The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1911-01-14
n. R. Stubs TO
PEOPLE OF KANSAS
The Governor Presents His Views
Through the Legislature.
MAKES MANY RECOMMENDATIONS
Discusses at Length the Many Sub
lects of interest to the State
-Favors Advanced
Legislation.

To the Legislature:
l. Our state. constitution provides that
the governor shall make recommends
mons and communicate such information
70 the legislature, as, in his opinion, is
necessary and proper
2 Under continued favor of Divine
PROVIDENCE the commonwealth taken as
Whoie. has made satisfactory progress
aurlng the biennium just closed Our ed
ucatlonal institutions, including the coun-
Try districts, city schools, state university
agricultural college and normal schools.
nave been moving steadily in the direc-
uon OF more practical and common sense
system of education
j. The prohibitory law is better en-
forced than ever before in the history of
the state There is not to my knowledge
an open saloon or joint in Kansas. The
SAFE OF liquor for all purposes has been
outlawed and placed on the same basis
as other crime
4 The federal government has entirely
reVolutlonlzed its policy toward law en-
forcement in Kansas and all dry territory
IN the United States. Federal officers are
aoW instructed to prosecute and send to
ialI boot-leggers and whiskey vendors who
sell liquor without an internal revenue
stamp.
o The taxable property placed on the
TAX rolls of the state in 1910 amounted TO
81, 752, 098, 125, which is an increase of more
than three hundred million dollars in two
years.
9. The value of farm products and live
stock has increased and bank deposits,
.allroad earnings, manufactured products,
the volume of general business and finan-
c1aI transactions in the state have also
made satisfactory gains.
l. 1 would be unfaithful to my trust
as one who believes in the superior i'm
portance of sound education as one of the
IN Ia
business uplift of any state or nation if
did not give forward position and call
your special attention to the condition o.
some of our country schools WhetI e.
through false economy in the matter of
employment and salaries, or through the
desire of young people of higher learning
to flock to the cities where opportunities
seem to them to be better, it is a fact
that some four thousand district schools
In Kansas are taught by teachers who
did not themselves advance beyond the
eighth grade. I am informed upon a most
thorough investigation that approxima teIy
one hundred thousand pupils are taught
by these insufficiently equipped and mex
perienced teachers. It seems to me that
there is great waste here not only of
public funds, but of the public opportu-
mites to which the children of Kansas are
entitled The food, clothing books and
waste of time of one hundred thousand
school children mean an actual cost of
almost a million dollars a month to the
parents Of these children. exclusive of
the teachers salaries and the cost of
maintaining the school.
2. l now renew this recommendation
10 this legislature and recommend that
you enact a law that will place all state
wide public utilities, railroads. telegraph.
telephone, street railway, pipe line ex-
press and Pullman companies and COM
mon carriers of all kinds under the con-
troll of a state commission having full au-
thority over the issue of stocks and
bonds, giving them means and power to
obtain the physical valuation of the prop
erty and plants of these corporations. to
nix and adjust rates upon their own mo-
ton and to regulate rates and services
in the interest of the people of Kansas
and the investors and employees of these
corporations.
cases has been the subject of much bitter
criticism throughout the nation for many
years Perhaps the most fruitful source
of delay in trial of cases has been the re-
duirement of a unanimous verdict by our
petit jurieS in civil cases. Several states
have recently provided for a three-fourths
jury verdict with very satisfactory re-
suits The law requiring a unanimous
verdict of a jury in civil cases is greatly
TO the advantage of big corporations and
powerful or influential litigants who are
able to hang juTies and delay the final
decisions of cases by securing one or
more friendly jurors This is especially
true in personal injury and death loss
cases brought against employers of labor.
l. In some counties in Kansas officers
charged with the enforcement of the
prohibitory law have utterly failed to do
their duty. The consequent burden and
expense of law enforcement in these
counties has fallen upon the state and
caused heavy expense in the employment
Of special deputy sheriffs and assistant
attorney generals to do the work that
should have been done by the regular
local officers. Under our present law tbs
governor is charged with the duty and
obligation of enforcing the laws of the
state but he has not corresponding power
to require effective enforcement of law
by local authorities. If the governor is
to be held responsible for the enforce
ment of law in all the counties of the
state he should be given full authority to
compel, if necessary, local executive Off
Of the Union the governor is authorized
oy law to remove from office SheriffS.
county attorneys and other public Off
sials< who fail to do their duty, setting
forth in writing his reasons for such re-
uoval after giving them a fair public
nearing.
1. I recommend that proposition be
unlimited to the electors at the next gen
aral election providing for an amendment
to the constitution which viii permit the
Itate to derive its entire revenue from
state wide public service corporations
and thereby relieve all counties, munich
paIities and local subdivisions of the
state from paying any state tax. I am
advised that fifteen of the most pro-
gressive states in the Union have already