Barton County democrat., 1915-02-05
STATE CAPITOL DOINGS

I ways and Means OOInHllllee, are
sending out ans. o. S. call on the
appropriations. They find them
selves confronted with being CON-
Epelled to either reduce apprOpria-
tionS and cripple institutions or
secure additional revenue by rails
ing values or tax levieS. This is
particularly distressing to those
who were so loud in their remarks
during the recent campaign as
to the extravaganza of the Hodges
administration. Notably Auditor
Davis and Treasurer AkerS. In
his statement 10 the legislature of
The appropriations needed, the
Slate Auditor had the total
amount reduced about one-half
million dollars below the apprO-
priation for 1913. This One-half
million dollars is accounted for
by various appropriations which
were necessary for 1913 that did
not need to be made in 1913, chief
among them being $4,000 to fin
iSh the Memorial Building and pro
badly $150,000 which was neceS-
sary for the initial work on the
text book proposition, then in his
estimate he charged the 1913 leg
iSlature with legislative expenses
which he did not include in his
1915 budget. Two or three other
similar items make up more than
The One-half million dollar reduc-
ton that he had recommended to
the Legislature. Now that they
have goilen into the work and
found some of the things they
have TO do or else be accused by
the people of the state of running
our institutions, that are for once
on a good footing, and in order
to protect themselves in The COM
ing campaign, they are making
many pretentiOnS towards ecOno-
my. The people of the state want
economy but they do not want
the peanut kind. and that is what
they are going to get if Mr.. Keene,
in a recent interview. represented
the attitude of tn majority of the
house. OF course, Mr.. Keene is
a candidate for Governor at some
future date and his actions smack
of politics.. The people of the
state. are ready to extend all the
financial assistance that our in
StitutionS need for their continued
running.
Much was said during the last
two years concerning civil ser
vice and the descriptions of vari-
GUS departments of the state and
state institutions by the appoint
ment of new appointees. We no
tice, however, that so far Mr.. Cap
per has been of the same opinion
that Governor Hodges was con-
cerning the ability of men, and the
fact that Adjutant General Mar
lin is slated for reappOintment as
1 Adjutant General, and the for
mer Governor HOch is slated for
reappointment on The Board of
Administration and that Mr.. Kin
kel is slated for reappointment
on the Public Utilities Commits
sion, all men that were appointed
by Hodges, shows to the public
that his appointments have been
good. Two of these appointments
were initial appointments, Mar
tin having previously been Ad-
iutant General.
Evidently Mr.. Speaker Stone is
of the opinion that no one but a
lawyer can formulate bill to be
submitted to the legislature, and
in spite of the fact that he has
talked about useless commissions
etc, he now wants a commission
of lawyers to draft each bill that
is introduced in the legislature.
Taken all in all there are some
funny things looming up on the
horizon and even now are hap
pening and in a little while longer
oUr Republican brethren will find
that things look entirely differ
ent to the people of the state,
than they succeeded in getting
them to look a few months ago.
We shall see what We shall see
: and in the meantime, a Democrat
, ic President and a Democratic con
r greSS are saving wood and full
r filling pledges of their party and
, the Democratic senate is a safety
! valve that the people of Kansas
: have on the job during this state
e administration.
9 J.C. Shaffer, OF Shaffer, KanS.