Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-09-07

"hiol IL w ctS IlClu III JJVt anu
not in 1906: $4,000 as an increased
amount paid on the States bonded debt,
100000 used in paying a temporary
loan, $1,000 necessary additional OK
pcnditureS for the two insane hospitals:
and various other items equally justi-
fable and making up the entire in
crease.
II submit" said Mr.. Shelton, that
such an insinlation, without qualifica-
ton or explanation, cOnvicts its au-
thor of lack Of cardOr and good faith,
rather than the party of extravaganza.
Would they have permitted the bonded
Cebt to have gone on unpaid? Would
they have the state continue to pay in
tcrest on the temporary loan, when
good management provided the means
to discharge the principal: Would they
have cut down these appropriations for
insane asylumS, and hospitals and
schools and good roads? They did not
say 50 when they We're made. They
have no right to ask for votes now by
condemnrg the measures they failed
to condemn in the enactment. Ii is by
mans acts, not his professions that he
must be Judged.
Mr.. SHELTON then referred to the four
items Of increase and expenditures over
1898, which have been put out by the
NaterNllle Sentinel. namely: increased
expense of Legislative sessions, increase
in salaries, the railroad tax rebates,
and the expenses of the Sturgis law.
He said that the increased Legislative
expense was made up of various items
which could be easily accounted for,
and none of which the Democrats criti-
else as an individual item. For in
stance, there is the increased cost OF
publishing notice of proposed legisa-
ton, which is much more widely ad-
vertised now than previously. All
bills Of every nature. pending before
the legislature. are now printed for the
information of members and 20 pre-
vent the possibility of any measures
being passed without full knowledge Of
IS rrovisionS; the public laws of the
state are more widely published after
the close of the session. than they
We're twelve years ago, and the volume
of laws passed at the last session was
3reater than ever before. These
items all have to be paid for. and ag-
rregate Z very considerable amount.
no one. however, questions the wisdom
Of the widest possible publicity of such
matters as these.
Mr.. SHELTON then took up the alleged
increase of salaries. He said "this
same paper has called attention to the
increase Of salaries as though it We're
entirely uniustitiablc. They do not
tell YOU that during the time selected
for comparison. a Republican legisla-
ture has abolished the fee system, a
creation of the time before there was
Il Republican party, and put all Of the
state officials on a salary basis at
net gain to the state. They omit to
call your attention to the increase in
the salaries of the Justices of the Su-
preme Court. which was supported and
approved of by the leaders of both
parties, but which accounts for $12,
600 of the increase: they omit to men
ton the fact that the official stenogra
pliers of the Supreme Court are now
paid by the State instead of by the
counties as formerly, and this item
accounts for $4,000 more. The fact is
the actual increase in salaries has been
comparatively small, and no more than
commensurate with the increased du
ties of the officials. If they are try
ing honestly to reform the public. for
the public's good, not theirs, why do
they give this total increase without
any explanation: Can you trust
them
"Another item of increased expense
complained of by the Sentinel is the
railroad tax rebate. This is not, in
fact, an expenditure at all. and to so
classify it is a most palpable attempt
to mislead. 1t is a failure to receive
an amount of money from year to
year during the life of the contract,
increasing in proportion to the in
creased earnings of the road. If
there was any politics in the granting
of this rebate, the party granting it
should take the responsibility If
there was not, the party now making
it an issue should take the discredit.
->~o~o~" ~ discuss that phase of the
subject later. q AsfHINYHlvHSU 4 i
1.-THE fourth item of increased ex-
penditure, and think. the last. which
this Democratic paper specifies as ex-
travagance, is that arising from the
enactment of the Sturgis Law. That