The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-09-20

foads S2oU, 4U4,O ,Ol;. Tor pupllc SaTety, $196,86464; for public lands and hdild- ings, $33746412 for agriculture, $67,- 6S4.24; for public printing, $7O,S97 .45; for expenses of the general assembly, $191,- 27746; for the executive branch, $4S,- 6O1,4S; for states prisons and 5ails, $142,2975S; for the bureau of labor sta- tistios, SPHERE. These are the chief items Above their total remains the sum of a little over $100,OOO for contin- gent expenses, the shell fish commits sion, the fish and game commission, railroad commission, insurance com mission, banking commission, building and loan commission, and the numer- ous other bodies that are necessary in carrying out the details of our state administration.
 DIMINISHING STATE DEBT.
 In reality the item of expenditure for public lands and buildings should be about $30000O less than tho figures giv- en above, because this sum went for the purchase of real estate for the new state armory, the value of which, of course, will be added to our perma- nent assets and ought not to be charged up to the current expense &C., count There was lkewise paid the sum of s10,OOO for state bond redemp- ton, another good lump clipt off the expense column Our state debt has been reduced steadily year after year until the net amount is about $343, OFF, &, a merely nominal sum for com monwealth of our great resources and the probability is that within a few years this debt will be entirely wiped out, and Connecticut will be among the lifew American states to be without a dollar of ineumbrance 1 In what respect would our political critics improve upon ttfs expense &C., count? Would they spend less for edu- 1 cation? Or for charity and humane l institutions? Or for our state roads? Or for the promotion of agriculture? Or for the public safety? Let them
 tell us when they are trumping up this absurd issue Just where they would better the recent republican admins
 tratlon of affairs.
 l The fact is, that in an age of graft revelations and shady transactions by men of all parties in stations of trust
 not even suspicion of dishonesty has been hinted against any republican ad-
 ministration in Connecticut, and for this we have the tribute of the chosen | spokesman of the democratic state con- l vention, who said: Nobody charges ' that our state government is dishonest
 or corrupt" we may well hold ouI
 heads high and challenge the entire un' I ion of states to show on the whole 2
 better, more honestly conducted and t, public affairs
 If this be frankly admitted by tn
 opposition, why then should a party faithful to it's trust be deposed? I MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP. |. The question of municipal ownership 1 which Is purely municipal business
 matter has been brought into thi!
 campaign. It is sufficient to say tha
 private enterprise has in many place
 supplied public wants years before thu
 public itself would have undertaken tt supply them, If the public desires t
 supplant private ownership by munici pal ownership it should pay to thu . owners of the private plant the actua
 value of such plant. No legislatur,
 has ever turned down such a propost tion.
 Speaking as citizen, taxpayer ant republican, am personally In favor o giving any municipality the broades
 privilege to decide for itself by majori
 ty vote what 1t shall do with this ques
 ton. It should always be the right o
 taxpayers to say what they will d.
 with their own money,
 1 THE FBE SYSTEM.
 For the opposition to raise as an is sue the fee system is only to call atten
 tion to the fact that joint committe of the senate and house, appointed b, the last legislature, was given thi
 subject for investigation and will re
 port at the next session. Withou
 doubt bill will be introduced covering
 the matter The republican party ia vors reform in this respect. It ha , been consistently urged for severa years, and chiefly by the leaders an
 press of the republican party. Thei  , continued agitation promises to bea fruit at an early date. The beneflcia ries are not confined to any one party but are both democrats and republi cans, and the party now in power ha
 no special incentive, much less the pur F! pose, to continue a practice if it
 found to be wrong.
 ROoSEvELTTHE ISSUE. 2 After all,the supreme question at thi time is whether or not the people cal be persuaded to forget the splendid ad 3 ministration of Theodore Roosevelt an fail to give 1t the vote of confidenc 5 and endorsement that it deserves ) whether the purpose of that leader 3 prosecute hls brave fight against cor c ruption, graft and defiance of the law : by high or low, shall be upheld. Ore 5 gon, Vermont and Maine have spoken g. lContinued on Sixth Pags0