The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-07-14

| to our attention emphasize the great
 need of a state purchasing department.
 We submit herewith a bill providing for state purchasing agent.
 The Governors Mansion
 The legislature of 1911 appropriated $50,000 for purchasing governor s
 mansion. The present building, includ- .
 ing the furniture and fixtures then therein, was purchased by the state for s46,500. After the purchase had been made but before the mansion had been occupied by the governor, much of the furniture, carpets and other things were removed from the build ing by the seller. Mrs Hattie L. Sabel paid back to the commission the sum of s2500. This left the net cost ot the building s44,000.
 In addition to this Governor O'Neal expended the sum of $5ef2.10 for fur nishings and improvements as shown by vouchers on file.
 In addition to these amounts Gov ernor O'Neal drew in 1911 $1000 in 1912 s200S.5S, In 1913 $2000, and in 1914 $2000. making a total of s7O0S.5S, which sum was drawn against the mansion
 maintenance appropriation, but no ac- counting as to where this money was expended has In any way been made The governor refused this accounting stating that at the beginning of his administration a bill was passed in- creasing the governors salary to $500 a year; that Governor Conner refused to sign this bill. and that his friends passed a bill providing s2000 a year for the maintenance of the governor g mansion, which was intended as a sup plement to this salary The consti- tuition forbids the increase or decrease of the governors salary during his term of office. Neither the legislature nor the governor has any right. di- rectly or indirectly. to violate this con stitutiona1 provision This maintenance
 fund could have been used legally only for the proper maintenance of the gov ernors mansion and a strict account ing of this fund should have been made.
 In addition to the amounts which
 were drawn against the two funds named above. Governor ONeal also
 drew from the governors contingent
 fund the following amounts:
 1913-
 J. A. Weiss & Son ...s s1.so
 Henry Kuiny Grocery Co.... 1900
 Crew & Smith Furniture Co.,. 1850 c. W. Mcconnell ............ 500 s12sso 1914-
 Loveman. Joseph & Loeb. .s4os. 37 JOnn.a w WdndIQaker tli fl
 Montg gomery Fair (sundries) :. sss24 $173s.G1 The state is out on this transaction $60,o00 and representing this invest ment has 8 lot which originally cost $1S.0o0 and building which was com pleted nine or ten years ago at a cost of $24.000. The woodwork about the building is cheap. the hardware is shoddy and the flooring in some of the rooms, supposed to have been hardwood, was uneven pine flooring. The mansion has been greatly inn proved under the supervision of the present governor. We call upon the building comms- sion to make a detailed report of it's entire work and operations in refer ence to the purchase of this mansion to this session of the legislature as re- auired by law
 Trips by Officials at Expense of State A practice that has increased too much is that heads of departments, clerks of departments. and persons other than of ficials, take trips outside of the state at the expense of the state, attending conferences and conventions, or for the
 purpose of delivering speeches before
 some association or conference. We can unueTStdHu uOW III exceptional cases IL would be a legitimate charge against the state for an official properly au- thorized to attend conferences out of
 which some good to the state can be req sonably expected There is no excuse,
 however. for the large number of trips at heavy expense which have been taken. Homer Billingsley, of the department of agriculture; John H. Wallace, Jr state game and fish commissioner; Cyrus B. Brown. insurance commissioner: Lorrie
 Rice, deputy insurance commissioner, and former Governor O'Neal and other state officials and Louis B. Farley, president of the Farley bank at Montgomery. have
 taken these trips.
 Governor O'Neal has expended on these trips the sum of $2315. 2S, in addition to
 the $4Oo subscribed and paid as Alabama s
 part of the cost of the governors confer
 ence We recognize that the governor
 of the state is necessarily called to New
 York and other money centers at times in looking after the finances of the state,
 and reasonable expenses for such trips are proper and legitimate charges. In- discriminate trips to various cities and
 conferences for the purpose of delivering