The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1918-10-24

what IL doae With the States vast
income. and Just what part do the
/, people have. as compared vith the
state house ring. I'm Administering the
1 93s zee .9ea czsh handled By the last
state admiais.rztion- Are legislative
| appropriations of SIS SOS. .0ee tustf-
ned. and Why has the state depart
| ment's payroll Increased $4,000 a
year since the las. legislature ad
| tourned: Why DO the state officers
have a tvo year contingent fund Of
f4se.e9e when due provision was
made By the legislature for spending
s3.0ee.ee for help and ice water for
their depzrtnentsf
What part do the voters Of the
state play in the administration of its
resources- Here is the answer: They
elect fifteen state officers. whose COM
bined annual salaries as fixed BY
statute IL $4,000.
But here Is what the state officers
DO: The governor and his clique ap-
point the heads and subordinates for
forty sub-departmen.s and IS state
| institutions which spend every four
years approximately s7.75o.000 in
1 salaries sufficient to keep on the pay
rolls 1900 persons. to say nothing of
the number attached to sub-depart-
ments for which no legislative ap-
propriaticn Is made but lives off Of
fees and other graft. Bear In mind
that the state has been running In
debt at the rate Of 1000. 900 a year.
and still the pay roll is on the in
crease at the rate of a quarter of a
million q year.
| Practically every one Of the thou
sands OF state employees are subject
TO removal at the behest of the gov
ernor and his clique. for the people
elect only fifteen officials The whole
election machinery with its en-
oromous fund Is in the governors
hands Oklzhoma's wealth Is a thing
to be manipulated by the governor
and his coterie at their pleasure.
An illustration of the power
welded by the ring and which Is not
understood by the average voter is
seen in some of the sub-departments.
The board OF public affairs. state
banking board. state election board.
state board of education. insurance
board. school land commission. ware
house commissioners. mining board.
highway department. factory and
/ P4tooh anu R6iOtN
officers. penitentiary officials. game
warden. school and state institution
heads and many other important Off
ces. controlling the expenditure of
vast sums, are under their control.
| Most of these departments are of
more importance than many of the
state departments whose officers are
elected by the people at large. The
state highway department is collect
ing over a million dollars a year for
automobile licenses and besides han
dies all of the states road money.
IL keeps 10 per cent of the automo-
bile license and has other sources of
income. yet the last legislature ap-
prppriated s169.000 to maintain IL.
II has been permitted to increase its
pay roll over s21.000 year and the
state pays in addition all of their
travelling expenses. The state game
warden's appropriation was $4,000
a year 10 maintain his department.
His deputies are in every nook and
corner of the state. The commits
sioner of the land office. another of
the governors pets. gets to spend
s250.0O0 and the last legislature al
lowed contingent fund of $50. 900.
II would be useless for the purpose
of this article to continue to enume-
| rate state graft. The voters have no
part in selecting the heads of these
departments or their employees, or in
eXpending the enormous funds re-
quired to maintain them. They WELD
a vast political influence throughout
the state. Against these forces the
masses of the voters will have to
concentrate at the November election
II the state is to have a change and
give Horace G.. McKeever a chance to
make good his promise to find out
where the states money has gone.
and to prosecute the malefactors.