaches, though having only
one-fourth the members.
Any reasonable man knows that the
entire pasting and folding and forward
ing of documents at Harrisburg, which
have afforded places for about 25 men
and cost the state some $4,000, can be
done by contract for, at the most, S5 900 {;
one postmaster would suffice for both
Houses; the clerica! force can be re-
duced one-third; the pages cne-half !:
the " firemen" whose duty it is to Law
hickory logs on the ornamental fire.
places can be entirely dispensed with
two engineers can run the heating ap-
paratus Of the whole capitol, and the
force of sergeants-at arms and door
keepers can be cut down fully one-half