The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-02-01
WHAT THEY THINK OF 1T
OPINIONS or SOME PUBLIC MEN ON
THE REFORM QUESTION.
Relating to County and Township
GOvernment-LegisIa Receiving
Letters and kilograms.

OF the Legislature. There VIII be some
amendments, perhaps, but the principle in
VOWED in the bills will not be impaired.
There is every reason to believe that Gov
ernor Mount will sign the bills as soon as
they reach him. Faith in their passage has
been increased to a foregone certainty by
the great demand that is being made for
their enactment. This demand is voiced in
letters and kilograms that many of the
members are receiving from constituents
representing all parts of the State
Justus C. Adams former speaker of the
House and prominent Republican leader,
has the following to say with regard TO the
movement for county and township reform:
The time is ripe for action. The people are
behind this movement and the people are
right. The Republican party has enacted
in its platform that something must be
done in the way of reform and the Legis-
lature must enact this promise into reality.
The responsibility is on the Republican
Legislature and if it does not arise to the
responsibility something will drop The
bills proposed by the reform commission
will both pass. Some of the members may
oppose them covertly. but when it comes
to voting very few will allow their names
to go on the record against the measures.
The township trustee is to-day an autocrat.
You never knew Of a bank suspending, in
which trustees balance is placed, that
the balance is not large one. The people
are demanding checks on their local Off
GERS just as they require of their national
and state officers. That is right-that is
business like. If you are a business man
and have bookkeeper you are careful to
place check on that bookkeeper and see
that his balances are all right. The fea-
ture of those two bills that provides that
one body very close to the people shall
levy the taxes and appropriate the money
and that a separate officer shall perform
the executive acts-in other words the di-
vorcement of the legislative and executive
functions-is the right idea. The need for
reform is unquestionable and the time is
ripe"
Quincy A. Blankenship. the farmer rep
resentatiye, in discussing the reform bill,
SAID; There is no question about the
necessity for reform of county and township
government and the people are demanding
it. The present method of tranSacting coun-
" and township business is as old as the
State. The people are demanding that bust
ness principles be injected into county and
township business as well as into the man
agement of banks, for instance, and other
corporate enterprises. NO private buS1-
ness is conducted on system as loose as
our county and township systems. Fully 80
per cent. of the taxpayers of the State are
for reform. They are practically unanimous
and they are demanding that something be
done. There is no opposition except from
some ex-oficers, some who are in office and
some who want to be in Office. No one
has heard of a single business man opposing
the movement and what opposition there
has been has subsidized. A good many hon.
est officers are lending us aid in forwarding
the movement and | wish to say that in my
opinion very many men now in office in
counties and townships are honest. In the
main the system is at fault and not the
men. The bills before the Legislature
known as the commission bills may need
some slight amendments. don't think
they will be amended much, but they will
pass and become laws substantially as pre-
pared. There was no selffshnesS in their
preparation. They were not prepared
hastily and they were prepared by men
who know how to prepare bills. They are
is no question that both bills will pass by
a large majority. The Democratic as we'll
as the Republican members will participate
in this reformation. Under the present
system the county commissioners may do
virtually as they please without paying any
attention to the people. In a county that
I have in mind the commissioners hired last
year man to index a lot of records and
paid $4,000 for the work. There was no need
and no demand for this work and if the
county bill now before the House had been
a law in this one instance county would
have been saved $1,000. know of num-
Der of township trustees who have bought
road scrapers at double price and know
of a bargain for the purchase of q stone
crusher where S4C0 too much was paid The
nerson who saws that these practices must
BNA0biA
not and Will not be stopped simply displays
his ignorance. / am receiving not only let
tiers but kilograms from all parts of the
State telling of bad local conditions and
urging support for the bills that are pend
Samuel Spooner, secretary of the Repub-
lican state committee and eX-representa-
tive, said: ST believe that all thoughtful and
disinterested men are in favor of this re-
form movement. We have outgrown the
systems of county and township govern
ment which were good enough when the
State was in its childhood state, but are en-
tirely inadequate now. l think there IS
crying need of reform and I think the
party pledge should be carried out
WHY ONE MAN FAVORS 1T.
Representative Samuel r. Artman, of
Lebanon, who represents Boone, Hamilton,
Madison and Montgomery counties and is
one of the strong majority leaders of the
House, gave his opinion of the county and
township reform measures as follows: "I
favor the county and township reform bills,
not because believe all county and town
ship officers are dishonest, but because
there are abuses by many of these officers
which are Of such magnitude that there is
just and general demand that their au-
thority shall be circumscribed. think the
most salutary provision of these bills Is the
limitation of the authority of the township
trustee and county commissioners. 1t
seems that the economic administration of
local government would require that Off
Ger or board shall have authority to make
q levy and spend il. This weakness in our
present system is the source of most of the
corrupt dealings of trustees and commits
sioners. The provisions of the reform bills
for the township advisory board and the
county council to fix the levies and to re-
quire expenditures to be confined within the
limits of the levy are the ones that elicit
my approval and hearty support. think
this is the meat of the bills
Senator Hogate, of Hendricks county,
says that personally, he is in favor of the
bills He has mailed copies of the township
bill to every trustee in his county and cop
Ger. including the commissioners, superin-
tendent of the poor farm, etc. and he says
ne has received no reply, as yet, from any
of them
Senator Newly said: IT think there is
great necessity for reform. There needs to
be greater uniformity in the conduct of
township offices especially. For instance,
while another trustee who does every bit
as much work gets only 500 year. There
is the same diversity in the tax levies end
this should not be-
Robert Brown clerk of the Supreme
Court. said: Our whole system of county
and township government is wrong. The
large expenditures for governmental pur-
poses are in local county and township af-
fairs and the taxes are entirely too high
There is no question about that. No one
hears any complaint about the taxes for
state or national purposes, and some re-
forms to reduce the local taxes are i'm
perative. ] have said all along that there
are five things this Legislature must do
and not the least of them by any means is
TO pass law that viii correct defects and
. abuses in the county and township sys-
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