Barton County democrat., 1915-01-22
HODGES ADMINISTRATION
At The Inauguration of The New
State Officers Last Monday
Governor Hodges Spoke
AS Follows


every obligation, pledged or inn
piled, has been complied with.
Of the IA platform pledges posi-
BILE to fulfill, Is have been written
into the statute books of this state.
We have given Kansas the full
measure of our limited ability.
The public has but Scant concern
for retiring public official. His
efforts are ended. But they view
new officials with an honest mea-
sure of expectation. | do not be-
lieve it is in bad taste to recount
a few of the records of Democratic
accomplishment.
We believed and the public in
general thought that this state was
upon a cash basis. We found one
fourth of the 1913 taxes, amount
ing to $S32,OO0.OO drawn in ad-
vance, and practically all spent
in the liquidation of bills contract
ed in 1912.
A penitentiary burned to the
ground was committed to our
keeping encountered with an in
debtcdneSS of $4,000. We leave
it rebuilded and in the best ply
Sical condition and the best moral
condition known in its history.
The finest penal twine plant in
the world has been built, and for
the first time in the history of the
state an adequate supply of fill
tered water is now furnished the
prison.
We leave The beautiful Memoir
ial Hall finished, while it was be-
queathed to us an enclosed build
ing with a $1O,4OO indebtedness
against it.
We have state text book plant
that solves the school book queS-
tiOn for all time to come.
Both the tuberculosis Sanitar-
ium at Norton and the insane aSy-
lum at Larned are completed.
Sewers, power plants, water sup
plies, are provided that will be
adequate for the growth of that
institution for 20 years to come.
The Orphans Home at Atchi-
son, the institution for the feeble
minded at Winfield, the state hos
pital at OSawatOmie, have all been
provided with adequate water
supplies.
SiIoS of 5000 tons capacity
have been builded during the past
two years at the state institutions.
Wonderful improvements have
been made at the OSawatomie hos
pital. Food and supplies we're
being stored in rat infested, ver-
min ridden rooms. They are now
taken care of in a magnificent fire
proof building. A cold storage
plant of more than adequate size
has been built. Splintery floors
and roach infested wainScoalingS
have been replaced with tile floors
and tiled wainScoatingS, and the
institution is now in splendid ply
Slcal condition, which should be
a pride to the people of the state.
Our great educational inStitu-
tionS, instead of pulling against
each other, are now articulating
and working harmoniouSIy one
with the other under single
board. The wonderful improve
ment made in these institutions
is the result of the one board ex-
pertinent, so called, and it proved
beyond the peradventure of a
doubt that in limited numbers ac-
countability and responsibility
is defined.
The change in the oil inSpec-
ton department has netted the
state an additional revenue of
$4,000 more year than ever be-
fore.
The grain department has been
an asset to the state rather than
a liability.
We have paid a bond of S211,-
OOO during our administration.
| believe there is directly attri-
butable to the efficiency of the
lire marShal'S department almost
a million dollars less fire loss a |
year than in the past.
The obnoxious direct inheri-
.ance tax law was repealed, and in
leu thereof a corporation tax lawl
vas passed, which has netted the
state almost 100000 the firstI
year of its activity.
The women of Kansas have
'een recognized by this admins
ration for the first time in the
history of the state, and while
hnrn L 4