The times., 1888-10-12
WHOLE NO. 445

| woe anu ucdtn. Ills SdiHc HuiDdHiturldl
system came to the front and says, we will
make the effort to lift up these girls Il
virtue and womanhood. and we construct
ed q school down at Adrian, where W,
care for from two hundred to three hun
dred of these girls, and we hope we, Sc,
evidence that good is being done. But al
this costs money Again we looked
around and saw the old soldiers trembling
with dim eyes. We saw his bended knees
we saw him bowed with rheumatism and
paralysis, and this great throbbing heart
Of ours went out and said, no soldier who
donned the blue, severed his connection
! with home and friends, bid adier to wife
and children, should ever die in the poor
house or tramp the country as a profess
sional tramp. This great throbbing heart
of ours dictated that VIC should build a
home. The government had neglected a
duty, the president had vetoed q till, a
democratic congress had control, and we
could not wait in this generous state of
ours and we constructed the home at Grand
Rapids that takes care of four hundred of
them. Applause.
l tell you, fellow citizens, these things
cost money. They have; we know it,
own it, plead guilty.
We had 10 take care Of the criminal
class 10 protect the lives and property of
uur citizens We take care Of the educa-
tional institutions of this state; we stand
in the front rank. No other state is up
with us. No state in this respect com
pares with Michigan in the granduer of its
support to our great educational institu
tions. Now, fellow citizens, let me ask
you frankly, do you want we should tear
away that reform school; do you want we
should lock up the asylums; do you wan,
we should tear down the soldiers home
and let the old wanderers go; do YOU want
we should stop teaching tht blind-and l
forgot them, next to the most afflicted of
all our creatures. We have place where
We educate them by patient care and toll
to read with their fingers the words they
never would have known except for a
blind asylum. But this too costs money.
Do you want we should lock up that
blinu asylum and let these children go
ignorant and blind and afflicted through
life; do YOU want we should tear out any
of these institutions? If you do vote for
Mr. Burt don't vote for me, because am
not in sympathy with it. [Applause
Now, fellow citizens. am going TO read
a little while. Mr.. Burt says that we useo
up 100000 last year for pin money. or to
the support OF the stale government prop
er He says that 5000 was used up
right around the capitol, and not dollar
of it went to any institution. He repeated
il a dozGn times when heard him make
the speech, and had sienographer take
down the speech SO that / had an oppor.
tunity to refer TO it He repeated it over
and over again that of that 1910 900 not
dollar went TO any state institution He
said in 1880 they run the state govern
ment for S5l8,000. That is true. Thai
we used up LAST year 500, 900 it is true.
Now let me show you. In 1879 the iegis-
lature changed the law in relation to the
care of the INDECENT insane. There are
old supervisors before me and they know
that previous TO that time the superintend.
ent sent the bills to the county treasurer
Each county took care OF its own indigent
insane. In 1879 that law was changed SO
that after two years as county patients
they became state patients. That law took
effect in 1879. We are today supporting
more than one thousand six hundred of
the 2, ,440 insane in the state institutions
by the state instead of the counties. That
fund appears in the general purpose fund
riyht along with the others. Now will
tell you what that general purpose fund
does. 1t pays all the supreme court judges
and the circuit judges, the expenses of the
supreme court, II pays the salaries of all
the state officers, including the governors:
IL pays the salaries of all the clerks 1t pays
for heating and lighting the capitor; it
pays for all that vast printing we have
done; 1t pays for the care aud decoration
and furniture that goes into the capitol;
IL pays II we have a law suit. and we have
a good many, IL pays all the expenses Of
law suits. l am not certain whether /
have embraced all that 1t pays or not, but
in addition il pays for the care of these
INDECENT insane state patients;it it pays for
conveying prisoners to the state prison.
that used 10 be done by the counties but
was changed
Now. having told you substantially
what it paid in 1880. and that is tho year
they compare with, and the lowest state
tax year in sixteen years. We paid for
the care Of the insane, $94, 7S0; we paid
for conveying prisoners, $l0,602. These
two items make $105.389, We paid in
1887 1898. 900 for the care of the states
patients insane; we paid for conveying
prisoners $26, 800; We paid for members of
of the legislature, we had no session In 1880.
$3.50, 900 These several items make
$4S9 500 Of the 1910 600. Deducting the
$l05. 3S2 that we paid for these purposes
in 1880, leaves 1884, 18 paid in excess for
these purposes what was paid in 1880
That came by the change Of the law and
by the action Of the legislature. The diff
ference between the expenses OF those two
funds for the years 1889 and 1887 Is $301,-
$50, deducting the amount that we paid
for the insane in excess of 1880 and the
session of the legislature, leaves the years
state expenses for the current or general
purposes $7.S32 more than 1t was ia 1880.
eight years ago, and that Is all. [Applause.
pledge you my honor that this was taken
absolutely from the books in the auditors
office, and can be sworn TO by hundred
men.
Now, let us look little further. In
1888 the state tax will be $492,500 less
than II was in 1887. The general purpose
fund for this year, 1883, is 1858, ,750,
where for 1887 II was $4,000 There
was Sl30. 900 YOU know. to pay for the