The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-03-16

O0m't Nc NeCaOmS0 wv @sN@
Were Psid-state Omcials Must he
More Explicit I'm Filing Expense
Bills.
rsPrCrAL 10 THE fREss.1
Augusta, March 10 The pass question
was before the Senate this morning
when Mr.. Reynolds addressed that body
in reference to his bill requiring state
officials to ME iterhized accounts Of their
expenses ana limiting them to reimburse
mspt only for the amounts actually paid
out, o measure which would prevent the
charging OF mileage when travelling on a
pass. Mr.. Reynolds moved to substitute
bis bill for the bill presented by the ma
jority Of the committee In doing 90, Mr..
Reynolds spoke a. follows:
81 wish to make statement in regard
to the position Of the committee. The
action 10 taken In this way TO avoid ding
. minority report. Our COMMITTEES has
kept together 90 we'll that we dislike,
guess fling minorisy reports. and de-
cided that inAsmuoh Is was in the
\ WouAA toAo tnia cookeos
"The bill - originally presented moor.
pnrated these features. that each employs
and officer Of the state should file an
itsmised statement of his expenses. in
Guiding railroad and steamboat fares and
mileage, and should be reimbursed for
thosa am At liberty to state Is the
action of the committee that the Hrst
thing we did was to eliminate the matter
of mileage. That particularly applied to
the councillors, who come from some
distance and receive small compensation.
While the rule msasurably holds to them.
~ believe, at the same time 1t would
seem to mo, after further consideration,
to b wise that that should be adjusted BY
. change Of statute rather than by a bill
Of this character, 90 that 1t would reduce
the matter right to the one problem of re-
imbursing the state officials for their
actual expenses. The other problem Is
whether or not there should be filed In
the office OF the auditing officer or the
state treasurer an affidavit to tho effs9t
that thoss expenses were actually In
CURED in the business of the state.
upon inspection of the bills that have
besn approved In our auditing offics, on
presentation of them in the committee
room, the committee were unanim ously
of the opinion that the bills were not in
proper shape and that there should be an
itemized statement. These bills were Of
considerable size and you win look
through the various appropriations as
they have gown from time to time In the
different departments, ranging some.
where from $1,000 to many thousands Of
dollars, you will find that they do not
specify how much Is incurred for hotel
bills, how much for railway fares or any
thing of that kind. They are not all of
the same character, but without reading
any names will read this, for one:
"To services and expenses, sis5; ex-
psnsss to Hartford, es4. Making . total
Of ei69.
"To expenses in January and February,
attending hearings, hotel bills, railway
fares, otc., eilS and 90 on. That is some
thing on the plan, and this matter de.
velopsd in the committee, so that the
members. although they do not agree
with me in the report win agree, I
think, that there ought to be different
accounting. Then they said there would
probably b state auditor later on, and
the necessity of having this done would
be obvisted, 20 that the majority report
comes before you requiring that there
shall be an itsmizsd statement and that
shall be accom- panied BY q certificate
stating that the account was for expenses
incurred for the state. The only feature
upon which We disagree at the present
time is whether or NOT the railway fares
shall be Included and that simply gets TO
the question OF whether or not persons
holding passes given to them by railroads
or street railways shall use those passes
and shall file an account stating that 1t
WAS for expenses incurred and shall re-
ceive reimbursement for those expenses.
1t 10 on that point that our committee on
legal Affairs divides. two being with me,
making three for the minority and four
for the majority report.
Now the acceptance of the majority re-
port means this; that the use of passes
carries with 1t the right to file a state
msnt, that these passes shall be paid for
and that the person who holds them shall
have the benefit of the passes. The
amendment. means that that shall not be
the case. that II person who Is state
official has pass, the state shall have the
benefit of that pass. 1t has been argued
land argued openly in the committee, SO
that can refer to it, by some Of our
state officials that 1t is purely personal
thing, that these passes have been given
to them to 10 used and that the railroads
expect them to use them for their own
good and they further say and to that ex-
tent only will I criticise their position,
they further Jay that providing they are
not allowed to collect this money for
themselves, that they should pay the