Gilpin observer., 1920-01-01
GOVERNORS NICE MAHOGANY
FURNITURE INSPIRES SPECIAL
sEsH TO BIG SPENDING.
S0RTIE ON TREASURY
G. o. P. LEGISLATORS GO OVER
TOP AND ASSAULT STATE
PURSE WITH HUGE BILLe.N
(By the Democratic State Central
Committee.)

committee.)
"Tenshun ~
The armed guards in the corridor be-
fore the governors office snapped into
position.
Swinging around in his $3.50 special
brown mahogany armchair from his
$500 special brown mahogany lrolltop
desk to his $500 special brown mahog-
any flattop desk, Governor Shoup faced
the visitors who were seated in the
seven special brown mahogany arm
chairs ($1,s9O), dipped his pen in the
1852 special brown mahogany double
inkwell set and affixed his signature
to the call for an extraordinary session
Of the Twenty-second General Assem-
bly,.
In pursuance Of the call thus elabo-
rately promulgated, the legislators met
solemnly in extraordinary session and
added $53T, 900 to the total of approx
mately $S0O,OOO which the ordinary ses-
sion left in appropriations in excess of
the estimated revenues of the state for
the biennial period, making total
over-appropriation of 1887 900. In
other words, before the extra session
the state had agreed to pay out $780,
600 which 1t has not and cannot get,
and now it has agreed to pay out ST.
$1,000 which it has not and cannot
get There is also another trifle of
$4,000, constituting the expenses of
the session, which must come from the
states treasury.
1t is not to be wondered at that in
all that splendor of special brown ma
hOgany furniture and that saturnalia
of spending money which the state has
not and cannot get, a two-fisted bill
aimed at the profiteer and designed to
reduce the cost of living had few
friends and died by the wayside, with
none so poor to do it reverence" 1t
passed the Democratic Senate with
whoop, but when it got into the Re-
publican House of Representatives, it
died a quiet death by suffocation.
Speaker Allyn Cole administering the
anesthetic. 1t is an era of prosper.
ity" of the good, old-fashioned Repub.
lican type, in which money is thrown
to the winds with no thought for the
day of reckoning which always comes.
The state has just emerged from one
millionaires' campaign and is just en-
tering on another, so why waste any
time on petty little measures like an
anti-profiteering bill? why waste time
trying to bring down the cost of living
when every millionaire has all the
money he needs?
nnlt fNr,n SrrI,t tah
passed during the extra session did not
carry appropriations, and of those two
one was the woman suffrage rcsolu-
tion-the Ostensible issue for which the
extra session was called-and the 9TH
er was proposed constitutional
amendment to raise the salaries of
governors and judges, the former prob
ably so that no future governor will
have to sit in rags in the midst of his
special brown mahogany splendor.
OF the other measures, one appro-
priated S127 900 for the state reforma-
tory, another $35, 900 for the asylum at
Pueblo, another 100000 for the indus
trial school, another $4,000 for the
School of Mines, and another gave
100000 for maintaining the National
Guard during the coal strike-total.
$537.OOO, and the state already was
about 100000 over its income for the
term! That means only one thing
higher taxes, but there wasn't time to
help the little fellow stretch his pay
check from one Saturday night to an
other!
The investigation Of the constabu-
larry, which promised to furnish the
state with some interesting and sur
prising revelations concerning Its
armed prohibition forces, was the one
thing the administration didn't want.
1t passed the Senate. but when 1t got
into the camp Of Its friends in the
House the Republicans promptly
knitted It and laid 1t away. A real in
vestigation would have been interest
ing to the public, and a grand jury in
vestIgation might help some to bring
the facts to light.
The theft Of the rich mans auto
mobile is more important than the
theft OF the poor mans pay-check In
this age Of millionaire politics, so the
anti-automobile theft measure went
through on wings while the anti-prof-
iteering measure was strangled In the
House.
The net cost Of furnishing the gov
ernor's rooms in the capitol, as shown
by vouchers on file In the auditors Of
flee. was approximately $3.50, after
dcducting the discount which the state
is allowed on all purchases. The or
dinary fellow, who lie fighting day by
day to make ends meet, can't under
stand the necessity Of equlpping the
office with $500 chairs, $500 desks and
the like. but It will go long ways