Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1918-03-02
A MODERN CERBERUS

Governor Withycombe holds two positions exofcio in
each of which he is the watchdog Of the treasury so to
speak. One of these positions in existence when
large hearted but misguided constituency elected him to
the office Of governor of the state OF Oregon and the
other which created for him at his request by
unthnkng Legislature The first OF these positions is that
of member of the board of regents of the Oregon Ag
cultural college AS such regent 1T his duty to do some
watch-doggng the affairs OF that institution to see
that the nearly $50000 provided by the state for the up
keep and maintenance Of that educational institution
every year. properly expended and is not squandered
In other words it is made his duty along with his fellow
regents to keep tab all the expenditures OF the nstt
ton and to see it gets the worth of its money when it
spends any There number Of other regents, but
owing to his position governor, Mr. Wlthycombe is
really the head of that board More than that as gov
ernor he also bound to that the states money not
wasted improperly spent He is doubly bound to look
after the institutions affairs. The governor is well
aware Of this but somehow refuses to perform his duties
in either capacity. AS member Of the board OF regents
he consented at least did not object to the increasing
of the salary of President Kerr from $1,000 year to
$500 year The public knows pretty well just how this
done. President Kerr went to Washington city to
attend meeting of officers of the state agricultural col
leqes This suggested willy scheme which he proceeded
to put in execution A special news story from the
Oregonian bureau at Washington appeared In the
Oregonian saying President Kerr had been offered posi-
ton as president of the Kansas agricultural college at
salary of $4,000 year. Instantly hulla-balloo was
raised that the college about to lose this great and
wonderful executive officer and the state to be deprived
of his nestimabe services The Oregonian urged that
steps be taken to prevent the impending calamity.
The Oregon Journal stood in and insisted that the
salary be raised meet that offered by Kansas in the
hopes of retaining the services Of great executive
Even the Oregon Voter which is strongly opposed to
anything in the way of increased salaries and which is
watchdog of the treasury ITSELF lifted up its voice
and URGED the increasing of Kerrs salary Business
and politicians all the state appealed to by A.
A. Alumni to write wire the board of regents to raise
the salary do anything rather than let the state lose the
services Of great man from Logan Utah. Even men,
he1s of the supreme court solicited their in
uence with the board of regents to prevent great
loss the state The scheme worked and the salary
increased from $1,000 to S8400 and it also agreed
that residence would be built for the of the great
Kerr rent free which would make the salary equal to
that paid by the rich state of Kansas.
Then the story reached the of the members of
the board of regents of the Kansas college and they
promptly denied having made any offer of the posi-
ton to Kerr of having thought of him. This
story printed in the Kansas City STAR and after being
verified was reprinted in the Capital Journal Kerr
stands accused by the Kansas board of regents of
whom is the governor of the state of having had his
salary increased by fao pretennses Kerr has remained
silent under the accusation The board of regents made
garbed statement to the effect that it had intended to
increase Kers salary anyway and that it did increase it
without being influenced by the Kansas offer 1t is
claimed George Washington could not tell lie but it is
safe bet he could have told this the first time
read the boards statement The governor stood for
this and he is still standing for it. II
During the last session of the legislature for reasons
best known to himself he induced the legislature to take
he of the state prison out of the hands of
,dy1oc