Barton County democrat., 1914-09-04

oudIy about the "extravaganceS."
When GaffOrd was state account
ant, he spent a good part of the
time attending to his own private
affairs and when he went out OF
office, many of the state institu-
tons had not been checked upI
for two or three years, and not
only that, but it cost the state al
most $4,000 more per annum to
run the office of State Accountant
under Gafford'S administration
than it does under the adminiStra-
ton of Jasper Kincaid, Governor
Hodges appointee. MIR. Kincald,
by strict attention to business, has
all the state Institutions checked
up to date. Mr.. Gafford is about
the last fellow who should talk
about extravaganza, efficiency,
and business methods.
In this connection the press
bureau desires to call attention
as it has often done before, to Re-
publican methods of figuring
state expenditures. The table of
comparative expenditures for the
fiscal years 1912 and 1914, recent
Iy put out from the State Audi
tors office contains several omiS-
sions and inaccuracies, for exam
pie: it omitS from the expendi-
lures of the Oil Department for
1912, S27,237.43 retained by dep
uty State Oil Inspectors as pay for
their services, which are shown
by the books in the State Oil In
SpectOr'S office, but do not appear
on the books in the Auditors Of
flee, making the expense of the
Oil Department in 1912, $780, $751;
46, instead of $3,744.O9 as stated
by the Auditor. Of course, the
Auditor knew this, but was moi
I
fair enough to include it in his
comparative statement. lnclud.
ing this item, the expenditures fol
1912 were S4,453,669.46, while
the expenditures for 1914 tOtal
$4,903,8S6.04. This last sum Of
&,9O3,SS6.W is made up by in
Guiding 67,669.95 expended fOl
the completion of the MemOria
Hall during the fiscal year 1914
and also $SO,2S1.13 for the con
Struction of the new state HoSpi
tai at Larned. 1t includes alSt
$31, ,974.72 for the construction o
the tuberculosis Sanitarium a
Morton, Kansas. These thre,
items total S279,325.SO. No par
of this sum is proper charg
against the Hodges adminiStra
tion. In 10000, the state receiv
ed something over S5O0,0O0.OO o,
j., old war claims from the Fedora
, Government. This money was Sc
aside first by the Legislature @
1909 and again by the Legislator
, of 1911 for the purpose of payin
+, for the construction of Memoirs
building. Instead of setting
: aside for that purpose, the Stubh
= administration put this none
o into the general fund of the stat
and spent every cent of it in 19C
for other purposes. The Legi'
lature of 1909 and 1911 appropri;
ted S4O0,OO000 for the completio
of this building. The StubbS al
n miniStratiOn purpOSely delaye
# construction for two years b
d cause they were compelled to u!
l. every available cent of money
/ the treasury to keep the Stubl
/ administration from going BAN
y rupt, and so Memorial Hall, il
t. stead of being entirely complete
is and paid for under the StubbS a,
h miniStration, as it should ha,
= been, was handed over to Il
h Hodges administration to cor
d plete. The Legislature of 1911 q
n so ordered the construction of Il
r Larned State Hospital and the T
n berculOsiS Sanitarium and appr
1t prlated the money to pay t,
i them.
The Stubbs administration pu
poSely delayed the building
At these institutions because it w
N compelled to use all availab
} funds for other purposes in ord
L to keep from marking state wa
l. rants Not paid for want
lie funds"
II And so these obligations of IL
II StubbS administration were han,
e ed on to the Hodges adminiStr
II tlon, and it is only by charging Il
d Hodges administration with the.
II ltnV11C fknk !