The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-21
FOR THE LEGISLATURE.
This Correspondent Lays Out a Line
of Work for the Members.


| To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
The election being over it is a hopeful
| sign for the welfare of the people to see so
much agitation and serious consideration of
| questions that will be up for consideration
| at the coming session of the Legislature. 1t
| is to be hoped, however that the members
| OF the majority party will not consume too
much of the time of the session in political
matters-the election of a senator and the
| distribution of the loaves and fishes. Let
! them settle these matters quickly at the be-
! ginning of the session and then give their
| attention to important business legislation
Just now a new impetus is given the move
ment for the reform of county and town
| ship government This reform has been
urged and agitated by the State Board of
| Commerce for years. Two years ago 1 was
a member of a committee appointed by that
body to urge upon the Legislature the ap-
| pointment of commission to revise the
municipal laws of the State. Our measure
passed the House; but was waylaid in the
Senate. So two years have been lost for this
important work. A year ago at the annual
meeting of the State Board of Commerce.
I several papers were read on local govern
ment which aroused much discussion and
attracted general attention over the State.
The reform movement gained ground rap
| idly, and during last summer there was
| embodied in the platforms Of both the DEM
ocratic and Republican parties pianks IA
voring a revision of our municipal laws.
| The State Bar Association also adopted a
resolution upon the same subject So now
| it looks like some relief would surely come
But the manner and scope of the work is
the difficult problem. The laws are so many
| and complex, the machinery of government
so cumbersome that it will require great
| labor and painstaking care to properly sim
| plify and revise the laws and adjust the
machinery to modern conditions and neces-
| stiles. Patch work will not do, as the whole
system of municipal laws Is nothing but
ment The State Board of Commerce may
| begin now and have the assistance and CO.
operation of the commission appointed by
! Chairman HernTy and others in framing
some laws on certain phases of local gov
eminent hut the time is too short to give
the subject detailed and comprehensive con-
| sideration. ] believe that the best thing to
do is to agree upon bill providing Tor
4, oughly and Systematically during the next
two years and make a report to the LeglS-
lature of 1901. This commission should be
composed Of men of affairs-business men,
| professional men, artisans and farmers. The
| general outlines of the reforms to be en-
| bodied into law might be discussed in con-
ferenceS and conventions to great advan-
tage. 1t might be impressed upon this COM
mission that the best Judgment of munich
/
| should be conducted upon lines similar to
| those of modern cities, where the charters
provide head for the government and fix
responsibility for good or bad admlnistra-
| ton. And further, that the tax-levying and
| tax~expending powers should be vested in
different hands These general outlines be-
! ing kept in view, it wotiid be the duty of the
commission to work out the details from the
great mass of laws upon our books But
while l would favor such commission,
would not stop there. Much valuable work
can be done by the Legislature for the re-
lief of the taxpayers by a process OF prun-
| ing or looping off. The cry of the taxpayers
| is and has been for years-"lower the
taxes" 1 do not believe that all our
troubles and high taxes are on account of
extravaganza and corruption of county and
other local officials. There are many fixed
charges levies and appropriations over
which these officials have no control what
| ever. And the Legislature keeps adding to
these from year to year. There are too
many state institutions and useless. officials
that are feeding upon and wasting the
money of the people. / would not favor
! lowering the state levy until we are out OF
debt; but the thing to do is to curtail eX-
| penses like a provident farmer or merchant
and get out of debt as soon as possible. To
aid in accomplishing this desirable result
| there are many items of expense that could
be cut off without detrment to the welfare
| of the people and without irnpairing the eff
| ficency of good government Let me sug-
gest a few repeats and changes in our laws
! by which more than half million dollars
might be saved:
First-That section Of the compulsory ed
ucation law providing for a truant officer
should be repealed. That would save $4,000.
| There were last year $50 truant officers in
the State. The work of this Office could be
| done better by the township trustees, and
! without hardly any cost. | am in favor OF
! the compulsory law, and would require at
tendance during the school year. instead of
| twelve weeks The claim that 25O00 chill
! dren Were put into the schools by the tru-
ant officers is not true. The people are law
! abiding and obeyed the law and sent their
| children to school without the interference
| of the truant officer. He probably didn't
| reach VII
| Der.
! Second-An per diem officers should be
/ changed to specific salaries. No man should
| be allowed TO keep his own time book. es-
| pecially in public business where there are
! no parts of days and man can put in half
| an hour and count it day. In the State
| of Indiana there are LOLA township trus-
| tees, many OF whom put in 3l3 days in the
/ year; the average no doubt, is 250 days. A
| amounts to over half million dollars for
| the LOLA trustees The work should be done
| for half the money, and there would be
saving TO the taxpayers of $250.000.
| Thrd-A law should be passed requiring
| county officers to furnish all stationery and
/ supplies used in their offices except books
| and papers that are kept as matters OF rec
| ord. In such an event these supplies would
| cost but trifie compared to the cost
under the rotten and loose system now pre-
vaillng. And why should not officers with
good big salaries furnish the tools with
| which they work, the same man who
| works on the street furnishes his own
shovel Such law would save the tax
| payers of the State 100000 annually and
! would bring TO an end the scandals result
/ ing over the corrupt deals in purchasing
| stationery. Political parties would be rid
! of one of the most annoying and embarrass-
/ ing things that comes up in every cam
! paign. For example, look at Marion county
| during the recent campaign And in the
I purchase OF what books the county should
| buy the law OF 1915 should be put in force.
/ In some mysterious way this law was not
| printed in the Revised Statutes of 1881 but
| that II Is IN run force and effect was