The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-02-21
How Reform Really Works.

4 u
Topeka, Kan, Feb. s.-(speciaLeLeedy
is mad All the state officers are mad. The
| senate bill passed yesterday making re-
duction Of nearly 25 per cent in the salaries
| OF state officers and others has raised
howNa loud, hungry howl g. C Clemens.
| the legal end of the reform party. says the
| bill is an outrage and the senate has abso-
| lu;elys gene wild. Els is out in long
fiery interview denouncing the upper body
| An Indignation meeting has been called
| for Tuesday night in Hamilton hall.
| The following from Governor Leedy was
read in the senate and house this morning
ITO the Senate and House OF Representa-
| tives.
| ''Gentlemen:-I have approved senate b-i.
No. 3s5. appropriating $1,000 10 supply a
| deficiency in the appropriation for STATE
| rrinter's fees | nave done so because
| hesitate at this time to veto this bill be-
cause the failure Of the appropriation would
| seriously interfere with the proceedings OF
| the legislature when the term is drawing 10
a close ana there is much unfinished busi-
ness on hand and the delay consequent
| Gpon the veto might seriously impede the
progress of legislation and consume time
| that Is much needed for the consideration
| Of other things. However. I wish TO cali
your attention to the manner of approprias
| ing money for this purpose and to suggest
some changes which I think would be in
| tie interest of economy.
''Fcr long time II has been the custom
| of the legislature to appropriate and place
under the control of printing board one
large fund for the purpose of printing, ieav-
| ing the supervision OF its disbursement in
| the hands Of this printing board without
any limit as to number and size of reports.
| In the past this has been thought to be a
sufficient check upon the contractor and
| the various bureaus of the state that order
printing Experience. / regret TO say. has
demonstrated that this method has not been
successful, and therefore, we have TO face
| the present condition
THE legislature had appropriated fund
| which was supposed TO be sufficient TO
meet all demands until July I. 1887, the ter
| mination Of this fiscal year, but, on COM
| ing into office Jan. IL, this administration
discovered that the printing fund, which
was to have paid all printing bills 10 July
| /, was exhausted, hence 1t became your
| duty 10 appropriate money to supply the
| cefinciency caused either by the miscalcu-
| iations of the previous legislature or by the
| industrious activity Of our predecessors,
who, perhaps feared that the incoming ad-
ministration might not judiciously expend
this fund, and hence made an earnest effort
| TO put temptations out OF our way. Up 10
| the time of the election the printing board
| had been fairly economical in the amount
of the printing ordered. but after the cleo
| ton, orders were made which virtually re-
quired the expenditure of the entire sp-
preparation for the fiscal year, so that by
| the time this legislature convened the ap-
preparation had practically disappeared.
| Notwithstanding the fact that the law plain
| ly says that the printing shall cease when
| the appropriation is exhausted, we have
| been going on with this printing for more
| than a month IN violation Of the statute
and large part of the money appropriated
| in this bill viii be used to discharge obli-
cations already accrued, as well as 10 pay
| for the printing that will be done between
now and July /.
The printing committee consists OF men
who have official responsibilities Of their
own that command their entire time. and
| ii is impossible that they should familiarize
| themselves with the details of each bureau
and come to any very definite opinion as
| to what printing is really essential for each
department 1t has occurred to me that a
better way to remedy this matter would
| be to either limit the amount of reports OF
each department, and the size OF them, or
else, in the appropriation set aside de1-
| mite amount for each department. The
printing committee would still be left with
authority TO supervise the subject matter
| of these reports and, if they deemed 1t prop
| er, would still have the right to further re-
| duce the quantity and size. Then each de-
partment would regulate their reports. sub
| ject to revision by the printing committee.
LAS a general rule, these reports are tco
bulky to be serviceable there is much chaff
| in them that nobody will take time to sift
out the wheat, and a great many of these
volumes are useless. Often many more
are printed in some departments than
should be. hope that in the future the
legislature will find II convenient to give
each bureau and each department specific
sum and make II payable upon warrants
drawn against each individual fund. so that
when the fund is exhausted. there can be
no deficiency, or limit the size and number
of reports printed. This, think, will cause
the exercise of more economy and secure
better results than the present method.
Bryan spoke in Topeka yesterdsy-severaI
times. In his speech in Representative hall
he omitted any mention of free silver. This
Is given as matter of news and a COM
plinent TO Mr.. Bryan's respect for the dead
which is said to be sincere He said in the
beginning of his address that 1t would be
little less than sacrilege to drag in the late
Demo-Pop corpse and commence another
political yow-yow and hullobsloo. So he
took for his text Jefferson's Sunday morn
ing remark, that "An Men are Created
Equal" Proceeding at some length. he
showed that corporations have no part In
the deal and, therefore. ought not 10 be al
lowed to exist. AS boyish as the boy orator
is, he is almost balJheaded and his famou.
smile had got into a criss-cross on his up
per ip. AUSTIN L. Mall