The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-02-11
WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY IL.
TWELVE PAGES.
The Fee and Salary BIZ.

reported by the committee lntruSted Win
it's preparation, has some very excellent
features, some that will and should be
carefully scrutinized before adoption, and
some that are on their face radically bad
IL is the common misfortune of all at
tempted reforms that they fall under the
influence of extremists, and, unless reso-
lutely held from such control, are carried
10 lengths that make them either odious
or utterly impracticable. Very frequently
they are shunted off on side tracks that
their oricinators never dreamed of, and
this not inirequently by designing per-
sons whose real object is the practical de-
feat of the movement. From the first
The SENTINEL has been the earnest advo-
cate of the fee and salary reform, and it
still occupies that position with all the
earnestness that it can feel on any ques-
zion. II demands that the pledges
of the democratic platform be car
ried out fully and fairly. But
81 has not advocated any bastard
reform. Il will not lend any support TO
the introduction of features into this bill
that can only have the effect of producing
6ts repeal by the next general assembly.
1t will not champion any bill that will
cripple the state offices and prevent the
proper performance of the duties of those
offices. II will not advocate any measure
Ehat can serve no other end than to bring
disrepute on the democratic party.
The movement for fee and salary re-
form was designed to relieve the people of
the evils of the system OF fees and per
souisites by which a few lucky aspirants
for office were enabled TO secure fortunes,
and the public suffered both in taxation
and In the corruption OF voters. 1t aimed
at the abandonment of the fee system, and
the democratic party pledged itself to that
purpose. It was not a movement to strike
Offices in which the fee system had no
place, and cut the remuneration of the
officers to such an extent as to bar com
petent men from accepting employ
ment in them. There has been
no complaint Of the salaries paid to en-
ployes in the state offices, and there should
be none. Their compensation as now
fixed is reasonable and proper for the
services required. The reform was aimed
at the officers who receive the fees and
perquisites-not at the men and women
who are working for wages under those
officers. And yet the bill reported cuts
their wages to an extent that every bust
ness man will concede to be improper.
Take for example the Office of statisti-
clan. He now receives s., 800 per year
with no fees or perquisites whatever. This
is very moderate salary for competent
statistical service-the game amount that
is paid TO clerks under chiefs of divisions
In the census bureau. His salary is cut TO
81 SEQ for no perceivable reason, and his
assistant is cut from 1000 to 5000. The
latter action is simply preposterous. No
person who would be of any material
service to the statistician in his work can
be employed at that rate. This
statistician and his assistant are ex-
pected to collect, analyze and tabulate
information on all subjects pertaining to
the business and welfare OF the state.
Their work furnishes practically the only
precise information from which the pros
perity Of the state can be judged. We
this work, and the effect of this provision
will be to make us more so. The same
system of cutting the salaries of subordi-
mates has been followed throughout. 1t is
defended on the ground that other men
can be obtained to do the work for the
amounts fixed. We doubt the state
ment; but even if it were true this
Is the very theory that every friend
of labor has been fighting for years.
Every corporation and every employer
that has cut wages has answered to the
protests of his men: ''If you don't like it,
quit; we can fill your place at the figures
we offer" There is no more unjust or
vicious basis for establishing wages, and
every workingman in the state knows it to
his sorrow. 1t will be an unfortunate day
for labor in Indiana when the state adopts
this principle and sets the example Of cut
ting wages in accordance with it.
A word further: 1t is asserted by mem
bers of the legislature that they are del
uged with resolutions and petitions from
She farmers alliance demanding extreme
measures. What is the farmers alliance
1t has asserted itself as a political organi-
zation. It nominated state and local
tickets in the last campaign and will do so
In the next. The present legislature was
elected by the democratic party and owes
its allegiance to tina. party-not to the
farmers alliance. In some matters the
two organizations agree. and in others
they differ. The democratic party is the
best friend the farmer ever had, but il
cannot concede that the farmers alliance
and the farmer are one and the same. II
8 as rank presumption for the farmers
alliance to attempt to dictate the policy OF
democratic legislature as it would be for
the republican party to do so. 1t is not
responsible for the legislation adopted
here. 1t will not have to bear the odium
of the mistakes that may be made. When
it elects a legislature it may do as it likes
but no democratic member can afford to
forget that he was elected as democrat
and not as a representative of any other
political party.
The State Revenue from Railroads.
The bin introduced Wednesday by Mr.
OPPFxHErM is probably the best that can