The record-union., 1897-01-17
FIGURES TELL IT.
DiaPhanolS MoOnShine Of
Retrenchnent
How Senate and Assembly Have
Reduced Expenses.
Aggregate Aggr Daily Expenses Sl54 More
Than for the Last Session.
River Improvement and Drainage Bill TO be
FavOrabIy Reported in the Assem-
bly, Tomorrow.


that the members elected to serve them
in the thirty-second session of the Cal
ifornia Legislature would make rec
ord The people are seldom wrong ana
they certainly were not in the belief
already mentioned. A scarcely percep-
tible line separates the sublime from
the ridiculous, however, and the record
unfortunately for all concerned, except
the constitutional hanger on, is on the
wrong side of the line.
For many years the people and press
of the State have demanded of tneli
legislators that system of radical re-
form be inaugurated by cutting down
the per diem expenses of the TWO
branches of the Legislature, and Tor
many years solemn promises have been
given that the will of the people should
be respected.
But for some unexplained cause, the
will of the people never has been great
ly respected regarding the generous
scattering of the public funds to 1mpe-
cunious friends of Senators and AS
eeniblymen. The ward workers and the
9eelers have been cared for session al
ter session, and the answer to the walls
of distress that have gone up from the
people who pay the taxes, appear to one
TO be embodied in the phrase once laid
at the door of a prominent American
millionaire, 'The people be ID
When the members of the present
Legislature were elected, the hopes OF
that great machine, the people, rose TO
a higher point than had ever before
been reached. Taxes We're high, prices
for products were low! Promises were
again given that retrenchment Woud
be the slogan of the session! The peo-
ple believed! The press admitted that
things looked favorable for reduc-
ton of expenditures, The session open
ed with a great blare of trumpets!
Committees were appointed by caucus
to present reform resolutions! The i'm
pecunious hanger on was to be slaugh-
tered and offered up on the altar of the
prospective temple of reform! The
morn was rosy but the night fell be-
fore the sun had Tapped the early dew.
The Assembly was bold in its de-
mands. and besides providing for the
small army of veterans of the session
of 1895, ran up such list of attaches
as made the Oldest citizen hold his
breath and wonder what was going to
happen next. The battle for the peo-
ple's money has gone the same old way
Victory is with the man who is given
IS a day for warming a chair
Figures won't lie," and the per diem
nav ron of Assembly officers, clerks
and attaches in Controller Colgans Of
flee. clearly demonstrate that the ag-
gregate per diem at the end of the Sec
ond week of the present session is SlOt
in excess of the sum paid at the close
of the second week of the session OF
1885
And the Senate! All, the Senate
There has been no doubt in the minds
of most people that the Senate was moi
keeping it's promise. The Senate looked
profound, and gave out caucus news
that attaches were being slaughtered
root and branch. The Senate was quiet
and while most people know that still
water runs deep, there are others who
contend that the devil is at the bottom
of it.
.srhe best laid schemes o mice anc
men aft gang aglee." The employees OF
the Senate seemed to have been KEEP
down TO a minimum, and considerable
praise was given for its stand taken t
reduce or curtai expenses. But tbs
Senate was wise. There were nearly
enough committees to go around, ane
one day an insignificant resolution wa:
adopted providing that each Senator
should be empowered to appoint a cleri
for his committee without the consen
of the Senate That bit Of diplomacy
did away with the confirmation o.
clerks in open session, and the people
knew not that during the past SIX days
horde of committee clerks were draw
ing munificent salaries, while not hal
dozen committee meetings had beer
held. and not one-third of the com
mittees had been organized.
But the public records kept by tn
state Controller have disgorged tn
weighty secret of the Senate, and whei
the aggregate per diem of those com
rnittee clerks was added to that OF th'
list of employees the public alread!
knew about, Senate reductions of ex
penditures was found to be as diaph
anous as strained moonshine with tn
moon on the wane.
In 1895 the people declared tha
never again in the history of the Stat
should the per diem expenses run a
high as they then were, but the reeoro
show that the aggregate per diem 10
January 16. 1897, was just s4e IN ex
cess of the aggregate per diem at tn