Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1896-10-28
FBI,OlOrS ontECTbiNs

. the voters at tue coming election, out
/ the slightest reflection on the part OF
any thinking man will ut once convince
} him that every one of its objections is
/ frivolous and unfounded.
| objection Is made to the amendments
/ proposing to vest the legislature with
| the power to tiX the salaries of the
| Judges of our courts and of the eXecu-
| tive officers of our state government
on the ground that the people of Ne
braska can not afford 10 increase the
/ pay of any public official at this time.
/ The fact Is that these amendments do
not increase the pay of any public off
! cal They merely put IL in the power
OF the legislature to Increase the pay of
such officials as are now undcrpaid. but
to do this thrcc-fifths vote of all the
/ members of both houses is required. No
/ one party. therefore, can ever raise
[ the salaries of our judges OF executive
! officers but it must be done with practi-
cally the unanimous consent of the
[ whole legislature. These amendments
I are further intended to put Il stop to a
/ great many abuses that have sprung
! up under the present system by which
/ officers have obtained pcrquisitcs of
! which the general public knows moth
/ ing instead Of having their entire com
pensation included in their salaries.
! Thus members of the supreme court
/ have been voted money for private
! stenographers, the governor has had an
| appropriation for house rent and the
treasurer has Undermined himself for
losses by pocketing interest on public
! funds. There is no good reason why
! the judges of the supreme court should
be paid only $500 when the judges of
the district court receive the same sum.
| There is no good reason why the gov
ernur of Nebraska should be paid only
| $500, while the mayor of Omaha Is
| paid the same salary. The city treas
urer of Omaha receives $4,000 year.
| but the state treasurer receives only
! $500. Under such conditions Is it any
wonder that state treasurer who obi
gates himself to his friends for II bond
of S1.lOO,OOO is tempted TO farm out
the public funds for private benefit:
The adoption of the amendments en-
powering the legislature to iiX the Sala-
ries of state officers is an absolute ne
| cCSsity il we are to come back to the
original intention of the constitution
trainers that the public official should
| receive his salary in compensation for
his services and no more.
objection IS entered to the amend
ment giving the legislature authority Ia
establish courts inferior to the supreme
court on the ground that we do not need
any more such courts The best law
yers in the state say that we do need
such courts and that the creation of an
intermediate court of appeals would not
only expedite justice but also save thou
sands of dollars annually to the state
and TO ltigants whose suits now have
TO await tardy hearing. Under the
proposed amendment the Legislature
could not exercise its power to create
new court except with the assent of
| two-thirds Of the members elected so
that there would be no possible danger
of its abuse. The amendment should be
adopted in the interest of prompt
and even justice for all persons, rich or
poor. high or low.
Objection is made to the amendment
giving the legislature authority to create
additional executive officers on the
ground that we have all the state Of
icers we need. This amendment should
be adopted because we have more state
officers now than We need, but they
~ III, "a L.
poses To do away with the needless ones
and make those that we need constitu-
| tional officers. Because of present con
stitutional limitations we have had the
law stretched to multiply offices. The
governor has been made nominal state
labor commissioner, while an appointed
deputy labor commissioner gets the
salary and performs all the duties of the
office. The governor has been made
nominal state oil inspector while an
appointed deputy oil inspector and six
assistants get the salaries and perform
the duties of the office. Certain state
officers have been made Il state irrigation
board, while an appointed secretary and
assistant secretaries get the salaries and
perform the work. Certain other state
officers have been made state board of
| transportation while three appointed
secretaries get the salaries and do the
work. And so on for n dozen Illegal
salary drawers. The proposed amend
ment aims to abolish these abuses Nor
can the power conferred on the legisla-
ture be misused, because, in order to
exercise It. n vote of three-fourths of
both houses is required.
Objection is entered to the PROPOSE
ton relating to the merging of the
government of cities of the metropoli
tan class and the government of th7
counties wherein such cities ar, located
wholly or in part on the ground that
there is no necessity for it and no de-
mand for il. The people who oppose
this amendment are either too dense
to comprehend it or persist in misread-
/ ing it, The amendment contemplates
the abolition OF use ess offices that
have been needlessly duplicated in city
and county. Its result will be to re-
duce taxes. not to increase them.