Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1911-12-30

primary and general elections all the
blanks except the. official ballots;
also compile the votes cast for all
state and district officers, receive and
file all initiative and referendum pc
titiOns and all petitions of candidates
for state and district offices. Also 1t
Is made the duty of the secretary Of
state to edit the official pamphlet
and prior to the primaries send to
each registered voter in the state a
copy Of the said voters party pamph-
let. Prior to the general election, the
secretary must prepare a campaign
book containing copies Of all bills re-
ferred to the people, and this book
must be mailed to each voter at his
pos toffice address, making a total of
from 125O00 to $50, 900 pieces of mail
matter,
To handle the vast volume of work
required of this office within the
dates and times specified by Jaw, 1t
has been found necessary to adopt
modern business methods and intro
duce labor saving devices in many de-
partments. For instance, there has
Just been installed a machine for pho
tographing the records Of the corpor-
alton department, which will cut the
cost Of this work to one-third the
expense Of recording with type
writer This is the first machine Of
its. kind in use at any state capitol in
the country, but the device is quite
gen orally used by the national gov
ernment at Washington. Another in
novation made necessary by the in
crease in population and the conse-
0uent Increase in the work of sending
out 1912 election matter, Is the install
lation Of the rapid addressing ma
chine, which will greatly facilitate
the work OF mailing pamphlets to vot-
ers and reduce the cost to a very
small percentage of what 1t has been
in the past. This machine is used by
the federal government and by many
of the larger newspapers and period
icals
In addition to his other troubles the
secretary of state is required to han
die the sales of session laws, codes
and supreme court reports, compile
tbe senate and house journals and an
swer an average of about 200 letters
peI- day, dealing with every conceiy-
abIe subject. and coming from every
nook and corner of the United States
ana even from Canada and foreign
countries.
While this Is q very incomplete out
lin o oi the duties deyolving upon the
secretary of state, it will give some
sIipbt indication of the enormous
growth of the state in the past rev
wears In this connection 1t may not
he ont OF place to mention the fact
mot The number of employees in TINS
off.ce has grown in the past eleven
years from eight to twenty-five, and
IN cludes at the present time such men
as Sam A. Kozer, deputy secretary
who came to Salem with Secretary f.
7 Drnbar in 1899, and who has been
= valned attache Of the office since
N AZ fine with the exception OF about
two years when ne served as the ilrst
IN IN snrance commissioner OF Oregon;
r r D. Babcock, head Of the corpora
I'm ~ dena rtment, who has amply de-
~ Nc nonsirated his ability to cope with
~ ~ . difficult duties Of his position; y
= = Allison and ]. B. Young IN the
a,,ditlng a.. department, both OF whom
3 Te making good, the former having l
Neon an efficient employe oil the state
To- thirteen years, and In charge OF
~ ~ q COMPLICATED con- records Of the AUDIT
IN IN o Separtment since 1905; and \. >;
tTsas r. IN charge Of the notarial anu
n, n .lnS nnlv = department, for twenty years
, fp faithful servant Of the state. -
In IntI he past eleven years there have have
saan an created over thirty new stale
49, toerds and commissions includlhg
Do,,s DoU,s n the most important state , oe-
! ! ss;,lnortments, sGlns r and adding enormously
- aI9 he volume Of work required oi 'ne
! =. .,;cs t ~ secretary Of state