The Marshall republican., 1910-07-08
SUCCESSFUL
HADLEY IDEA
'.Ew' OIL INSPECTION LAW PRO.
=, TEcTs THE PEOPLE AND
PAYS THE STATE.
N Army OF Poie!cci Favoritss Mus
, t2ret Cut Of Patty Service and
Their Fees Turned Into the
STATE Treasury,

f petroleum oils. They held their
ennis lions by apf ointment OF a
s-eMocrstic governor and were priv.
,ased ia collect fees for their inspec.
IN aid appropriate them to their
,En US except where such fees ex-
,el5l u t!c2it that nome but the st.
-otis inspector ever reached. Under
re law governing coal oil inspection
90 fees OF the inspector at st. Louis
4 EXCESS OF $1,000 a year had to be
armed INFO the state treasury. In
DOT these excess fees amounted to
;G,30S, but in 1908 only $j,372. Not
l cent did the state get from ether
Inspectors. And for many years the
state did nc: derive a cent from st.
ft.ouis fees-not during the palmy days
of Democratic rule when getting
money out of the treasury was para
mount to putting money into II.
This little army CT coal oil inspect
ors was mighty handy for Democratic
governors who had the privilege OF
appointing them: and handy for
Democratic party managers who could
use them for, be 1t understood, these
'plums," these little official gratis, did
not fall into hands that could not be
employed to build political fences for
the governor who shook the plum tree
or for the managers who ran the party
behind the governor.
Why does Governor Hadley want to
break up such a convenient and pow
erful band of party workers and turn
their fees into the general revenue
fund? was the question that arose in
the minds of practical politicians
when the new Republican governor
asked the legislature to repeal the old
coal oil inspection law and enact a
now one providing for only one chief
inspector and a very few deputies
six is the limit-and to provide for
them moderate salaries to do all the
work done by more than two hundred
inspectors. 1t vas a queer procedure,
viewed from the standpoint of prac-
tica politicians, as a governor could
make two hundred coal oil inspectors
mighty useful in his politics.
But Governor Hadley Is not a prac-
teal politician--at least not in the
ordinary meaning OF that common po.
litical term. He is very practical as
the executive officer of a great state,
but not as a politician seeking his own
selfish ends or the interests of his
party. He could not be made to be-
lleve that dealers in oil should be re-
quired to pay fees for the support OF
an army OF inspectors who were not
required even to report their collec-
tons.
Governor Hadley caused a bill to be
drawn and introduced in the legisla.
ture repeating the old law and placing
the inspection of petroleum oils in the
hands of an inspector, under heavy
bond, whose stamps and certificates OF
inspection should come from the state
treasurer and whose collections should
all go into the state treasury, and
whose salary and expenses, as well
as the salaries and expenses OF his
deputies, should be audited by the
state auditor and paid only on the
warrant of that official.
The bill passed, and in due time
Governor Hadley appointed Hon. Rush
G. Lake as inspector of Petroleum
Oils" Mr.. Lake looked over the sit
uation and decided that an office at
Kansas City and n at st. Louis
would be sufficient to handle the in.
spection of all oils under his jurisdic.
ton, and that three or four deputies,
(who receive only $1,000 a year, each)
could do the work under his super
vision. So there are now less than six
deputy inspectors at work and the
total expenditures of the entire de-
partment will not exceed 10000 for
the period of two years. In fact, that
Is the amount appropriated by the
legislature for salaries and all ex-
penses Of the inspector and his depu-
ties for two years. The receipts of
the state from oil inspections during
the period covered by the a~ppropria-
ton will be more than five times that
amount. In fact, about SITS, 900 will
doubtless be derived by the state from
thAo aOPoA AOA CdSh biSLIliall PO-
riod, and the gross amount may be in
excess of these figures. And every
gallon of oil subject to inspection is
inspected. Every dealer In oils and
syery consumer is safely protected
and the oil trade is satisfactorily reg
diated.
Nothing in the line of practical leg
islation so aptly illustrates the good
business judgment and broad political
vision of Governor Hadley as this coal
oil inspection lava law he pro-
posed, virtually framed and almost
Gorced through the legislature. 1t de,
stroyed more than one hundred ap
.pointive "jobs' that he might have
given to his political friends-jobs
that were paying from 5000 to $4,000
q year, and in st. Louis about 1000.
II turns into the treasury annually
enough money to pay all of the sala.
ries of the executive Officers of the
state government. It makes coal oil