St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-04-20
ROYALTY EXPENSIVE.
1t Costs Canada $250,OOO a
Year to Keep a Figure
head.
The Governor Generals Only
Duty Is TO Eat, Drink,
Entertain
And Be Entertained, and This
Costs the Dominion a
Pretty Penny.
His Salary Practically as
Much as That Of PpeSi-
dent Harrison.

luxury. In the past ten years alOneu er
people have been taxed more than a
million of dollars to provide meat,
drink, shelter and entertainments for the
only personages who to-day represent
monarchy Oil this continent. They
have no voice in the appointment which
INT in his recall, and no native has
ever yet been honored with the posi-
ton.
The governor general is sent out, and
the people receive him and entertain
him, and give him carte blanche to do
everything except NEEDLE in trade or
politics. Nobody in this country seri-
ously thinks of the official other than as
a figurehead, but they respect him. for
Canadians are %proverbial as Biblical
students, and one text which they have
studied thoroughly is to love God and
honor the king, and the governor
general, in their mind, is entitled
to anything he sets his eyes upon.
The people realize that since the days
of Dufferin the place has been made q
Sinecure for English politicians who
were in some trouble, or who were not
of sufficient prominence at home to be
missed. There was a possible exception
to this in the appointment of the Mar
quis of LOrne. but it was very generally
understood that there was a little pol
ltics in that, and a little disposition at
home to get rid of a SOn.in-law who was
lot of royal blood, though he had honest
blood in him.
Still, there is not much grumbling
over 1t. And the reason is because the
people do not understand to what an
extent their generosity has been abused
and how gross has been and is the will
full waste Of money that could well be
utilized in the development OF the coun-
try. Politicians ON both sides have very
generally refrained from much criti-
cism, for they all at times accept the
hospitality of Rldeau hall (the official
residence, and many a good story has
been told OF great men who found q
slabs of the table of the gov
ernor general. Occasionally some
radical member will say something, but
he is quietly sat upon and reminded
that no gentleman would speak of what
it cost him to entertain a guest. Your
correspondent recalls a debate in a pro-
vincial legislature over the sums eX-
pended by the local government in
showing the marquis and the Princess
Louise through the province. There
was an item for carriage hire for $40,
and one for meat mounting up to nearly
5000. The trip had lasted only a couple
of days, and while a bucolic statesman
didn't like to criticiSe the carriage hire,
because, as he put it, MAUD 5 would be
none too good to haul the queens daugf-
ter, and he supposed the government had
to import a ringer" still he knew some
AL.-- @IA,% Thn rrinn Af fnnf md hA
protested that he would undertake to
supply the marquis and his wife with
as good beef as any man might eat for
a whole year for 5000. The legislature
was Mortified. The government pro-
tested that debate on the item vas dis
courtesy to the queen, and if the gov
ernor general came to hear of it he
would never visit the province again.
''If he ever comes back and has to pay
his own board, and some hotel charges
him 5000 for a steak, you can bet he'll
never come back" persisted the Gin
cinnatus. But the loyal men in the
legislature frowDed him down.
If they listened to him they might be
thought to belong to what Is known as
1.-The fierce Democracy" and to them
the doors of Rideau hall would never be
ajar. Rideau hall is the center of of
fetal life. 1t IS the place where the
representative of the crown holds court,
and where royalty is mimicked. TO
not be on the lists for an Official recep-
early learn the value of a smile in of
fetal circles. Rideau hall is the great
club house Of the country, but it is run
on the proprietary plan, with the gov
ernor general II absolute control. He
opens and closes its doors when he
pleases. and sets its tables and pours
its wine at his WI sweet will, but al
ways at the public expense.
While the people generally have an
idea that the amount spent in main
tainiug this official is very great, its
very magnitude seems to blunt it. To
tell them that in ten years it took
nearly a million and a quarter of dol
lars of taxes to pay for his maintenance
doeS't seem to affect them much. 1t is
only when this million and a quarter is
analyzed that the amount is realized
and its manne Of expenditure exposed.
The first big item is, of course, his
salary of $4,000. Or in Canadian cur
rency s4S. $50. &c, practically as much as
the president of the United States re-
ceiveS, and he probably spends in one
way or other twice as much on the out
side; with this difference only that Can
ada pays the bill of the governor gen
eral, while the president must pay for
his w in cash.
Since confederation. in actual salaries
alone Canada will at the end of its pre-
sent fiscal veal on June 80 mex have
paid to her governors general ESQ, 900
or in her OWL currency, l.2l6, $685.
For further expense of maintaining
them and entertaining them 81, go, 900
would be a modest estimate based on a
ratio of averages of the past ten years.
Prior to that time it is exceedingly
difficult to obtain accurate accounts,
for the reason that in Canada there
a queer way in vogue for some veal
of charging items to different accounts
that make a search exceedingly difficult.
For example, you would find the gov
ernor's salary charged to consolidation
account. his Office and contingencies TO
civil government account, the mainte-
nance of Rideau hall some years to pub
lie works and others to capital account,
while here and there in the .'Sundry
and unforeseen" n would pick out
some little item for additional coUrte-
sizes to the official.
That was Ill the early days, when the
people were hewing the making of a
great country out of the forests, and
when they might be appalled, by the
figures if the totals were all given them
together, but few of them connected ire
pairs at Rideau hall" or '%sundries and
unforeseen" with the governor general.
With its development. however, the
country became more pretentious. and
there is no effort at all made at. conceal
ment of the enormous expense entailed.
Nor. for that matter, does the governor
general at all seem inclined to care a
whit whether they are great or small.
He uses Canada while he is here. knows
that the people would rather have a
native but can't help themselves, is
under no obligation to them, and. repre-
senting a monarchy, as he does possibly,
feels that nothing is too good for him.
He has nothing to do but to shake
hands. lead cotillions at Rideau. open
parliament and close it and keen him
self as far from politics as possible. He
is not supposed to have any politics, and
he generally hasn't.
In this particular, outside royalty it.