Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1909-02-12
have, yet We believe that our western
counties can get along without him,
and propose to vJte that way.

counties can get along without him
and propose to v,te that way.
The failure of some Of the admins
uatlon measures which require new
boards and heads OF departments to
get very far, must be ranking in the
breasts of some Of the hackers, be.
cause Speaker Dolley has initiated a
move to do away with the state dairy
commissioner and place that work
under the supervision of the agricul.
tural college. We do not believe that
would be a good thing, although we
are against this board proposition.
A resolution has been introduced to
ascertain what state boards we have
now that the state can just as well
get along without. What will be the
result we do not know.
A bill has been passed by the
house which again changes the dates
tor holding the annual school meet.
ings, and provides for them to be
held on the last Thursday in April.
A companion bill has passed which
gives authority to district meetings to
set the amount of their needed money
for school purposes, and authorizes
the county clerk to make a levy for
the districts when the valuations have
been ascertained. g..
My circulation bill, slightly amend.
ed. passed the house by a vote of so
to42. 1t is nov before the jadiciar,
conmittee of the senate. ....
Davis Of Bourbon has introduced a
hia, which. if passed, will provide for
1he. election Of a Unitei States sena.
tor 10 the sane manner as Is now done
ip Oregon, which feceatiy, resulted in
lhs election of q Democrat although
lhe legislature was overwhelmingly
Republican, =, AZ ,.,;x.,.... 4.
|. his MOI our purpose s.os suggest
Anything that will cause the tar pay
ers to get up in.the air, but, the facts
are that tie taxes will be much high,
er this coming year than they have
ever been. Why? Because the ex
pense of running the state are in
creasing right along, and, because
there will be deficit in the current
years business of over a million and
a quarter, because the last legislature
did not provide enough revenue. In
this connection it might be interest
ing to note that in 1908 the real
estate Of Kansas paid about 100000
more in taxes than the preceding
year, and the railroad company's paid
about 100000 less. When during
the last campaign we made a similar
statement concerning Barton county,
it was said we were not giving the
facts. And yet no one has disputed
them. And also, these figures are
taken from the tax commissioners
reports. They speak for themselves.
The trouble however is, that before
we can get at the railroad companies
we are going to have to amend the
constitution.
The house has also passed a bill
which gives the county commissioners
authority to lease a forty acre tract of
ground to the agricultural college for
experimental purposes.
Just what the appropriations will
run this year no one can say at this
time. They will be high enough
however. So far the minority have
voted against all measures which had
for their object the creation Of any
more boards or officers. They are
likely 10 keep it up. which means
that the majority will have to should.
er the responsibility.
As one delves into the appropria-
tons for the state institutions one is
apt to te amazed at the figures. The
records show that it costs the state
sl65 per pupil at the state university,
and Sill per pupil at Manhattan.
This seems a lot Of money. The way
it might be cut down trife would be
to charge a tuition fee but such a,