Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1898-10-28
AT THEIR OLD TRICKS.
CARBLINC THE PUBLIC RECORDS
TO CATCH THE UNWARY.
But Here are Given the True Figures In
the Financial History of the state
Since IS92-A Showing OF which
We May Justly he Proud.

! digger bureau attached To the DoDO-
crat state central committee is either
| wOefully ignorant Of the subject he
is cndcavOring to inform the people
about. or foolish enough 10 believe that
anything lie sees fit to state i'm this
connection will be accepted by the in
telligent voters of Michigan as the
gospel truth. We rather suspect the
latter TO be the case. for having neces-
sarily had access to the reports of the
State, Treasurer in order TO procure the
statistics he is sending out for publ
cation, he must know the idea he is
so diligently seeking to impress upon
the public mind les wholly erroneous
and misleading.
The burden Of the "fggerers" song
| is that the cost OF maintaining the
! State government was greater for the
year ending June 30, 1898, than it was
! for the year ending June 30, 1892,
when THE first purely Democratic gov
ernor of Michigan for thirty-seven
years" occupied the executive chair.
In view of the fact that the world
has moved trihe, and the State has
grown materially since Governor WI
mans administration, the Republicans
| of Michigan have no heSitancy in ac-
knowledging the entire truthfulncsS of
this general charge, but when II de-
signing StatiStician. whose sole aim is
10 deceive the public. undertakes to
make 1t appear that this increase in
expenses amounted To nearly $l,JOO.-
600, it is proper that his duplicity be
exposed. Just TO show how readily
more than One-third of this entire al
legged increase could have been ac-
counted for had the pOpOcratic press
man been DESTROYS of informing rather
than deceiving the people. il may be
said one item which entered into the
total disbursements for the last fiscal
year of $4.630. 534.79. represents de-
linquent county. township, city and
village taxes collected by the State and
paid back 10 the counties. This item
amounted To 5O7.741.17. AS fast as
these delinquent taxes We're collected
the sums were deposited in the State
treasury by the AuditOr-Gcncral. In
order to pay the counties the amount
due each it was necessary to withdraw
this money from the State treasury.
This fact was well known TO the pOpo-
cratic press man. yet he deliberately
sought 10 make the people believe that
this item of $jO7.141.17. which the
State collected for and returned to the
several counties, represented dis
bursement or an item Of expense of
carrying on the State government for
that year
having thus exposed the absolute
rottcnnesS of the statistics which are
being sent out over the State in the
nope of working up Il sentiment in
opposition 10 the present State admins
tration. it would seem unnecessary To
make further reference thereto, but
the administration invites the closest
inspection of all its acts, and in order
that the exact truth may be known
an analysis of the cost of maintaining
the State government for the two
years mentioned HAS been made. and
attention is invited to it, Every figure
given below Is absolutely correct. and
can be verified from the same reports
which have been 50 wilfully and fright
fully distorted 10y the opposition.
In lS')2 the cost of maintaining the
asylumS of the State amounted 10
SG93. 800 10. this total including the eX-
pcnseS of the Soldiers Home. State
School for Dependent Children. trans
pOrtatiOn of children to and from the
latter institutions etc. For the fiscal !
year ISIS, this item amounted To S942.- !
9U3.SO This is an increase for the lat
ter year of $249394.61. but it should |
be borne in mind that we now have /
Il wOman's annex to the Soldiers |
Home, the Newberry Hospital for the !
Insane, and the State Home for the |
Feeble Minded and Epileptc. none Of /
which were in existence during Cover /
nor Winan's boosted administration.
Aside from this. it is fact well known |
To the citizens of Michigan that the /
number of insane i'm the State has con-
stantly increased during the past few
years, and that now, even with the
increased accommodations for their
care in proper aSylumS. the county
jails throughout Michigan are full of
this unfortunate class of citizens who
are being held 10 await an opening in
an asylum. 50 they may be placed
where they properly belong. These
items, which lad no place in the "X-
penSc of the Winans' administration.
fully account for the increase noted
above.
Now to show what was accomplished
by the Democratic and Republican
when the conditions
were anywhere near similar. attention
is invited TO the cost of maintaining
the penal and reformatory institutions
Of Michigan during the years under
In 1872 this total cost
10 S3OJ,9Jl 10. while i'm 1SgS
ii was but S219.114.12. or decrease of
SJ6. 921.34 Although there were no
new penal or refOrmatory institutions
in 1898. the population of the State had
increased 22L0oO since 1872. and there
had been IL more than proportionatc
increase in the population of the pris-
Oils, yet they were maintained at n
smaller cost. Notwithstanding the no.
toriOuS fact that the Democratic Off
Gals turned them over To their Repub-
ican successors with scarcely enough
provisions to feed the convicts a day.
and without sufficient clothing 10 af-
ford the latter a change of shirts.
In 1892 it cost sos 693.92 to main
ain the educational institutions Of the
State. In 1896 this item was S42S.-
jS1.4T. an increase of $119. S93. -. In