The daily journal. (Salem, Or.) 1899-1903, 1902-07-19


special session and fiat salaries and in
the main he is right. He can see the
main points Of the injustice of the
present system lie says:
The proposition to put the officials
on a fiat salary Is good one and
should be adopted, but IL does not
mean that the governor will get less
money than now paid. No one sup
poses that II would be just to pay the
uovernor nor more than $500. That
sum may have been sufficient "a years
AGO when we were few In number and
the business Of the office trivial in
amount. Even the secretary Of state
would get more from the state treas
ury under a flat salary than Is now
paid 10 him. What that officer gets
more than the $500 comes from fees
paid by wealthy corporations who are
best able to contribute.
Yes. the secretary Of state would
get more from the state treasury than
he does now, but he would pay great
deal more into the treasury than he
took out and he would pay into It
what the constitution now prohibits
him from putting in his own pocket
but which ne puts into his own pocket
in spite Of the constitution.
Mr.. Gault says the secretary now
gets most of his fees from rich cor
porations who are best able to contri.
butte That is not correct The in.
surance tax now goes into the treasury
and as no other corporations pay a tax
on gross earnings the fees do not
come from the wealthy corporations,
but from notarles. filing articles by
new companies, copying records, etc
In It's issue Of July 5th. which Mr.
Gault received. The Journal printed
the saving that would be effected
under reasonable fiat salaries in each
department Of the state government
and made this statement:
"All the compensation and expenses
of the departments C$92, $500 comes
out Of the state treasury except the
l$lO518iG estimated annual fees col
lccted and retained by the secretary
Of state and $500 out Of the common
school interest fund So that on the
Hat salary basis there would be a net
saving Of $iSO3O per annum. S35,9l2
less per annum would be taken from
the treasury, and $lO,5lSiG. estimated
fees of secretary Of state as shown by
table below, more would go into the
treasury annually"
This answers Mr. Gaults statement
that under Hat salaries more would be
paid out of the state treasury than at
present Less would be taken out and
more would be paid in, just as has
been the ease under Hat salaries In the
city Of Salem and In Marion county
and nearly every county of the state.
II seems that nothing but pounding
away will familiarize even member
Of the legislature, who is supposed to
be shade more intelligent than the
common rum Of people, with the plain
truth
In the following statement Mr. Gault
who is not disposed 10 attack the pres
ent system, reveals the most rcmar.
kahle feature OF the present system OF
fees and pcrquisitos that the official
Is allowed To take the fees and perqul.
sites and put them In his pocket and
then the state employs clerks To do
the work for which the fees are paid.
MIR Gault sees this and says.
No doubt there is little leakage
here since the state pays the clerk
hire that performs the work for these
outside parties. II that outside work
were not done fewer clerks would be
needed, and II done the emoluments
should pay clerk hire and not the
state. How much these fees amount
TO cannot be known but II is not be.
lieVed that the sum even approximates
to 100000.
The emolumeuts should pay the
clerk hire and not the state" and if
there rs any money left over after pay.
ing the expenses OF the department
Il should be placed In the state treas
ury.
That is the theory OF the present
system but il don't work and is not
carried into effect The fees are con.
sidcrcd tho property of the official.
and the state must pay the clerks
The Journal never claimed that
these fees approNlmated $500 GOO in
four years Il has shown from care.
fully prepared figures taken from the
laws and the official records that the
difference In the amount less that
would be- taken from the treasury aud
the amount more that would be nut
into IT, would be $4,000 year or