The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-11-16

Saline county, will again introduce the
same measure he did two years ago,
and this time he will probably push it
vigorously. Senator F. H. Quincy, Mr..
Kirtlands colleague in the senate, will
push the measure in that body.
Mr.. Kirkland is in Topeka today, and
in discussing the tax matter he said:
Il have my bill all ready and think
will introduce it and do my best to
get it through. believe it is the most
satisfactory measure that can be de-
vised. Any radical change from the
present methods is bound to produce
more or less trouble and dissatisfac-
ton.
My plan is simply to enforce the
provisions of the present law by pro-
viding a penalty on assessors who will
fully disobey it. The present law pro-
vides that all property shall be asses
Sed at its actual value, but there is no
penalty attached for not doing so, and
therefore every county assesses prop
erty on a different basis. The only
thing there is to the taxation question
is to get the property on the tax rolls
and to get it on an equab1e basis, so
that all shall share its just proportion
of taxation.
Senator Quincy, who will represent
Saline and Ottawa counties in the
senate the coming winter, was very
much in favor of my bill two years
ago, and he will help push it the COM
ing winter. 1 did not feel like forcing
my bill to the front in the last legis-
lature, because did not wish to head
off the measures on which there had
been so much work, providing they had
any merit in them, but I thought all
the time that my plan was the simplest
and most feasible of any solution pre-
sented-
1.-The county commissioners in Saline
county think that the annual meeting
of assessors, to fix a basis of assess
ment ought to be done away with and
"a n 10 q a
meeting at Topeka, with one represen-
tative from each county, to discuss the
taxation question and to agree to as
sess property at its actual value"
1t is generally conceded that there
will be fewer employees on the pay roh
of the legislature during the coming
winter than there were either in 1908
or in 1901. There will be reform in both
branches. In this connection the state
ment is being published that during the
last session the house had 234 employees
and the senate had 80. This is a gross
error. The house journal gives the
names of 207 employees in that body
and the senate journal has 146 listed in
that body. There were probably a few
more in each body who were not in
deXed.
The 207 members given in the house
cost the state 1921 a day, and the 146
employees in the senate cost the state
S43S a day. There are 125 members in
ate, so that the employees in the house
cost S4.96 per day per member, while
in the senate they cost s1o.75 per day
per member. In both houses they
could be reduced to about one-third
the number of two years ago, and they
should be paid from the time they re-
port for work and not from the be-
ginning of the session, unless they are
compelled to do work which has ac-
since the beginning of the
session.
For instance, some committees do not
need clerks at all and others do not
appoint them until the session is half or
two thirds over, yet it has been the Gus
tom for years to pay them from the be-
ginning of the session.
The candidacy of w. c. Purdue, post
master at Beloit, for the Republican
nomination for secretary of state two
years hence, has been launched Pur-
due is Congressman Reeder's manager
in Mitchell county and he has been
postmaster at Beloit for the past six
years. He was a brother -in-law Of the