Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1913-11-13
ANOTHER LETTER TO THE GOIERNOR

WV FuDh5H DtiO" Il second lclltr " lllttl by HON. Il.
q. Richards to Gov. Byrne, in regard to tn" matter Of state
expenditures for tn" past few years:
l am in receipt of your quibbIing letter of the first
instant and note you decline to accept the figures of the
state AUDITORS office as authority on state taxes and state
appropriations. That office is the recoguiz,~I authority OH
these matters and the figures published ly me were fur
nlshed to me by the state auditors unir" and have been
verified and found correct by the editor of til" Pierre Da-
kotan. Until YOU have proved the a1rIit,r'> office in nrr,,
OF these figures, people will take little stock in all vvur
cry OF falseh0od and misrepresentation.
should have been glad to have used the figures Of
absolute expenditures of tn" state for 1913 and 1914, in
place Of the amounts appropriated and of the levy for that
period, were such figures in existence or oItainahlc; but
so far as made they appear to be fully up if not in advance
ol 'he appropriations, as shown from the record Of the
warrants issued by the state for the year ending juno &c.
1911 $, s5l52O,39 and for til" year ending June 80. 1913,
s5,4I2,l223O. recognize the legislature was in session
IN 1915; but look at the enormous figures for state expendi-
lures.
IF the state auditors figures are fraudulent, why do
you not come out like a man and say 50, and furnish the
proof of your statement When you DO. YOU will have
some standing on this matter and not until then. gave
you opportunity to accept or deny the commences of each
and every one of the figures published. This YOU repoatnd
~ decline to do. Therefore, it is useless to discuss this
matter with y.on | am not responsible for your impress
slons or imaginations.
| had three objects in mind in publishing the printed
statement OF the figures of the auditors office on taxes and
appropriations, etc; My first object was to show fine nuor-
NOUS increase OF our state expenditures in the past few
years; This you entirely dodge in your letter.
Inc second obJeGt was to call the peoples attention to
the method of fnanciering. That instead of levvinp suf-
ficlent tax to meet the bills of the state or otherwise rrG.
vlde to pay its household expenses, year by year, the state
aN(h'A NHIt warrants at a . - npr
cent rate, and that undoubtedly it expected to continue
thls practlce, as there appears no provision to do otherwise.
and al tls LII the fact Of the fact that the assessed ya1ua
- 'hs state, as raised by your tax commission, for 1913.
amounts to S., l95,544, 234.00, as compared with S354. 279,
4i5'oo IN l9l2. Certainly the limit placed on the levy did
not stand ln.the way of raising sufficient amount to pav the
states overdue obligations. You admit in YOUR letter that
you 90 not expectto pay off the overdue revenue warrants.
The best that you hope for is, to use your own words tstba
revenue warrants will be materially less than when took
ONCE Would it not have been more businessIike to have
increased ere the tax levy enough to pay this Indebtedness.
~ 1tl than IpnnElt FIN ctofn f,rl,~ ~ c-. - = ~
ana then borrow money with emergency warrants at 5 IL
per cent TO carry along this debt year after year? 1t ap,
pears from the figures | have obtained from the state aud
=. once OF the amounts OF emergency warrants out
standing, year by year, since 1906, that in aggregate thew
nave already cost the state, even on an average interest
rate OF only z per cent, more than $113, 10000 in interest.
! note your excuse for this is the same as the boy caught
stealing apples: 81 don't care. Isaac and Bob stole ap.
nles too
My third and most important object in my printed
statement was to call attention to the Tammany method
adopted by the state machine in using all kinds of spoils
of Office to perpetuate itself in control of the state govern
ment, prominent among which is the creation of many al
most useless appointiye Offices to be filed by henchmen Of
the machine, and the expenditure of large sums Of state
money lmueh OF which is done contrary to the constitution
without regular appropriation bills under the snbterfuge
OF general legislation and the creation of special fundsl III
having appointlve officers travel hither and thither over the
state more to advance the cause Of the machine than for
the good Of the state. You also failed to recognize tho
~antispois provision of the new primary law, as to legal
party endorsements to appointiye offices, under Section ia.
You were sworn to uphold this law. Why did you not IN
SIS s,st q. the regular party organizations endorsements
TO uphold the constitution. Why did yon not veto the game
fund bill creating another special fund. This spols issue,
referred to 20 my printed statement, 4 also not You lodged.
HAzING IN DAYS GONE BY.
They have been having quite ! little excitement down
at the state university oy Ell the meter of sshazing,'' al
though as a matter of fact the excitement has no doubt pre-
vailed elsewhere over the state to q greater degree than il
has at Vermilion, whore the alleged atrocities have been
enacted.
Hazing has been discussed FOR years. 1T pops up as az
troublesome question every fall
The truth is, it is seldom as bad as pictured, and the
worst thing abouI iii is that Aft is ia cowardfy amusement for
the upper classrnen, although III most cases IT Isl innocent
fnn. when q young cub first arrives at college, IT does him
goodto have the older boys lounee him around and perhaps
soase him into q tank. It enables him to extend his ac.
quaintance widely, and as d usual thing the rite is con
cluded By everyone extending the Tighthand or Fellowship
to5the ssnew puy.ssIt isn't so bad Theswriter Well rl
members that His first experience as j freshman iii thes Old
RssS.Ds wassthaf OH being slalnnaed over Us sasfstas aaaf
Tang tbs seatsof his trousers earessed nv . fire shovel