Arizona republican., 1917-02-07
APPROPR PR|AT|ON
BILL TRYING ON
SOLONS' NERVES

The house has reached Il stage which
is trying on the nerves of the members.
II was made evident yesterday that
there was already tendency to raw
ness of nerves and there was talk back
and forth in which there seemed dis
position to throw amenities to the
winds. 1t came about after couple
of hours had been spent n reading the
general appropriation bill in its en-
tirety in the committee of the whole
house.
The bill is not yet quite complete but
the appropriations proposed in the
printed bill aggregate SS,254 sos. That
seems a huge sum in comparison with
other general appropriation bills OF
generous proportions, but when all the
facts are disclosed it is not as alarm
ing as it seems. 1t is different from
any other appropriation bill in another
and very important particular 1t pre-
scribes every cent that can be eXpend-
ed by the state in the regular conduct
of its business, while other bills ap
propriated money for onk part OF the
expenditures. The appropriation COM
mittee proceeded in framing The Dill
upon the theory that the statutory or
continuing appropriations which nave
defaced the statutes ever since the ad-
mission of Arizona are to be wiped
out. There is now pending a bill for
that purpose.
Some of those continuing appropria-
tions provided for limiuess waste.
The pending bill provides that so
much may be spent for a certain pur-
pose and for no other purpose and it
requires that all claims against the
state shall be itemized and the word
"incidntals" will not be regarded as an
item
Section SO of the b;;i provides: "No
expenditure shall be made or indebt-
edness incurred during the next TWO
fiscal years. for the support or main
tenance of any office, commission
boards, salary or other expenses thertof,
nor for the support, maintenance OF
expenses of any institution, or TO carry
out any Of the objects and provisions
of this act, in excess of the amounts
herein appropriated, except as other
wise expressly provided in this act
After the completion Of the reading
of the bill in full. various suggestions
were made for the further considera-
tion of il. either by subdivision or de-
partments, and here it was that the
members began to display shortness Of
temper. There were accusations of
purpose to delay the proceedings. and
those accusations became more pro-
nounced and bitter when it was pro-
posed to invite all officials and com
missions interested to come in and
pass Judgment on the bill.
This was first suggested when the
first paragraph dealing with the cor
poration commission was taken up.
The appropriations Committee was as
sailed with inquiries as TO why it had
done this and why il had not done
that. Speaker Johns was especially
bitter in his denunciation of wasters
of time. Mr. Faires sarcastically NOV
ed that since there were fiftytwo sub
divisions of the bill making appropria-
tions, members should be limited to
fifty-two speeches each on the bill.
Mr. Lines said that if the dilatOry
measures proposed by some Of the
members were to be z-opted, the gov
ernor might as well be notified at once
that he might begin his proclamation
calling for an extra session. After
some further exchange of courtesies
the committee rose without having
made progress toward final dlSposi
tiOn of the measure.
The Routine
When the house convened in the
morning, communications We're read
from the Congress 81 Mothers and
from the Arizona Federation of Wom-
ans Clubs, endorsing various measures
before the legislature, among the bills
against certain forms OF immortality.
Thert was a recommendation also for
raising the marriageable age for girls
from fourteen to sixteen.
Representative Goodwin extended an
invitation to the members and their