The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-09-26
AN AMENDMENT TO DEFEAT.

AT the coming election the people are
to vote upon proposed amendment to
Sections 15 and 10 of Article V. of the
Constitution Of the State. In brief, the
amendment to Section Is makes the Lieu
tenant-Governor, with a salary Of $4,000,
visiting agent for the State to all institu-
tons, schools and asylums supported in
whole or in part by the State. Upon this
he is to report in detail to the Governor.
This is simply a first-class attempt to
give the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS a salary,
At present he presides over the Senate
and during its sessions receives the same
per diem as does the Speaker of the
House. Under the proposed amendment
he is to retain the same position, but his
salary is to cover all his reward. The
State, however, is to pay all his travelling
expenses as State Visitor. To these there
would scarcely be any limit, as he might
make his visitations constant The cost,
therefore, would very greatly be in
creased over the cost made by the Gov
ernor in his visitations, and this will be
conceded.
There is no necessity for this change,
saddling some $4,000 year of expense
upon the people. The Governor is en-
tirely capable, and any man we may
elect to that office will DE as capable a
State Visitor as could be any Lieutenant
Governor we might elect. There is no
complaint by the Executive that it can
not inform itself concerning the condi-
ton, needs and successes of any institu-
ton supported in whole or in part by the
State; therefore the attempt to create new
duties for the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS is
simply scheme to give future Lieuten-
ant-Governors round salary. larger
than that of any State officer except the
Governor and members of the bench.
For this reason alone the proposed
amendment should be defeated. But if it
were advisable to have State Visitor of
the character indicated he should not be
one chosen for another office. A State
Visitor, if ever we have one, should be a
man skilled in the conduct of public
charities; one who has made the whole
system study, and who, once elected
and remaining competent, should not be
subject to the fluctuations of politics and
partisan struggles. To make the Office of
State Visitor a political one is to move
backward along the path of reform. 1t
would mean the projection Of all the in
sane asylums, prisons, orphan asylums,
aided religious bodies and the like into
the political and the partisan politics of
the State, whereas the whole drift of pro-
gress everywhere is to separate these in
situations from any contact whatever
with politics and the mutations incident
thereto. This is so plain proposition
that it would insult the intelligence of
well-informed people to now further
prosecute it. That the necessity for de-
feating the proposed amendment may
not be lost sight of, however, and since
indifference concerning it means its
adoption, we shall refer to the subject
again.
But if there were any virtues whatever
in the proposition concerning the office
of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS they would be
completely negatived by the proposed
amendment to Section Is. This is coupled
with and is a part of the amendment to
Section Is, and they cannot be voted on
separately.
Section 10, as it now stands, reads in
one part as follows: "No salary shall
be authorized by law for clerical service
in any office provided for in this article
exceeding 81, 900 per annumn for each
clerk employed" The offices referred
to in which there is clerical employment
are those of Governor, Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor, Secretary of State, Controller,
Treasurer, Attorney General and Sur
veyor-General The proposed amend
ment omits from the section the words
we have placed within quotation marks
above.
That is to say, if adopted the people
will have new salary of s., 900 a year to
pay less 5000 biennially now paid to the
President of the Senate, who is Lieu
tenant Governor. they will also be at the