The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1909-03-04
A FRAUD
Woods Bill as Passed
Simply TrickerY of
Rep. Machine
GOVERNOR POWERLESS

Columbus, O., Feb. 22-As passed by
The house the Woods bin for an in
vestigation of state departments and
institutions is a fraud 1t is but an
other piece of trickery such as the
desperate plotters of the state Re
publican machine have been wont to
practice upon the people in the past
few years.
Pretending to give the governor
enlarged powers of investigation into
the conduct of state departments and
institutions it abridges- and makes
impotent the limited authority vested
in the governor by existing statutes
to personally examine the auditor S
Office and to cause an official exam
ination of the state treasury.
Instead of giving the governor pro-
per authority to inquire into any
charge of complaint made against a
state department of institution, the
Woods bill as passed by the house
would take all such power out of his
hands and confer it upon two men
10 be named by him subject 10 ap-
proval by the senate. In other words,
the governor could not make inquiry
into the most trivial complaint or fol-
low up suspicion or clue he may
have found himself without summon
ing a special court of inquiry created
with the advice and consent of the
senate, and ask that committee to
investigate, subject to all the technical
ramifications Of an inquisition.
Further than to start an investiga-
tion the governor would be absolutely
powerless, so completely would his
hands be tied by the Woods bill.
Take for instance the cruelties at
Newburg asylum, which led to grand
jury indictments. The governor could
do nothing except to summon two men
of opposite politics with the advice
and consent of the senate" at the
next session. and turn over his au-
thority to them. If such a scandal
were to occur after the session next
year, there would be no session at
which the committee could be con-
flrmed by the senate, unless a special
session were called at extraordinary
expense to the state. Without such
confirmation legal technicality would
arise on which to base injunction pro-
ceedings. If the investigation were
permitted to go on, the governor
would be stopped from taking any
action to purge the institution pending
the result of the investigation. In
fact, it would be a question, even if
the committee were to discover guilt,
whether the governor could do more
than transmit the committees report
to the legislature. SO that such an in
as a bipartisan committee
would make under the circumstances
would be abortive.
Imagine also, the summoning of
such an inQuisition to investigate the
birth of a child at the Athens hospi-
tai; or complaint that a steward was
taking tips; or that rocking chair
bought for some institution had been
sent to somebody's residence; or the
thousand and one things reported to
the governor which could be investi-
gated in no other way than by a COM
mittee of two men OF opposite politics,
with the advice and consent of the
senate.
One or two such Investigations
could easily exhaust the appropriation,
and there would be no fund to probe
subsequent complaints.
Besides, the way the bill was
amended in the house it is doubtful
whether the governor could even so
much as cause such investigation as
it authorizes without the consent of
the senate.
All that Governor Harmon asked in
his message to the legislature was
that funds might be provided for such
inquiry as the chief execution of the
state should have authority to make
into the conduct Of the states affairs
in the various departments and in
stitutions.
This is what the Woods bill in its
original form presumed to do, with an
allowance of S25,OOO for a fund to be
wholly at the governors disposal.
Here is where the chicancery of the
whole proceeding begins. Mr.. Woods
introduced a bill which ostensibly
proposed to give the governor exactly
the authority he asked. In its origi-
nal form the bill appeared to be gem
orally acceptable-to all but the Re
publican machine bosses. Mr.. Woods
apparently refused to yield to the
dfcation of the bosses and his bill was
put on the calendar for final passage
just as it was introduced and as it
appeared in the printed copies on the
desks of the members. At the last
moment without previous notice of
amendments, Mr.. Woods submitted q
list OF amendments nearly as long as
the original bilI and changing its
original purpose entirely TO meet the
demands of the bosses. The amend
ments were too complicated to be fully
understood and there was no time TO
have the bill printed as amended so
that the members could see how the
amendments affected the bill.
Mr. Woods admitted in his remarks
that the attitude of the Republican
majority OF the house in the last ses-
sion on all proposed investigations
helped 10 defeat Governor Harris last
fall, On top OF that Mr.. Erwin. the
Republican floor leader, admitted that