The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-02-10
THE STATE EXPENDITURES
CONTINUED from Seventh Page.)

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sary to appoint a messenger or docu-
ment clerk in each house to take
charge of distributing documents and
to superintend the work of the pages,
who should not be over sixteen years of
age. The pages would be amply COM
pensated at one dollar per day for each
day of actual session. The compensa-
ton of the doorkeepers and superinten-
dent of pages should be the same as
that of the members of the general as
sembly and with no other expense or al
lowance of any kind except possibly for
| transportation. Such a law would save
the members a large amount of annoy
ance from rival claimants for the office
and secure more uniform and efficient
service.
We also recommend the passage of a
bill fixing the compensation of the clerks,
which should be sufficient to include Of
flee expenses, without allowance or gra-
tuity of any kind We believe that quite
a saving could be made If the comp
troller furnished all the stationery for
the members and committees. The per-
qusite Of fountain pens, knives, etc,
should be either dispensed with entire
ly or furnished by the comptroller. BY
the adoption of these recommendations
the expenses of the general assembly
can easily be reduced twenty-five thou
sand dollars (s25, 00O) per session.
AS at present constituted, the house of
representatives consists of two hundred
and fifty-two members, representing one
hundred and sixty-eight towns. OF
these towns ne-half or eighty -four are
represented by one member and eighty
four by two members If the constitu-
tion was so amended az to provide a
representation of one member from each
town the house of representatives
would consist of one hundred and sixty
eight 06S) members, and the saving to
the state on the salaries and transport
tation expenses of the elghty-four MEM
bers would be at least thirty thousand
dollars ($3C,000) With this change and
the other changes suggested by the COM
mittee, there is no reason why the ex-
penses of the general assembly should
exceed over one hundred thousand dol
lars ($100,000) per session. or about fifty
thousand dollars ($50,0OO) less than at
the present time. We therefore recon-
mend for your careful consideration and
attention the question Of amending the
constitution in such manner that the
representation in the house of represent
tatives shall be one member and only
one, from each town of the state.
We deem it advisable to give to the
comptroller authority to prescribe a I'M
form for all employees in and about the !
capitol and grounds.
We We're surprised to learn that there |
was no complete inventory of state |
property in the capitol, and believe that |
such an inventory should be made, and |
that it should be verified at least every
two years
A practice has grown up which, in our
opinion, ought to be stopped; we refer
to the fact of number of persons using |
the capitol as a lodging house, several
rooms, we understand, being furnished
with beds for this use.
1t is hardly necessary to say that it
was never intended that such use should !
be made of the capitol, and after closing
at night no persons should be allowed to
remain in it except the superintendent
and night watchmen.
SHELL-FISH COMMISSION.
This commi S on has full charge of and
over the oyster grounds of
the state, and in this capacity has to do
with a large and important industry, the
source of one of the most valuable food
products in the state. The business Of
the commission is apparently well and
conducted at a moderate
expense, which has usually been more
than paid by taxes and boat licenses col
ected and other receipts of the office.
For the past two years, however, the ex-
oenses have exceeded the receipts.
About seventy-five C75) per cent, of the
ground held by the oyster growers is
md has been uncultivated for the past
EN- years. Various reasons for this,
most of them very unsatisfactory, have
'een given to the committee by different
growers. We believe, however, that it
S largely the result of the wording of
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