Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1883-02-10
Present and PrOSpeC iVj COn1i-
tiOn OF tha State Treasury.
A Warning to Law Makers to
60 slow in aesping
Up Expenses.
The Search for Fossils Alb.
ruply Ends in the
House.
Likewise the Landlord Scheme
to Squeezs Tenant
FARM rs.
TIE Mania FIR a Railway Com.
mission Strikes McShane.
TIE Mania flr a Railway Com
mission Strikes McShane.
Vile Food and Viler Words in the
Lunatio Asylum.
Special Correspondence OF The Bee


Special Correspondence Of The Bee
PILING UP THE TAxrs,
LINCOLN, February 9.-Unlers the
legislature promptly put on the brakes
the people Of this ! tate will be borne
down by a mountain of debt and taxa
tion, According to eff ,ial figures our
state debt sggrega' es within fraction
$500, COO, and the LEGAL county debt
aggregates about 81 ,C0O,000. On this
debt the people of this state are taxed
to meet interest at least z per cent, or
about $3.50, COO per annum. When to
this enormous draft on the taxpayers
Is added the cost of state. county and
city governments, the burden becomes 8
almost unbearab o. The ordinary ex-
'penses of our state government are es-
timatsd at $50 900 year, or one dol
lar for every man, woman and child
In Nebraska. These expenses are
growing from year to year,
while the income is limited,
and the increase in wealth
does not keep pace with the outgo.
We are now paying $lC0 a day for
each day in the year for the keeoing
OF 2l9 ven!ten.iary cow cts. Wi hn
Eve years the number OF co0victs
will reach 500, which mean, d
tax of $3.50 day on the peo-
Pile. The insane hospital, the de {
and dumb and other chnlti.
BILE and benevolent Institutions are
constantly growing and they make q
heavy demand upon the taxpayers.
In the face of all this the Legislature
is importuned to vote away more than
half d million dollars in appropriations
for new capitol and various public
buildings that we will not need for
some years to come.
In addition to all this the are the
bogus claims of parties who pretend
to have rendered the state service In
all sorts OF ways. In Order to pull
through tho capitol appropria-
ton the Lincoln lobby have
encouraged scheme to expend over
$50. coo sar new building to be
added to the Ksarney reform school.
This institution is far more in need of
proper supervision than of new cost
ly buildings. 1t costs the state about
81 900 year for the salaries of the
supervision of forty boys and 81, 900
more for their living expenaes, and
yet these boys are reported to be in a
very wretched condition and need
soap, water and brushes good deal
more than anything else. Last aum.
mer the superintendent spent the
greater part OF the season In CAM
psigning, ard he has been here for
the last swo weeks, which would indi-
cate that the reform school is more Ct
an asylum for bcoken down politicians
than place for reforming bai boys
and girls.
ANOTHER EXPENSIVE SCHEME
linked with the new cipitol approprl-
alton ia the proposed normal schoo
at Grand Island. The state has a
normal school now at Peru, which i.
. heavy drain on the treasury, and III
matter of economy ard usefulness
1t should be consolidated with the
university, where the teachers and
pupils would enjoy the benefit q
scientific apparatus and museum arc
lectures. To establish another
normal school anywhere in the state Il
simply to create another endless tax
Ing scheme which would mainly bene
fit few professors at the expense o
the whole state. 1t was a piecs o
folly to establish the blind asylum a
Nebraska City, which only contains q
inmates and costs $500 year for eacl
person with very poor supervision
and inferior educational facilities
whereas the state could place these un
fortuustes In the Iowa or Missouri
asylums at less cost and with NOR
comfort and better education. Thi
state Is too young for aping tn
wealthy and older states that boast @
various benevolent and charitable il
stitutions
Another scheme for taking none
out of the treasury is the proviso
the bill making an appropriation fo
the deaf and dumb asylum, whi,h set
apart 80 coo for the purchase OF add
tional ground. The institution hs
ten acres of ground, all it needs, an
to an unsophisticated observer the,
appears to be a dsrkey in the WOO
pile for buyirg mNo land. Whe
the original site was chosen near ON
hs there was land speculation in i
and this looks very much like anoth'
such scheme.