The herald., 1897-02-11
No MONOPOLY Of SCANDAL
The Legislature at Sacramento
Has a Rival
THE STRONG OPPOSITION
To Any Attempt to Extend the Session
Beyond March 4th
HE STRONG OPPOSITION
The Extravsgance Of the Coyote Scalp Bounty
The Industry Of the Speaker-A
Los Angeles Vocalist

SACRAMENTO, Feb. Sup to this
date the legislature has had monop-
oily of political scandal, but now rival
in that line has sprung up which bids
fair to divide the disgrace, or at least
partially divert public attention from
the unsavory doings that have been and
are yet going on in and about the capi-
tol.
The sideshow just opened is located
at the court house, and the chief actors
in the ring are the county coroner and
member of the board of supervisors.
Briefly, it is a case of alleged bribery,
| or rather attempted bribery, wherein
the alleged guilty party failed to get
| there" with his proposition to buy his
way into office by "greasing" a super
visor to the tune of $500. AS usual in
such cases there is a positive charge on
| the one side and an emphatic, indg-
| nant denial on the other. Each person
is a gentleman Of unimpeachable ver-
acity, and of course they both tell the
truth. If the supervisors prove to be
as expeditions and sincere in their in
vestgation of this local scandal as is
the assembly in it's Duckworth 'inves-
tigation,' the exact facts of the case
will be made known to the public about
completed, or when the people of the
United States all become rich through
the beneficent scheme of tariff taxation.
WORK PILING UP
In both branches of the legislature
there is an accumulation of work which
indicates that either greater speed in
disposing of it must be attained or the
session will have to be extended beyond
the constitutional sixty days. Night
sessions will soon begin, which of course
will facilitate progress to some extent,
But the longer the doors are open for
legislation the faster runs in the stream
of bills, amendments, resolutions and
demands Should the session be extend
ed two months longer, there is no tell
ing how many hundreds, or rather
thousands, Of documents would cumber
the records Of each house.
A FINANCIAL FACTOR
While it is true that no member can
draw any pay for his services after the
expiration of the prescribed sixty days.
there are other interested parties whose
pay will go on just the same. They con-
stitute a large force, greatly outnum
bering the entire membership of both
houses 1 allude to the various attaches
the clerks, assistant clerks, committee
clerks, sergenats-at-arms with their
assistants, bootblacks and re-builders
| janitors, deputy janitors, clock winders,
watchmen, elevator operators, pages,
official reporters, etc, etc. All these
| continue to draw their So, 81 or what
| ever it may be, per day, even though the
honorable members work only for
glory and the good of their admiring
constituents. So every day Of the ses-
sion after March 4th, should there be
a will haQUV
to the state, especially under the dis
honest regime of the Duckworth dyn-
asty. The per diem of the 1856 employees
of the assembly alone is a heavy item
of expense. 1t hardly seems probable
that the members of these honorable
bodies will be willing to remain here,
away from their private business, and at
great pecuniary sacrifice, many days
after their income from the state treas
ury has ceased. Some IArsons are mean
enough to intimate that former legis-
lature entered into an agreement with
it's attaches to prolong the session few
weeks If the attaches would divide their
daily incomes with the lawmakers. Then
the same mean people slyly hint that
whatever has been done may be done
again" 1t is undoubtedly true, however,
that large percentage of the present
legislators earnestly desire to complete
all necessary business so rs to adjourn
on the 4th proX. Any attempt to ex-
tend the session beyond that date will
| meet with strong opposition.
COYOTE sCALPs.
The state law for the payment of a
bounty on every coyote scalp taken is
proving to be such an expensive piece
of legislation as to raise the question
whether or not it is wise investment.
1t has already cost the state a great
DEAL and there is no telling to what di-
mensions the cost may eventually attain
| unless the law is amended or at least
amended. 1t seems as If the total num-
her of coyotes must be increasing very
rapidly every year, or else many of
them are scalped alive and then turned
loose to raise another scalp. There is
now pending in the senate claim for
such scalps against he state to the
amount of $2S0,000. The finance COM
mittee, after investigating the claim,
has decided to recommend that it be al
lowed. Taxpayers might do we'll to have
thoughts on this coyote law, for it is
just possible some plan might be de-
vised to get rid of the nuisance in a
less costly manner. In fact, under the
existing law, there seems to be no prob
ability that the annoying pest will ever
be extermnated.
FOOD EXPOSITION.
This city will soon be the scene of a
somewhat novel exposition. 1t is to be
grand display of food and food pro-
ducts. Such an enterprise has never
| before been undertaken here. Now the
| Grocers union and other parties are
making extensive preparations for an
| exhibit which will in all proba ablity
prove a business success and in many
| ways a benefit to the community A
| great variety of foods and crude articles
| that enter into food production will he
| exhibited in large building we'll adapt
| ed for the purpose. The management
| will also introduce other attractions.
such as music, lectures, special booths
and bicycle races. The exposition will
open on the goth inst, and continue one
week. l respectfully suggest that If the
proprietors of Sacramento hotels and
restaurants will visit the exposition they
may gather some important facts re-
| lating to food and the preparation there
| Of which, if applied to their cookery,
would prove blessing to their patrons.
AN INDUSTRIOUS SPEAKER
The duties of the speaker of the as
sembly are multifarious and arduous
He has many duties to perform besides
those Of presiding officer of that body
To be model officer the speaker should
be industrious. Industry is a conspicu-
| Gus characteristic of Speaker Coombs
| On the 7th of January the assembly ad-
| opted the following rule:
| mo additional attaches shall be ap-
+, pointed or elected, except such attaches
| or employees as the speaker in his judg-
ment may deem absolutely necessary to