The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-01-22
IOWA'S STATE INSTITUTIONS.

If one did not know the partisan
had formed his opinion of state admin
istration from what he had read in Re-
publican papers-during campaigns
he would certainly infer from reading
the rennrt made to the senate,
now in session, of committee
appointed to investigate the state in
stitutions, that that unfortunate state
had been the victim of Populistic mis-
government for years; whose miSdeeds,
incapacity for rule and general cussed-
publicans, happily restored to power.
We all know-during campaigns-what
bad administrators Populists and even
Democrats are. that is those of us I'M
fortunate enough to have to get our
information from Republican papers;
but we recall no case where such an
amount of maladministration was re-
vealed as is made in this report; oc-
curing while a state was under the
charge of either Of those parties. Ne
braska came the nearest to it, and
South Dakota was a fair second. But,
come to reflect, the venality in both
those states was of Republican Of
ficers, so they do not count.
1t will now be in order for thick and
thin organs like the State Register to
turn on the committee and denounce
them as traitors to the party, which
seems to be the fashion nowadays when
men uncover party corruption or try
TO prevent the party from rewarding
the fellow who did it with, we'll, let us
say, United States scholarships 1t
stood loyalty by the printing steals and
has a stomach Of infinite capacity for
the defense of jobbery, provided it is
done within the party. But we mis-
take this new governor If he do not
back the report stoutly. If he does
not we will have to pass his fine words
of the campaign over to the credit of
campaign balderdash intended only for
the immediate emergency and express
ly understood as having no binding
force after the ballots are counted and
the result declared. He did not impress
us during the campaign as that kind
of man, but we have been taken in
so often that we will prefer to wait to
see what he will do with his Augean
stables.
The abuses in these institutions ex-
posed in this report rise almost wholly
tI,0' 4
public money in the purchase of sup
plies. The remedy proposed is the
adoption of the Wisconsin system of q
single board of control having super
vision over all the state institutions
except those devoted to educational
purposes. While the wisdom and eff
cacy of this is open to question, it is
not to be disputed that every state
that supports these various correction
al and charitable institutions should
have a central purchasing board which
would buy all the supplies needed on
bids received after due notice. 1t is a
singular fact that the state of Mime
sofa leaves to the local members of
ana
trustees Of it's establishments the pur-
chase of all supplies, excepting solely
the article coal, which is bought by a
board composed of the governor,
auditor and treasurer. Recently we
had quite an uproar because the
steward of the Rochester hospital
bought goods in Chicago, the conten-
ton being that it was disloyalty to the
state to buy supplies out Of it's limits.
In the last analysis this meant that he
was disloyal to his town, whose mer-
chants expect to have the custom of
the establishment. If plan similar
to that of Wisconsin were adopted here
and supplies bought in quantities under
bids, we apprehend that the intense
interest in getting one of the state in
stitutions located would subside to very
moderate dimensions. However, the
Wisconsin method of purchasing works
eXcellently, and if Iowa and Minnesota