Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-01-18
IN THE HOUSE.
Orders of the Day.

On mOtlo1 al Mr.. Dawes 81 var
mouth the following order was taken
from the table:
Ordered That no bill or resolve car
rying an appropriation of money shall
be finally passed prior 10 the Iirst day
Eof March.
Mr DAVIES: Mr.. Speaker, | sincere
" hone that The House will not see
fit to pass this order. | am not nn-
niindfri Of the fact that it is presented
by the leader OF the majority in the
House. and | am also mindful of the
| fact OF die rights and privileges which
belorg 10 the majority in parliament
a=,v bodies. II must be borne III mind.
however that no political prnclpls Is
at stake here. Any Republican VINO
votes to defeat the passage OF the or
der Cannot be accused of trying to
bankrupt the treasury. and any Dem
ocrat who votes for the passage OF the
order cannot oe accused. in my opin-
ion. OF isloyalty. The question THAI is
presented To rs here is only Il queS-
ton CT procedure. whether We shall
leave al Il certain place before final
enactment all the appropriations thai
are MADE BY this Legislature. "r
whether eacn one shall be brought for
ward in it's turn and passed upon its
merits | think there is Il good deal
| to lie said inNaVor OF passing each res
olutiun carrying an appropriation as
| il comes into the House, upon its
merits.
| In the Legislature of 1909 a system
was inaugurated. under the direction
of Mr. Burleigh of Augusta, which pro-
l,,l, = i1t i1,oc
Land expenditures, and that statement
OF appropriations and expenditures was
made up from day to day, or at least
once a week l am not sure which.
land was left on each members desk,
and by referring TO the schedule or
statement of appropriations that was
| gotten out under the direction of the
clerk of the House. every member in
| the House could see from day to day
| just what the Legisla ture had done in
the way of appropriating money. Is
there any better system than that" Is
there any better way by which u mem
| Der of the House can have entire
knowledge of the appropriations that
are made from day /" day than he can
have through consulting the statements
OF just what has been done left on his
desk eacht morning, or at least once Il
week?
One Of my objections to the order
which is now pending is that towards
the end Of the session it is going to
bring a great deal of business into the
Legislature to be acted upon which we
cannot intelligently and carefully take
lcare of. Those who are old members
we'll know that in the last two or three
weeks of the Legislature we are food
ed with bills from all the committees.
1t is actually impossible at times to
read the acts even by title only, to say
nothing about giving them the con-
sideration which they demand and
which they should receive But there
is another objection which presents it
self to my mind-and, mind you.
criticise no mans good faith whether
on the part of the majority party or
that of the minority-but such a con-
dition as this would present itself when
all the resolves carrying money come
in here at one time. The appropria-
ton matter in the Legislature is the
lal-important matter. Those { YOU
who are here and who want appropria
tons for schools and for roads and
for various other things which are To-
cal and are not general, if they have
been granted in the past and II they
We're proper and economical, expect to
receive them at this session. and local
matters will have paramount consider
alton to a great many of you. ProVld-
ing that the facts shall so shape them
selves that come Of those who are most
prominent i'm the Legislature who want
some large measure to pass-and there
will be such in the Legislature
wouldn't the effect of this order be
that the power given to those people
ur,der the order could be used as a
weapon to club the man into line who
wants an appropriation for some local
institution or some local improvement?
i believe that the members of this
House can be trusted to work out the
matter of appropriations from day to
day. | believe they can be passed on
their merits 1t is not as though we
had certain amount of money that
we were to pass and no more. in APP
preparations. Whatever the State
needs the state is able to pay for, and
the State is Just as well able to APP
propriate the money today as it will be
on the first of March or any day sub
sequent TO that time. And that is the
condition that we are confronted with.
My friends. it seems to me that the
majority party have inaugurated in
this House a policy of what might be
called hot-ilouse economy. Maine is
able to take care of her needs. She
needs no encomium from me. The
world knows her history by heart: and
we can appropriate for schools or we
can appropriate for hospitals or we
can appropriate for educational pur-
poses anything that we need. and can