Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-10-29
ONE S|N[CUR[ O GO
Chief Of Police Of State Capitol
To Be Discontinued Under
Next Administration.
Some Useless Printing OF Re.
ports.-State House a Store
house Of Paper.
"A Good Story Told by a Kansas
City Namesake On Charlie
Walsh.
ecial to Times-Republican.

Special to Times-Republican.
Des Moines, Oct. 29.-"Who will be
your successor as chief of police of the
state capitol?" asked the T.-R. corre
spondent of Capt. George w. Beall, who
has been the chief of police or day
watch at the state capitol ever since
long before it was completed.
II do not know" he replied, nor do I
care what they do with the office after
the first of the year. l am done with it."
Capt. Beall was selected for the place
by the old capitol commission when
work had so far progressed that day
watch was deemed necessary. With the
exception of short time under Gov
ernor Boies he has been there ever since.
He knows by sight more of the men
who come to the state house from over
the state than any other person. But
there are number of candidates for his
place and Capt. Beall Is we'll aware that
he will not be retained under the next
administration.
1T wouldn't surprise me bit" he
the office of custodian. Neither is needed
Under the present method OF running
the state house. There should be head
janitor in charge of the janftor service
of the state house, and the work of the
custodian can be taken over by the eX-
ecutive council without trouble. In fact
neither the custodian nor the eh1ef OIL
police has anything to do but to draw
their salaries 1t used to be that /
bought all the supplies for the janitors,
the cleaning material and innumerable
odds and ends, but the executive coun-
Gil does that now. The same is true OF
the custodian. He doesn't buy anything
or have any responsibility fer anything
now. The executive council or its sec
retary have taken over SO many duties
that the offices might as we'll be abol-
ished."
The chief of police gets $500 a year
and two night watchers get the same
amount. The carpenter and the engi-
neer get 81. 200 year each, and there is
lots of work to do for them. There are
a dozen or fifteen janitors getting from
$3.50 to $3.50 year each. one janitress.
an elevator tender, five or six firemen,
and during the right seasons three yard
tenders and from twenty-five to thirty
snow shovelers. The custodian has
charge of the yard and sees to employ
ing men to clean off the snow In the
winter time. But the great quantity of
supplies purchased for the use of the
capitol are purchased by the secretary
az the executive council and doled out
on orders presented to him.
aAs
lust at this time the state house has
the appearance of a great jobbing ware
house. 1t is, in fact. the finest store
louse for paper and things in the state
of Iowa. Hundreds of square feet OF
eoor space are taken up for storage pur-
noses. The store rooms i'll the basement
are filed and the shelves piled high. IN
some offices one must wind around
omons baskets and cuspidors and mon
kew wrenches and boxes of stationery TO
find the desks of the oihclals. Ihe eas.
and west corridors in the basement story
of the capitol are filled with great Dun
dies of paper, hundreds ana hundreds Oh
them. and not all has yet been deliV-
cred that the state has purchased 10 last
two wears. There is now in the corri-
dors about $4,000 worth of paper OF va
rious kinds, including S1l,00O worth OF
nook paper $500 worth of fiat paper
and 81 500 worth of fiat papers. The pur-
obases are made on estimates based on
the consumption the previous two years.
The estimates the last biennial period
foil short because the superintendent OF
nuhlic instruction used a much larger
ouantity of paper than was anticipated.
might well be done to relieve
tho state house of its use as q paper
warehouse and general supply depot.
The COPY will soon be sent to the state
printer for the new volume on expenses
of the various offices. The secretary OF
the executive council now has in his
hands the reports from various Offices,
which reports under the new law. are
required to show the exact expenditure
of every cent of the states money
These reports present some queer stud
les. Some of them are plain and others
have not sufficient clearness to be Nalu-
able. But when they are published the
state will have another big book added
to the list and this book will be one
great mass of figures. From this one
may learn that on Il certain date the
treasurer of state got 10 cents worth of
lead pencils and ON another date bot
tile of ink; that the planting of trees at
the state normal school cost certain
amount: that the nails in the new pig
pen at A,nes We're of certain price;
that the state commissioner of labor
statistics paid cents car fare in Sioux
CITY on certain date; that the chair
man of the state railway commission
was at an expense or 81 for sleeping
over night at crossing up the state.
etc. There has been a good deal of
kicking about the furnishing of these
reports They had to be itemized and
sworn to. In one or two instances the
officials have refused to swear to the
statements in the form in which the
oath has been printed. and they have
taken the liberty to change the oath.
But 1t will be a great book when done.
The typewriter abstract of evidence
in the case of the stale against John
Gray, from Marshall county. has been
fled with the clerk. of the supreme
court. Gray appeals from the verdict of
against him for the murder
Of Joseph Williams, on several grounds.