Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1898-10-20
Al THEIR OLD TRICKS.
oARBLINorHE PUBLIC RECORDS
TO CATCH THE UNWARY.
Nat Here are Given the True Figures In
the Financial History of the state
Since Is9a-A showing OF which
We May Justly be Proud.

The patriot who presldes over the
digger" bureau attached To the popo-
crat state central committee Is either
woefully ignorant of the subject he
is cndeayoring 10 inform the people
about. or foolish enough To believe that
anything he sees III TO state in this
connection will be accepted by the In
telllgent voters of Michigan as the
gospel truth. We rather suspect the
latter 10 be the case, for having neces- I
sarily had access TO the reports or 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 is wholly erroneous
and misleading.
The burden of the "iiggerer's" song
Is that the cost of maintaining the
State government was greater Tor the
year ending June 30. 1898, than Ii was
for the year ending June 30, 1892,
when the first purely Democratic gov
ernor OF Michigan for thrty-seven
years" occupied the executive chair.
In view of the fact that the world
has moved a trife, and the state has
! grown materially since Governor WI
mans Administered ton, the Republicans
/ of Michigan have no hesitancy in ac-
/ knowledging the entire truthiulncss or
this general charge. but when Il de-
signing statistician, whose sole aim Is
to deceive the public, undertakes to
make it appear that this Increase In
expenses amounted 10 nearly Sl,oOO,-
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, ii may be
said one item which entered into the
total disbursements for the last fiscal
year of $1,000, 534.I9, represents de-
linquent county. township, city and
village taxes collected by the State and
paid back to the counties. This item
, amounted to $507, 741.1T. AS fast as
these delinquent taxes were collected
the sums were deposited in the State
treasury by the Auditor-General. 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 10 the popo-
: cratic press man, yet he deliberately
sought TO make the people believe that
lDlS item OF SoVi ,itl.lts NhlNh 'AS
State collected for and returned to the
4 several counties, represented DIS
Q bursement or an item of expense OF
I carrying on the State government toI
% that year.
. Having thus exposed the absolute
> rottenness of the statistics which are
being sent out over the State in the
hope of working up a sentiment IL
! 30 hn
tration, it would seem unnecessary Il
make further reference thereto, bu
the administration invites the closes
T. inspection of all its acts, and in ordel
that the exact truth may be known
y an analysis Of the cost of maintainn!
4 the State government for the TIVE
y years mentioned has been made, an'
r. attention is invited TO it. Every iigur
40 given below is absolutely correct AM
40 can be verified from the same report
which have been SO wilfully and fright
e.. fully distorted by the opposition.
Z, In 1872 the cost of maintaining tn
n asylumS of the State amounted {
70 S693. 800. 10. this total including the eN
penseS of the Soldiers Home, stat
h. school for Dependent Children, trans
portaton of children to and from tn
latter institution. etc. For the iisca
year 1898. this item amounted to $942
903. so. This is an Increase for the In
| ter wear of S249 .3l.6l, but II shout
be borne in mind that we now hav
a womans annex to the Soldier
Home, the Newberry Hospital for th
Insane. and the State Home Tor th
Feeble Minded and Epileptic, none
which were in existence during Cove
y nor Winan's boosted administrator
n Aside from this. ii is fact well know
: to the citizens Of Michigan that Il
b. number of insane in the State has CO..
stantly increased during the past fe
years. and that now, even with Il
increased accommodations for the
r. care in proper asyluns, the count
:. iails throughout Michigan are full
b this unfortunate class of citizens WI
are being held TO await an opening
. an asylum, so they may be place
g where they properly belong. The
y items. which had no place in the e
pense of the Winans adminiStratiO
e. fully account for the increase not,
- above.
~. Now to show what was accomplish,
!. by the Democratic and Republics
- administrations when the condito
A.. were anywhere near similar, attenti
Nv is invited 10 the cost or ma1ntalnll
nd the penal and reformatory institutio
I'm Of Michigan during the years und
'o' consideration. In 1892 this total CO
= amounted to $30J. 95l 40 while In Is
. 1t was but $249, 1ll.12. or a decrease
4 S56.g27.3i Although there We're
new penal or reformatory institutio
in 1898, the population of the State h
Increased 221 900 since 1892, and the
had been more than proportions
increase in the population of the pr
ons. yet they were maintained at
smaller cost. Notwithstanding the
torious fact that the Democratic o
I'D Gals turned them over 10 their RepI
IN Iican successors with scarcely enou
provisions TO feed the convicts n di
and without sufficient clothing to
ford the latter n change OF shirts.
In 1892 IL cost $30S, 693.92 to ma
tain the educational institutions OF
State. In 1896 this item was "a.
So. AZ. an Increase Of Sll9S93.55.
the latter year there was the Cent
X. Normal School. which did not exist