Daily Kennebec journal., 1904-08-20
State Issues.

morning. with campaign supplement
presenting some timely and pertinent
f.cts and figures on the general sub
ject of State issues. We trust that all
of them may take time to give it the
careful reading 1t merits, and that II
may be preserved for future reference
For several weeks past the Democratic
press and campaign speakers have oeeh
united in an effort to mislead the Fot-
ers Of this State by the dissemination OF
alleged figures upon the subject OF
State exnenditures. They have used
the wears 1882 and 1902 for most OF their
nurnorted COMPARISONS. The former
bacause Maine had a Democratic Gov
ernor that year, and because its cur
rent bills to the amount Of several hun
drad thousand dollars We're purposely
nermitted to go over into the succeed
ipo wear TO be paid by the Republican
State government. The year 1907 Is
chosen for comparison with lssZ' III
stead of 1903. which is the last year
covered by the official reports because
I'm 1862 the state was carrying Tempo
rary loan Of SEQ, 900 incurred on account
of the war with Spain, and every dollar
of which was paid before the close OF
flo wear from the current receipts OF
the treasury. The carrying of this
|loan.-which was merely temporary
financial accommodation and In no
sense an expenditure-enabled the
Democratic managers to make on the
would have been possible had they Sc
lected the year 1903. Besides. If they
had chosen 1908 they would have come
up against the magnificent cash bal
ance of s637, ,67S3S which remained in
the treasury at the close of that year.
This same cash balance has
benn n source Of no little embar-
?, ,ssroent to the Democratic managers
in their frantic attempts to impeach
the Republican management of State
affairs, and in their efforts to explain
II away. az will be seen by a reading
Of the supplement to this issue. they
have felt under no obligation to con-
fine themselves to the facts.
Indeed a careful perusal of the true
facts and figures presented in this is
sue will show how small a part the
truth has played thus far in the Demo-
cratic campaign on State issues.
| In making their alleged comparison
of the state expenditures in 1882 and
| 1902. the Democratic writers and pub
lie speakers have not scrupled to in
clud. in the table which they gave
out for 1902, Implications of the same
items. county taxes collected by the
state and turned over to the counties.
dog licenses that merely passed
| through the State treasury back to the
towns. railroad taxes rebated to the
towns and salaries more than paid by
the fees Of the office-as I'm the cases
of the Steamboat Inspectors and
Board Of Medical re gistration.
Not only has there been this gross
misstatement of facts. but half truths
the worst form of misrepresenta-
tion-have been used in such way as
to convey to the voters an entirely
false inference as to real facts. How
general mas Deen tHlS CdiIpdiSii vi
Juggling and misrcpresenting the fig
ures of our State expenditures will
appear more fully from careful
perusal Of todays supplement. The
facts therein presented demonstrate
one thing and demonstrate it conclu-
sively, viz: That statements from
Democratic sources touching State ex-
penditures are absolutely unreliable.
The true figures of the past twenty
one years of Republican rule in Maine
will make cheerful reading for the
voters of this State. They show that
while "A per cent. of the States rev.
enues were contributed by the towns
in 1882. only 81 per cent. of them are