The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-05-24
WASTE TIME
AND MONEY
One Thousand Dollars a
Day to Appropriate
81 Is.

The Legislature of Hawaii costs the
taxpayers one thousand dollars fol-
every day 1t sits, and has passed up t.
the Governor one appropriation bill
which carries thirty-seven items. eact
for less than $25. The bill carries
some larger amounts, it is true. 1t is
the bill making appropriations to meet
unpaid bills. And most of the small
sums are refunds of money wrongfully
paid into the Treasury, which canno,
be paid back in any other way under
the Hawaiian system, than by appro-
prlatlon from the Legislature. One of
these items is for s1.25.
Now, of course, every one of these
items is presumably looked into and
verified by the committee to which it
is referred before it is inserted in the
bill. An item for $1.25 requires the
same verification, and goes through the
same amount of red tape, theoretically,
as one for ten thousand dollars.
After the bill has passed the Legis-
lature, every claim allowed in it must
be investigated by the Governor and
the heads of one or more departments,
and its justice established before the
Governor can sign the bill and author
ize the payment. That care is due the
taxpayers whose money is being
handled.
Well it would seem that one thou
sand dollars a day to say nothing of
the salary of the Governor and of the
heads of the departments, is a pretty
high wage to pay for this class of SER
vice. And it is. In older communities,
indeed, they have found a way to get
around this particular condition by
making a lump appropriation of from
$1,000 to $500, which sum is lodged in
the Treasury to be used for no other
purpose than to pay lawful refunds and
correct monetary errors certain to arise
in the transaction of public business.
This fund is surrounded with efficient
checks, and the fullest investigation is
made before a warrant is drawn against
it; but the investigation is made by
each department in the way of regular
business, and comes up to the head of
the department as routine matter
that does not take up his time during
the legislative. session when time is of
particular value. Also, the Legislature
is relieved OF a mass of petty detail,
and so stands some chance of getting
its regular work done in session time.
And, lastly, claimant with just
claim against the government does not
have to wait two years for his money.
If he is a small claimant, this is gen.
orally a serious matter with him.
Another exemplifcation of the waste
of legislative time is shown in the loan
bill, whose terms have just been agreed
upon in conference committee. That
bill carries totaI of 90 items, So of
which, or more than half, are for sums
under ten thousand dollars. Among
these are four items for $500, and 9TH
ers as low as 5000 and $500. These
items are for small roads, that will
never be built, because the Governor
is not likely to borrow money to build
them. And so their insertion and dis
cussion was an absolute waste of time.
In fact, the whole building bust
ness is thing that should not properly
be in the hands of the Legislature at
all. There is need for roads, of course,
but roads are local-and in other States
and Territories the central govern
ment does not concern itself at all
about them.