Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1900-07-17
He's Glad they Did not Steal

made for public printing The
amount returned was the excess of
the amount authorized over the
amount actually used. Why Mr..
White should claim for the admins
tration any great virtue for turning
back into the treasury the funds ofthe
State, beyond the amount necessary
to be used. is difficult to see. Know
ing the weakness of the average Re-
publican administration, Mr. White
may think it proper to note that the
money was not stolen by the officers,
but they certainly deserve no credit
for not keeping the money of the
State which was not necessary to be
used for the purpose for which il
was appropriated. Under our fiscal
system the Legislature is bound to
make all its appropriations, except
those where the amounts are fixed,
one year and half in advance. For
the running expenses Of any depart
ment the amount is purely a matter
Of estimate. It is not possible to
know what amount will be necessa
nv, and the rule is To make the esti-
mate large enough To cover any rea
sonable contingency The fact that
a certain amount is authorized to be
spent does not mean that the entire
amount should be spent unless it is
absolutely necessary II the amount
authorized should prove greater
than the amount actually necessary
to be spent, the only thing the adj
ministration could do with it is to
repay it into the treasury. Those
who have heard the speeches and
read the claims made of the eeono-
my of the present State adminlstra
ton, have noted that the only de
partment in which they boast OF a
saving is in the public printing.
Those who are acquainted with the
situation know that this is only APP
parent economy 1t may be true
that the amount Of The specific APP
preparation for public printing used
under any former administration
but this is because the true amount
is covered up in other appropria-
tions Under each and every Dem
ocratic administration the printing
Of the State and ali its departments
and institutions was done by the
public printer, and paid Tor nj OF
the appropriation tor public print
ting. or IL done elsewhere was still
paid out of that tuad. Under the
present Republican administration
this rule has not been followed. Tie
bill provides that each one al TIE u :
stitutions Of the State shall PAY nr
all the printing done for that iusti
tuition out OF the current expense
fund of the institution whichhas been
increased for that purpose. In addi
tion to this, the Republican attorney
general has ruled that the law doe S
not require that the printing OF the
institutions Of the State shall be
done by the public printer Under
this ruling much of the printing has
been done on the outside and paid
for out Of the current expense fund
of the institution having it done
This accounts for the apparent say
ing made under the present admin
istration N the item of public print
inc. There is, and there can be no
way of knowing definitely VIII at
the total amount paid for public
printing is unless an examination is
made of tue books and records of
every institution and department of
the State, and ascertain Just how
much it has paid for printing out of
its current expense fund. 1t is also
notorious fact that very few of the
institutions and departments have
made the itemlzed statement of
their expenses as the law requires.
The last Legislature could not even
get such statements when they were
required BY resolution to be furnish
ed. 1t is simply juggling Of the
figures to give an appearance of a
situation that does not exist in fact
Kanawha Gazette.
The Chicago Railway Age says