Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-01-09
IOWA LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM
CONTAINS MANY HARD PROBLEMS
TBy Ora Williams.l

| DeS MOineS, Jan. J@The governor VI
| Iowa in the message he is required to
deliver to the general assembly on
! Monday will outline a legislative pro-
gram. That Is what message Is Tor
The inaugural address of governor
| should be devoted to gener alization and
| laying down of broad principles, etc
| Neither Governor Carroll nor Cover
! nor Cummins had very great success
inducing legislatures to adhere to the
legislative programs they outlined
Governor Clarke had better success TWO
! years ago. He got nearly everything
| he really wanted and in some cases
more.
| But whether it is in the message or
not the Thirty sixth general ASSEMBLY
| is right up against as hard propie'li
as ever confronted any legislative oooy'
! and that is the matter OF adjustment
! of the. purely business work of the
state to the business in hand and con-
! fine il within reasonable limits OF cost.
The records show that in every state
| from Georgia to Washington, and es-
pecially in the progressive midland
states there has been an enormous IN
crease in state expenditures in recent
! a bout 1t. Iowa has been more conser-
vative than some of lowas neislipoi
: states. Salaries are VIGOROUSLY low III
Iowa There have been new oepa''-
ments added and two new commissions
were created at the last session. bul
| Colorado has just created fVe new
commissions, Florida five. Indiana toui'
! Illinois six, New York SIX, oklahoiha
three. Texas four Oregon eight ana so
on down the line. But after all, TINS
is only incidental.
; one may Judge of the coming session
i somewhat from the last one. A great
deal of business was attended TO, anu
many hills were considered that had for
,hetr nurpose securing a better sys-
TON, for nublic business to the end that
every dollar should count for some
/ thing useful. There We're 20 new avs
: regarding cities and towns all aiming
al better city government For the
first time the state tackled IN Dig
! way the problem of securing UNIFORM
itv and business methods for counties
Some things were done to secure great
er efficiency in state business. II is
I morally certain that a large part OF
+ the legislative program for this year
/ viii be related to this problem of hav-
! ing the public business done in the best
possible manner and with economy ana
dispatch
/ During the recent campaign news
paper in southern Iowa printed the
| statement editorially that the people
| Of Iowa are paying over hundred
Z an To-
/ one form or another This presumably
meant federal, state. school and other
/ taxes. Where the figures came from is
! not known
The taxes levied in Iowa for all pur-
poses and collectable last year aggre-
gated s4s.ooo,o0o.
OF this sum s2,7oo000 came to the
state capitol to defray expenses Of the
! state government, support OF militia
| bonus TO schools and fairs, pay OF
Judges. etc Now the state government
wouldn't get very far If that was It's
only income. But larger sum comes
from fees and specials. That is why
it is possible. for instance, to pay
GU of the state treasury annually over
four and a half million dollars for the
state institutions scattered about the
state.
But just look at the demands made
on the legislature each session 1of
more money? The list of asklngs 1T
appropriation bills presented each SEES
sion. asked and not granted, is mucf
larger than the appropriations made
And here will come another long lis'
this year-s500,000 more for me
colleges, 100000 for other in
tutions, money for industries
at prisons, money for new custo-
dial farms, money for state aid FOL
schools. money for an enlarged nationa
guard, money for more normal schools
Tor bonus for them, money to pay TO,
stock killed, money for state parks
money for new laboratories ana de-
partments. money for a new sanitor'
ium. state aid for hospitals. and many
other things.
The big problem before the legisla-
ture is how TO handle this fnaneia
problem in satisfactory way.
1t has been customary to select FOL
head of each appropriation committee
some hard headed and courageous mar
capable of defending the state treas
;;r,, against the invaders. The result
lis that every chairman OF an appro'
priatIon committee goes out of public
life a reputed "tightwad" Some splen
did men have been at th'
head of these committees-Maytag
Garst, Jones, Mates. Larrabee. ane
others. What will the present legisia'
ture do? According TO precedent. Sen
ator Savage of Adair, Is entitled te
Craftsmanship of the senate committee
But Jones. of Mills, made grea
chairman in the house and he may bf
invited to take the heavy responsible
ity of handling the finances at the
senate end In the house are some
men for the place, like Bingham. RING
Anderson, Brady and Greene. AND i
is also important that the ways ant
means committees be organized so tina
there will be some real work done II
revising the revenue laws Of the stat
and securing added income where j
is proper. But little has been done
along that line.
But this big problem Of fitting ex
penditure to income and making then
equal is the most serious thing in con
nection with the legislative session
which opens on Monday.
A great deal has been said abou
; the so-called budget method" o
handling the appropriations. AS mat
ter of fact Iowa has that now. Fac
session finds the committees MAXIM
IN BUDGET and working carefully tn