Potosi journal. (Potosi, Mo.) 1894-1929, 1899-02-22
LAWS CONE At
S7S37 APIECE. .
This Is Exclusive of the Paw
of Lawmakers.
ONLY TWO BILLS YET
PASSED.
Work OF CLERKS FOR TIE SEs-
SION Has Cost SI5,674.
Spccjal Co the POst-DjSpatch.

! Special Go the Post-Dispatch.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo-, Feb
1.-The enrolment Of the only
two bills enacted into law by this
Legislature has cost the people OF
the State S7131 for enrollmen'
alone, exclusive of the cost of ell.
grossment, which was SS543.
This is another phase of the clcr
ical force scandal. One third OF
to be exact, AZ days of the session
have passed, and only two bills
have been enrolled. They We're en-
rolled this week. The enrolment
forces of the House and Senate
have been on the payroll since the
session began, and until this week
they have absolutely no work to dc
yet they have cost the State in sal
aries S7131. There are 80 members
of the House enrolling force and
Is on the Senate force.
There are 50 members of the cn-
crossing force of the House and
90 members of Senate force. The
House force has engrosscd ~ bills
at cost Of $56O3. All this work
of cngrossment has been done in
the last two weeks. For a full
month after the Legislature met nc
bills were engrossed, yet these en-
ployes in the House including the
Engrossing Clerk and janitor and
eight others in the Senate, were
carried on the payrolls, drawing
So. so a day, or total for the six
weeks Of SS543.
Those who have seen the engross-
ed bills declare that some of the
handwriting in them is far below
the average.
Representative George S. Gin
ton, of Shannon County. who was
a member of the Legislature which
met in 1873, says that during that
session all the engrossing of the
bills for the House was done by
one man, John Detchmundy, and
that all the bills were enrolled by
one man, John Butler, of Scotland
County, now a Judge. In addition
to his duties as cngrossing clerk,
Detchmundy served as clerk of a
committee. Fortyone men are
now required to fill his place.
Mr.. Clinton recalls, too, that at
that time the chief clerk did all the
reading, and there were no read
ing clerks. There are now three
clerks in the House. That a read
ing clerk is not needed in the Sen
ate is shown by the fact that the
Secretary, Cornelius Roach, reads
nearly every document before the
Senate.
This clerical force scandal has
assumed State wide Importance.
The exposure made by the Post
Dispatch and the telltalc figures
showing.the degree of extravaganza
of which the Legislature has been
guilty, have reached the people,
and the members are hearing from
them. The Governor has denounc-
ed it. Yet the members find them
selves between two fires. They
have saddled themselves with the
load and they don't know how tc
get rid of it. There isn't mem.
Der that doesn't admit that a mis-
take was made in employing such Il
large force at the beginning, but
having done so, and having brough!
the employees here with the under
standing that the employment was
to last through the session, few OF
them have the courage to vote te
send any of them home. Each one
fears that he would thereby make
unrelcnting enemies of the mer
discharged and their friends, anc
thereby endanger his political fu
ture. They don't know which horn
of the dilemma offers the best of {:
bad bargain, whether to brave il
out to the end and waste the public
money or reduce the force and TAKE
the consequences Of the innumerabls
petty political feads that would re
suit from such action.