Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1902-07-11
FRIDAY, JUNE IL, 1902.
No ECONOMY In 1T.

in public print and otherwise as
to the propristy of the governor
calling an extra session of the
legislature. One OF the ostensi-
BILE reasons urged for such extra
ordinary proceedings is that the
legislature may proceed to enact
a law providing fat salaries for
state officers. An extra session
for that purpose is not necessary,
because the fundamental law of
the land, the state constitution,
ever since the organization OF
the state government has placed
the principal state officers upon
certain definite and fixed salaries,
50 far as the state is co1cerned.
1t needs no act of the Legislature
to fix these salaries, unless such
act is to reduce them below the
constitutional limitation. The
compensation of the governor is
the only state salary, where the
taxpayers have suffered by per-
quisites and extra compensation,
voted through various devices,
paying him for so-called extra
work by placing him upon various
commissions in order to increase
his compensation. The secretary
of state and state treasurer do not
receive fees from the taxpayer or
the state, but from individuals
for services rendered.. With
these fees, the constitution has
nothing to do, and the taxpay-
ers are in no way hurt by the
fees so paid. II may seem to the
unthoughtful, a very plausible
speculation for the state to pay
these officers large salaries, and
require the fees received from
private parties to be turned into
the state treasury, but as soon as
the high salary was in operation,
and the taxpayer paying.the in
crease, some active legislator
would introduce a bill to cut of
the fees now paid by individuals.
AS there would be no officer in
terested in seeing that the fee bill
was kept in force, the act would
become law, leaving the tax
payer to pay for the work done
for individuals.
The people of this state, un'
der similar conditions, have had
a severe experience in the case
of county officers. When al
county officers were compensated
under the fee bill, much adverse
criticism was INDUCED in, urg-
ing that such officers be placed
on stated salaries, the fees collect
ed to be turned into the county
treasury. At the session of the
legislature following the passage
OF the law providing stated sala'
ries for county officers, some pro-
life legislator introduced a bill
which became a law, cutting of
nearly all fees paid to county of
icers for services rendered private
individuals. Since that time the
general taxpayers have paid the
county officers for all court work
done for Individual litigants,
with the result that parties dis
posed to be constantly in court
escape paying for services rem
dered them by the officers, and
all but a comparatively small
portion of the cost, is paid by
the general taxpayers who are
nowise benefited by or interest
ed in the litigation.
The scheme of those demand
ing larger fiat salaries than are
provided by the constitution, is
another one of the many devices
to violate the constitution and
outrage the taxpayer. The twad
die, urged by some, to the effect
that the salaries named in the
constitution were meant to be con-
sidered as the minimum, appears
transparent to all acquainted
with the conditions existing
when the state constitution was
adopted. Oregon was at that
time a remote territory, months
being required to communicate
with the Eastern states. 1t had
population scarcely sufficient to
organize a goodsized county, yet
the isolated condition of the peo-
pie required a state government.
Under these conditions, all real
lied that large salaries would
in few years hopelessly bank
rupt the commonwealth, and the