Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1913-02-27

stationery for the House and Senate
the same being distributed for the usa
o. the lawmakers and others who NAV
care for it. Yes, the blank paperA with
the picture of the Capitol and the en-
yelopes are piled up higher than your
heads There are about fifty commit
tees In each branch of the General AS
sembly. Each chairman has stationery
containing the names Of the committee
mem There is vast amount OF pa
per for the journals, bills etc., all of
which is big thing when it comes to
the cost. There's the Calendar book
with titles and disposition of the bills,
costing $40 each, and enrolling book
costing $24 The House and Senate
Journals are printed 450 of each. There
There will will be printed 1000 book
lets with the captions of bills. to say
nothing Of the large number OF law
books to be printed, the proceeds from
the sale of which is only q small mat
ter when compared with the cost of
printing for large number OF them
are distributed without pay.
George B. Justice, the efficient as
sistant to Commissioner of Labor and
printing M. L. Shipman of Henderson
Vile, is thoroughly familiar with all
these items of cost as the matters per-
tanning to printing have to pass
through his hands and he conservative
ly estimates that this printing along
with the stationery and supplies
amounts to at least $4,000 each ses-
sion of the General Assembly. This
is no bad estimate for he has the fig
ures of cost there in his possession
and can shuttle them out to the unbe-
lever in the course of a minutess
time. 1t would at first seem trifling to
say any thing about the rubber stamps
used, The man who sells them told
the writer that he had sold the present
General Assembly in the neighborhood
OF $40 worth. Yes, dear, if you could
only look upon the covers of some of
those bills so dear to the heart of
the father" of them, you would see
wherein these stamps are useful. The
House force uses red ink and the SEN
ate purple and when the bill reaches
its final resting place, the stamp
marks are so thick on it you can hard, /,
! ly discover the real color of the d1-.
cument The various chairmen of
committees have their stamps and the
clerks are well supplied with them.
| Evidence of the use of these stamps
are seen on all sides and the cost Will
not be doubted when you are told that
the one uesd by the reading clerk OF
the Senate cost $14.
The expenses of committees in visit
!; ing various State institutions over the
State will amount to about $500
The estimates herein made cover
| only the running expenses of the Leg
islature without saying anything about
commissions created by this body, the
cost of machinery it takes to execute
the laws or the thousands and thous-
ands of dollars appropriated biennial
ly by the State for the support OF its
| institutions, running schools and gov
ernmental affairs in general.
The estimate of $4,000 is porbably
too conservative in the light of all
these various expenses Of the Gener-
al Assembly. But using $4,000 as a
basis for an estimation, the expenses
1are $1,166 per day, there being sixty
days of the session. At least that IS
all the lawmakers get pay for and then
| they are soon seen hiking to their
homes. During the early part OF the
lsession. say the first half, the sessions
each day are only from one To two
hours in length, somtimes not as much
as an hour. And during the early
part of the session the committees,
where the real work is doue, ere in
session only a. short while and many
of them never have any long sessions
while others have lengthy sessions
day after day in order to dispose of the
| large number of bills before them.
The work of some of the committees
is so heavy that they have to have a
clerk to transact the business. TAX
ling ii upon an average the sessions OF
the term, including the work OF the
1 committees, will amount to about four
hours per day, making the expenses
practically $500 for each hours. work.
/ A bnl certainly has easy sliding even
with the suspension of the rules, II
if consumes not more than half hour
in it's route through the mill, estimat-
ing all the time actually taken in pass
ing It through both bodies when 1t
lstrikes no snags and does not have to go
Il through the hands of a committee. So
you see the most tri1ing bill, even If
i introduced through fun by would-be
famous author, consumes about $l5U
say at least 800 worth of the General
Assemblies time. A bill has passed
through both branches Of the present
General Assembly, changing the name
J of Wiccacon Creek to Wiccacon River.
Those behind the movement probably
figure on getting Federal appropria-
; ton for some Improvement on the
: stream by changing the name from a
creek to river, but beyond that what
can it avail, for person who has l1v-
: ed by the little stream all his life and
: has been calling it Wiccacon Greek
u certainly will not take the time to
call it River, it would be somewhat
} like taking the word" Pa from the
mouth of an obedient child and SUD-
} stituting the name "Old Man.
The lawmakers often tribe their
t fine away hy adding burlesque amend