The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1908-10-28
Constitutional Convention
Expenses.

You taxpayers have a right TO ex
pcct your public officers to relieve you
from as much Of the burden OF taxa
lipn from lime to time as possible
Let us see wat Mccuire's record
has been;
The Statehood bill appropriated one
hundred thousand dollars to BE- used
towards the expenses of the election
for delegates to the Constitutional
Convention, the holding Of tue Conyer.
ton and the election to vote on the
Constitution afterwards,
II is clearly apparent from the
| language Of the bill that Congress
meant it to lie iirst estimate only
as the same bill gave Arizona and New
Mexico one hundred and iifty inous
and dollars. and stipulated that Arl
zona ana New Mexico need not eX
pect any more.
The expenditure Of this approprla
tion was put in the hands of board
every one of them Republican terri
torlal officials, so that the Democrats
were In no way responsible for what
was done with Il.
When the Constitutional Conven
ton assembled we learned that there
was only about thirty thousand dol
lars of that money left.-lhe balance
having been used IN the delegate elec
I ton and other expenses incurred be
fore the Convention met; consequent
~, Charles Filson, Republican Sec
retary OF Oklahoma Territory, WAS
asked by the Constitutional COnyen-
ton to make an estimate of what n
would cost In addition to what was
left to pay the expenses of the Con-
lstiiutional Convention and hold the
election afterwards His estimate
was about one hundred and thirty
i've thousand dollars.
Mcclure was called upon by the
convention 10 present a memorial 10
Congress asking for an additional
appropriation equal to Filsons es-
! timate. Mcclure let the matter pass
along without any action, and the ap-
preparation bill I'm Congress went
through the House of Representatives
and passed over to the Senate with
out including this Item The Const-
utional Convention at once sent
/ Colonel owens to Washington aad
Owens secured antamendmont to the
appropriation bill in the Senate, al
lowing the one hundred and thirty
five thousand dollars. The aDprOpria-
ton bill went back TO the house with
this amendment TO It, and MeGgire
| induced the House TO rafdse 10 agree
to- the Senate amendment and struck
out this appropriation.
You viii remember that year ago
I last April / goaded Mcclure about this
very proposition until he published a
S gncd statement in tue Guthrie State
: Capital about April twelfth, nineteen
/ hundred and scven, in which he said
that he did not oppose the appropria-
/ don IN the House, because opposition
was not necessary but, said Mcclure
/ In the letter. he did not ask for the
appropriation and he would have op-
posed ii II It had been likely 10 pass
! the House. His excuse was that he
did not intend 10 LEI the appropriation
he made TO pay the lazy delegates
their salary lie also stated in that
letter that the printing bills, clcrh
hire and election expenses should be
paid by Congress or by the state, bui
he did not explain that the salary OF
the so-callcl lazy delegates" was
only about ten per cent Of the tota
bill. and that aLout one hundred anC
twenty thousand collars of The appro