Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1897-09-28
ROBBED THE PEOPLE.
Systematic Extortlons Praoticed
Under Drake Administration.

Crooked Work of the Executive
Council While That Governor
Was In Omce-COrrupt
Politicians.
Section 141 of the code (McClain's)
provides that the executive council shall
be composed of the governor, auditor,
secretary and treasurer of state.
Section 14S provides that the eXecu-
tive council shall cause suitable blanks
to be printed for the purpose of taking
the census.
Section $50 provides that the township
assessors each census year shall return
to county auditors such enumeration Of
facts as are necessary for the compila-
ton of census abstracts, and that the
county auditors shall forward to the
secretary Of state abstracts of this in
formation; and
Section 152 provides that the secre-
tary shall cause an abstract of these alb
stracts prepared by the county auditors
to be recorded in book and published
in such manner as the executive coun-
Gil may direct.
It will be observed that the census re-
port is to be prepared under the direc-
ton of the executive council, and that
the work of the secretary of state un-
der the law Is comparatively small, and
consists only of furnishing IN abstract
of the abstracts supplied by the county
auditors.
Vn$ OF pfT To- ne
administration the foregoing provisions
of the statute were openly violated by
an order of the executive council. and
the council has ever since continued to
disregard the law. The county auditors
were directed by the executive council
to instruct the assessors to make their
census enumerations in duplicate; and
instead Of requiring the county auditors
to make abstracts of this information
according to law, the county auditors
were directed to return to the secretary
Of state the whole mass of information
furnished by the assessors. But for this
violation Of law by the executive coun-
Gil this work would have been done, MS
1t should have been done, in the county
auditors offices, without one dollar ex-
pense to the people. 1t is certainly
proper to inquire why this new plan was
adopted by the executive council in vio-
lation of the statute.
No honest reason can be given. The
members of the executive council were
under oath to conduct their offices ac-
cording to law, and the change of
method was In direct violation of the
law, and it increased the expense thou
sunds of dollars. If the plan adopted
had been honestly followed out, even
then II would have unjustly relieved the
county auditors of the burden of do
Ing portion of their official duty for
which they received salaries. 1t would
have thrown upon the state the
burden of paying clerks for tabulating
the census-a burden that the law
places upon the county auditors. But
the motive which inspired the members
of the executive council in taking this
Illegal course was not an honest motive.
It was plan adopted as one Of the
means for securing an enormous cam
paign fund from the state treasury. 1t
furnished pretext for maintaining an
army Of clerks at the capitol, ostensibly
to tabulate the mass of census returns,
In fact to swell the republican fund by
forced contributions.
| It is not necessary to go over the
startling disclosures made by the legisla-
tive committee in reference to the ex-
travagance in preparing the last census
report. It is known to every intelligent
l lot Ia &1a,
Der of clerks necessary was employed
to tabulate these illegal returns.
That three dollars per day was paid
to girls who could have been employed
for half that sum.
i That the clerks were frequently TOLD
to work slow" or their job would come
to an end.
That the clerks were required to pay
from ten to thirty dollars each month
to the campaign fund.
The evidence OF two of the young
ladies before the investigating com
mittee was to the effect that they wer,
told that their employment depended
upon such contributions to the cam
paign fund.
4 The report of the investigating com
mittee shows that $4,000 more wal
paid out in the tabulation and prepare
ton of the census than the labor wal
worth, and this without considering
the fact that under the law almost al
this work would have been done by tn,
county auditors who received regula,
salaries.
J, But what else did the executive coun
cilaccomplish by adopting this method
1t opened an avenue for fraud, b,
bringing this mass of facts to the cap
itol. 1t enabled the executive council
!, to stuff the census report, and there
by give the state printer and the stat
binder every opportunity to reach dee
] Into the state treasury.
It was shown in the evidence befor
the Legislative committee that the ex
8 ecutive council allowed the state print
er from two to twenty times as mucl
for printing as the work could have bee
procured for elsewhere.
The executive council paid for tn
census return blanks 500 per Thousand
when the same could have been pro
+ cured elsewhere at three dollars pc
0uura