Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1914-04-24

Office or employment dependent only
upon honest and efficient performance
of duty. The people of this state,
believe, demand clean politics and
honest government, and upon this l
am willing to stand or fall.
Business System Anticipated.
Two years ago l called attention to
the complicated and antiquated gov
ernmental organism and to the i'm
peratiye need for complete over
hauling and reorganization of the adj
ministrative machinery of the state
government.
When members of the last legisla-
ture attempted to pass a bill provid-
ing for a commission to make inves-
LEGATIONS and recommendations for a
reorganization of the governmental
system, the present executive blocked
it, Later, however, realizing that he
had Numbered politically, in an en-
deavor to recoup himself he appoint
ed a commission Of thirty citizens of
the state to find some way to protect
the commonwealth from his own dere-
lict administration.
l know several Of the gentlemen on
this commission to be highs grade, cap
able business men. There are indi-
cations that they have asserted them
selves in its deliberations, and l eX-
press the hope that the work they
are engaged in, which has been too
long delayed, will result in a report
that will be of value in the work Of
recognizing and correlating the eX-
ecutive departments of the state gov
| eminent.
This commission so far as it has
made public its findings has arraigned
the inefficient business organization
of the state in more severe terms
than anyone else has ever used. They
have held up to the public gaze such
a multiplicity of boards and bureaus
and disOrganized and disconnected of
fees as to make our states business
organization the laughing stock oil
every business man in Minnesota
They have found enough useless
boards to wall up the state and ROOT
it over. This condition has grown
up while the chief executive has been
engaged in the pleasurable pastime
of travel, oratory, tango dancing and
| song writing.
The governor now is complimenting
himself On the appointment of this
| commission, and boasts that in his
! first message to the legislature he
recommended a reorganization o.
state departments. 1t might be peril
nent to ask, why, if he recognized
this need nearly four years ago, he
did not during that time do something
to focus attention upon it. Some O
the time spent in advertising Mime
sofa" might have brought better re
suits if he had been applying himsel
to this problem. Are you willing t.
continue entrusting this great task tt
a man who says he has recognized
the need for four years and yet ha'
done nothing?
State Expenditures Increase.
In the last campaign | discourset
upon the enormous increase in thu
expenditures Of our state government
The governor produced some irreIe
want figures dealing with comparative
per capita cost in an effort to shov
that other states were worse off thai
/ we. My contentious now are genel
ally agreed to, and the state audito
recently has issued a statement cor
firming them. The governor no long
r hut 10
laying the blame on the legislature.
You will get some idea Of how tn
expense of our state government ha
increased when l tell you that tn
disbursements from the revenue fun
} alone have increased from S3,734
310.06 in the year 1902 to $40, 1873
703.74 in the year 1912, and the il
crease for the years of 1913 and 1911
: will greatly exceed the average fo
the ten years here named. This ha
been out of all proportion to the il
crease in wealth or population. Thi
enormous increase has been provide
for not only through an increase c
: more than 100 per cent in the tax rate
: and marked increase in assesse
valuation, but the needs of the MI
, chine have been so great that cunnin
minds have been strained in devisin
every conceivable means of specis
5 and indirect taxation, amounting t
: millions Of dollars annually. If 20
;. as citizens and taxpayers are not awar
l of this condition, pay your taxes an
e compare your tax receipt with that
: a few years ago. I warrant you Wi
d be on the firing line in fifteen mi
! utes.
> 1 have said that if I were governc
o I should see to it that the state got
dollars worth for every dollar e.
t pended.
l. 1t is said in behalf of the admin
}. tration that there is bound to /
y waste and useless expense; the go
y ernor cannot help it, the state office
i cannot and the legislature can but wi
not; and that "the people Intensely,
? do not expect 100 cents worth f,
II every dollar"
s This is about the most importa
e admission chat has yet been MAJ