The San Francisco call., 1897-01-18
THE CRY OF BxTRAvAGAN0E.

It is already evident that within a
comparatively short time the present
| Legislature will have to face a
cry of extravaganza as clamorous as
any which has been raised against its
predecessors. There are already rumors
of scandals and suggestions of fraud aod
corruption spread throughout the State.
These rumors have certain foundation,
and it is to the credit of the Legislature
that it has begun the work of investigating
every ground on which such charges are
based.
1t is only fair to the Legislature that the
people should give due consideration to
the cause of so-calIed legislative extrava-
gance. Excessive expenditures by the
State have not been due wholly to indif-
ference to public opinion on the part OF
the legislators. Nearly all such ex pendl-
lures have been supported by men outside
the Legislature and by a seeming public
opinion in various counties. The repre-
sentatives of those counties, in fact, have
been often forced against their own better
judgment to support extravagant schemes
The true cause and origin of legisla tive
extravaganza is to be found in the desire
share OF rightful appropria tons. When
Buncombe County, for example, desires
million and seventeen dollars for some in
stitution, or proposed Institution in the
county, all the good citizens of Buncombe
support the measure and insist that the
representatives of that county shall advo-
cate it and promote it by every means in
their power. These representatives soon
learn that they cannot secure the appro-
priation for Buncombe unless they agree
to stand in with those who desire appro-
priations for other counties. In this way
one extravaganza leads to another, and as
the advocates of the various schemes gen.
orally constitute a majority of all the
mem 0ers of the Legislature, they carry
out their plans by system of log-rolling.
Thus, while each one individually clamors
for economy, in the aggregate they support
extravaganza, and the result is mass of
expenditures which constitutes true
scandal against the State.
1t is evident that the only way to attain
economy is for those who advocate it to
begin in their own counties. The repre-
sentative in the Legislature from any par
ticular section should not be left to stand
alone and combat all his fellow citizens
clamoring for big appropriations. Those
citizens in each county who really desire
economy and a better management of
State affairs should organize and give a
strong, earnest, resolute and publicly ex-
pressed support to their delegates in re-
fusing to vote for excessive appro priations
not only for other counties, but also for
his own.
1t is estimated that at the present Legis-
lature various State institutions will ask
appropriations for upward OF a million
and half of dollars. The representative
of every county in which these institu-
tions are located will be expected to vote
for the appropriation asked by his own
county, ard will be urged to com bine with
the advocates of equally large appropria-
tions In other counties IN order to obtain
it. This being so, it is unfair to hold
members of the Legislature solely re-
sponsible for such extravaganza as may be
committed.
We do not mean to say the legislator is
not in some sense personally responsible
for his action. Elected by the taxpayers
at large, he ought to represent all of them,
and not the set which is most insistent,
clamorous and aggressive. In the nature
OF things, however, representatives is very
apt to mistake the loudest voice for the
voice of all. Moreover, he is reasonably
right in assuming that the men who
work are more effective in politics than
the men who do not work, and therefore
if he votes with the workers and stands in
for big appropriations he not only does
good politics, but has some show of reason
for claiming that he has served with fdeI-
ity his constituents.
The moral of the whole is that if we are
to have economy we must begin at home.
Each county must enter upon the work
OF combating its own greed and limiting
its own demands upon the State treasury.
In no other way can we obtain economy
under our present form of government.