The San Francisco call., 1897-02-10
TAXPAYERS TIRED
Of BEING BLED
Too Many Bills to Create
New Commissioners for
the State.
Great Opposition Shown to the
Scheme to Build a Series of
New Highways.
Treacy Says the Whole Bill Is "a
Rob en- the City and County IF
San Francisco"

SACRAMENTO, CAL, Feb. 9.-There
are large mum ber of bills low before the
House creating new commissions and
perpetuating the old, all the commission
e-s to be appointe ted by Governor Budd
and the majority of them to be Demo
Gratis. The missioners to be created
by the bills before the House or whose
existence is Ito be perpe.uated by them
are Warehouse Commissioners, Highway
Commissioners, Labor Commissioners,
Code Commissioners, Commissioner on
Public Works, Sociological Com missioner,
Exposition Commissioners and many
more too numerous to be remem bered
among the 800 odd bills now before the
Assembly.
Many of the most thoughtful Republi-
cans in the House have determined to
make material reduction in taxes before
the close of the session, and they will to
that end lop off all or nearly all of those
commissions which have the faculty of
| absorbing large quantities of public
| money with nothing TO show for it except
very small quantity of biennial reports.
Tonight the joint Committee on Roads
and Highways met in the Assembly cham
Der for the purpose OF considering the
State highway bill. 1t provides for the
appointment by the Governor of three
Commissioners to lay out a system OF
State highways. The subcommittee pre-
sented substitute reducing the commits
zion to one member, and placing in his
hands simply the power to work Ill con-
junction with the Surveyor of each county
in the State. Highway Commissioner
Maud made speech to the committee
upon the merits OF the original bill.
Caminetti of Amador opposed the sYs-
tenn of State highways. They would not
do in Amador County. What his peop lie
wanted was good roads to Sacramento and
Stockton, so that they could haul their
products to those towns in competition
with the Southern Pacific Company,
whose rates on the branch lines and spurs
were so high that the farmers to-day were
successfully competing with wagons
against the railway company. notwith-
standing the muddiness and otherwise
bad condition of the roads in that county.
Price of Sonoma opposed the bill and
favored the substitute. The bill took the
! control of the roads out OF the hands
of the county authorities. He was a
and his constituents had expressed their
opinions TO MIN. 1t would not be polite
or wise TO take the roads out of the hands
of the counties 10 remove them farther
| the people. Added to that there was the
! great expense OF $4,000 each to three Com
miss toner's, $500 TO a secretary and $500
TO a stenographer, besides other items.
| The substitute required county surveyors
| and Supervisors TO furnish data to one
n GnT 1rONlQ cir pCh oh anf
in each county jointly with the Surveyor
and Supervisors.
my people in Sonoma County," added
Mr.. Price, "are sick and tired of the
creating of these commissions to dip their
hands into the public purse.
Ennis of Sacramento was opposed to
the Supervisors building roads. Super
visors in Sacramento had spent 500 900 on
roads and had not decent highway in
the county. They had been conspicuous
failures, as the Supervisors of most of the
other counties had been failures as road
! builders.
Treacy of San Francisco could not see
| how San Francisco could be benefited by
being taxed for the benefit OF the farmers.
Caminetti remarked that whenever
three men are in office for three or four
years they work to perpetua.e themselves
| IN office. That was the reason why the
! Highway Commissioners were opposed to
|
to one.
Those three commissioners evidently
! expect to succeed themselves" He said
also that the original bill proposed the
building up of an army OF employees by
the Highway Commissioners. 1t would
be cheaper to have three commissioners
and oblige them to do all the surveying
and engineer work themselves than to
have one com issioner and allow him to
hire an army OF men to do the work tor
him. According 10 the admission of the
Bureau of Highways twenty years would
be required to build all the roads outlined
in the bill. His people and the people of
other counties were opposed to being
| taxed for nineteen years before they
would receive mile of road. Under the
substitute the system OF State highways
would be begun in each county in the
State simultaneously. Another objection
to the I'LL was that the system of proposed
State highways ran parallel nortn and
south, and that there were no crossroads
none running east and west Under the
substitute bill State highway must run
from the county seat to the county seats
of all the counties adjoining.
Commissioner Maud said that he and
another commissioner had observed a
coolness toward the commission on the
part of Mr.. Caminetti, and that was prob
ably the reason why the bureau did not
call on the gentleman from Amador.
MellCk ldneHleO the COOlneSS
| between the commissioners and certain
mem bers OF the Legislature. He mad
come 10 the Assembly with a feeling that
the bureau should be wiped out, but he
| thought il should have q fair hearing and
thorough investigation. Mr.. Caminetti,
he added, had overlooked the fact that
the mountains and valleys of California
ran north and south instead of east and
west. and that that was the reason why
the great lines of the proposed State high
ways ran northerly and southerly.
Commissioner Manson said the bureau
would lay before the subcommittee all
the data in their possession and would
| gladly cooperate with them.
The committee adjourned until Thurs
day evening.
After the adjournment of the meeting
Treacy of San Francisco said to CALL
reporter: THE whole bill is a rob on the
CITY and County of San Francisco. We
have to pay for our own streets and out of
our own funds. l shall oppose both the
bill and the substitute on the floor of the
House when it comes up"
IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY
| Rudd,S Tefo MessaOr Causes n .JoEe