The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1908-01-23
TIME TO STOP TIE GRAET.

There can be no question where re
sponsibility viii in the end be placed for
the doings of the 1908 legislature. The
Democratic party has complete swing
in the branches OF the legislative body.
The Democratic majority in either
branch is so large that the minority can
scarcely be expected to exert the modi-
flying and restraining influence which
has been exercised in other legislative
years, when Democratic control in one
or the other branch of the legislature
has been by a narrow margin. What
the representatives of the people who
were chosen under the standards Of the
Republican party can do during the
present session is to fearlessly and per-
sistently oppose such legislative meas
ures as in their honest judgment are
not conducive to a wise and business
like handling of public funds or conduct
of public affairs. This much response
bility rests upon the minority, and if
this watchful service is faithfully per-
formed, the minority party in the Gen
eral Assembly will have accomplished
all that it is empowered to accomplish.
siThe Governor who has just retired
from executive control exposed in mes
sage to the legislatures Of 1904 and 1906
the protiigate and wasteful methods
operative during those sessions under
expenditures for legislative purposes.
The itemized facts which Governor
Warfield brought to public attention
demonstrated beyond a doubt to any
reasonable mind that the legislative
payrolls during the two sessions imme-
diately preceding the current one We're
padded-the state paid out money for
services that We're not performed
There would, be no excuse for paying
out even a single dollar in reward for a
personal service to some politician or
private individual, but according to the
open charge made in Governor War
fields message as much as $3.50, 600 of
the so-called legislative-eXpense ac-
counts of the two sessions of the legis-
lature to which he refers represented
no equivalent services to the state
Whether the diverting of this money to
the purposes to which it was diverted
be called graft or be called by some
other name, the ugliness of the facts in
tho 90 co will NOT bo oltaraJ
The Warfeld charges are not lovely
stated generalties-n a mere sugges-
ton of hints and Fsuspicions but are
backed by mass of circumstantial de-
tails which it is impossible to interpret
otherwise than as he interpreted them
The loose! methods which he exposed
were rendered.possible by the passing
of a lump-sum appropriation far in ex-
cess Of the specifically appropriated
9,405 to defray the costs of legislative
sessions. At the beginning of the pres
ent session the fund TO be drawn upon
for legislative expenses has been raised
from $3.50, 900 to 100000, which seems
to indicate an intent upon the part of
those who are pushing the measure to
have it provided again to meet the de-
mands of the padded payrolls. Public
sympathy is not going to be touched by
any dolorous plea concerning the small
pay which, is constitutionally provided
as remunerative for legislative service.
The amount of the pay is not the only
consideration which leads honorable
men to desire to serve the state in legis-
htive capacity, and if it were so the
time for considering the inadequate pay
was when the.proffer of the nomination
as a legislative delegate was made.
Public.,attention will not be diverted
from the doings of the 1908 session of
the Legislature by any sophisticated ex-
plantations or excuses. If the state
lawmakers are really an overworked,
underpaid body, the simple way out is
to so amend the constitutional clause
regulating:ithe .pay as to make the re-
ward in proportion to the high impor-
lance of the service performed. The
people of maryland are fair-minded;
they will:willingly accede to PROPOSE
ton to raise the pay of the legislative
members If it is shown that the pay is
now too small. But public sentiment
will never excuse the looseness and
profigacy that is made operative under
the method of the large lump-sum APP
preparation for legislative expenses and
the padded payroll as means of using
up this appropriation. 1t matters not
that this grating system may have its
roots in custom that dates far back,
1t is custom which should be imme-
diately honored by the breaking of it,
rather than by its continued observance.