Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-01-15

careful Thought. With the earnest hoEe
that IA satisfactory solution Of re
problem will lie reached before you aC-
jonrn. | warn you that in your at
tempt TO provide this remedy you VIII
encounter the active opposition OF
nearly every tax assessor. because he
will exert all his influence to prevent
the loss of his Office.
| have been strongly opposed to leg
islation which cOmpels municipal ex-
penditure for higher salaries or for any
other purpose without requiring the
consent OF municipal governing bodies.
| am not satisfied with legislation of
this character. even when it provides
that the act shall remain imperative
until accepted by popular vote. unless
IN the first instance 1t gives the right
and imposes the duty upon governing
bodies of approving the proposed ex-
penditure. Those charged with the nd
ministration of municipal affairs should
know best how the taxpayers money
should be expended, and the RESPONSE
bility for deciding should be placed
hpOA tnC1n DClOit ltiChlllS IL W "A
people for their approval. am also
opposed to legislation basing appropria-
lions or expenditures upon a percent
age of city or county ratables because
of the variable and uncertain amounts
to be raised thereby, and in the inter-
est of economy and publicity | recon-
mend that the maximum amount be
definitely stated in figures. AT the last
session | requested that several bills
be recalled from my hands, and ! We
toed others which did not meet these
views. and : shall follow the same
course this sessions
The law has compelled me to call
special elections in two congressional
districts because of vacancies occur
ring therein. in neither of which any
real necessity existed for filing the
vacancy. A special election entails
great expense. and it Is impossible to
arouse the interest of the voters when
the election is of no particular conse-
quence. In neither of the cases to
which | have referred would L have
ordered an election had it been left to
my judgment. and | therefore suggest
to you the advisa bility of amending
this law so as to give the governor
discretion in ordering such elections.
The discretion might be limited by re-
quiring him to order the election upon
the request of the chairman of the
state committee Of a political party.
Mouth and Hoof Disease.
The increase in population of our
country has beer steady. but there has
been a decrease in the production of
cattle iother than milk cows). sheep
and hogs. and the recent scourge of
mouth and hoof disease should attract
our attention TO the serious conse-
| quences likely to follow the destruc-
ton of large numbers of our dairy and
meat producing animals. The direct.
money loss to the owners of the cattle
destroyed is large. but it would seem
| hat consumers Of milk andAmeat must
also suffer through higher prices likely
to follow the decrease in supply. and
1t occurs to me that something might
be done to encourage our farmers to
make breeding and raising Of cattle
and other live stock more important
and profitable. The records show that
for the past three years over $4,000
head of dairy COWS have beer import
ed into this state. which must have
cost an average OF $50 per head. Had
we met this demand by raising our
own cattle at an average cost of $50
to raise heifers to two years of age
| H. On xrf1o xrn11Id ho nnn,slU CT O00 0a0
or 100000 a year. 1t would seem
| profitable to our milk producers to give
mere attention to breeding their own
herds and thus secure a stock of estab-
lished constitutional vigor and maxi
mum milk production.
If farmers were to raise and slaugh-
ter meat for home consumption, then,
instead of selling their calves at 10
cents per pound and purchasing their
supplies from the local butcher at 80
cents per pound. the high cost of liv-
ing might be materially reduced. There
Is still much pasture and range land
In this state. and there are few farms
where the surplus farm produce would
not fatten from two to a dozen beef
Cdtlie Jculit. hiOLS gram dAQ Oluti
feed could be raised to support more
live stock. and perhaps more intensive
farming is necessary to do this. When
farmers are selling their milk at a
price which nets them but little profit
it is not impossible that by fattening
cattle and by raising sheep and hogs
they could increase the returns from
their farms and materially reduce the
cost OF living to themselves and 9th
ers, and it is sure that the raising of
their W live stock would contribute
largely to the reduction, If not com
plete elimination. of bovine tubercu-
Iosis and other animal diseases in our
state. request that you give consid-
Grafton to the thought | nave endeav-
ored to present to you. with the idea
that if legislation is necessary to slim