The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1920-07-02

39aen on Republican governor and
only one Republican legislature elect
Cd III the state since l came to Mon
itana 4 years ago l think it is safe
for me to assume that the Demo-
cratic party is responsible for the
reckless and eNtravagant manner in
which the public business of the
state has been conducted. If dur
/ ins that time any attempts at econ
omy have been made they We're too
small to he visible to the naked eye.
TWO years ago the legislature
which was Republican, appointed a
committee composed of able and re-
liza hle men belonging to both politi-
cal parties: to examine into and
make report on the management of
public business by the various state
departments. This committee was
composed Of Senator c. H. Williams
. Of Powell county. "A stockman: Sen
ators G. F. Burla of Big Horn coun-
" and James T. Moods of Meagher
county. bankers: Representative Geo.
q. Bags of Ravalli county law
yer: Representative c. II. Church of
Lewis and Clark county, business
tive c. c. Conser of Fallor county,
a farmer; and the unanimous report
OF this COMMITTEES showed that mill
Hons Of dollars of Montana money
had been wasted by legislative mis-
takes and official incompetency and
that year after year new methods OF
bleeding the taxpayers OF Montana
had been found ont and put in prac-
tice They found that the money
collected for automobile licenses had
been largely wasted as this state
ment that l have clipped from their
report shows: 1t is shown by the
records of this office that $13,722.56
in postage was used in the work OF
administering the Motor Vehicle Lii
cense department in two years.
There seems to your committee to be
no justification for the expenditure
Of this excessive amount OF postage
for the purposes against which it is
charged. Certainly if this is legit-
innate charge for the work done. rad
ical and immediate change should be
made in the method of collecting the
fees fer automobile licenses to de-
liver automobile plates and licenses
for approximately 10000 motor We
hicles cost according to the biennial
report mention $S4, 141.26.
The extra clerical hire alone for
this work cost Sl1, Il 7.49, the print
ing for that branch Of the state serv-
ice cost more than 100000 for the
period mentioned. To your commit
tee all these charges are excessive
and indicate the necessity for an i'm
10. I,oc ia in
system. They found that there was
an army OF officials and deputies:
many OF whom could be dispensed
with without impairins the efficiency
Of the administration OF state affairs.
They found steamboat inspectors
with no steamboats, to inspect. pa
role commissioners and probation Of
ficers With little or no duty to per-
form, two quartz mine inspectors
where there WAS not work enough for
one. state game warden and num-
Der OF deputies to do a business that
could I've better looked after by the
county sheritfs at a fraction of the
cost, and so on all along the line.
A"Amongst other things it found
that the state highway commission
from the time Il was organized May
Z, 1917. up to November the goth,
1918. had made a total expenditure
of S179, 366.4o on which the COM
mission report reads as follows:
That in as far as your committee has
been able to discover, only about
eight miles of new highway has been
constructed and finished since the
commission commenced work. Some
repairs more or less extensive have
been made on twenty-one miles OF
other highway. In view of all these
facts it is the opinion of your COM
mittee that this state highway COM
mission as now organized and man.
aged is a cumbersome. extravagant,
inefficient and Improbable organiza-
ton the commission should at once
be abolished or reorganized. All un-
necessary help should be discharged
and no person employed hereafter
who is not fully competent to do the
work for which he is engaged. The
schedule of salaries should he re-
vised and in many instances actually
reduced; no more purchases should
be made of machinery or equipment
until it is actually required. The
purchase of second hand machinery
and supplies should not be counte-
nanced or permitted.
'At the time this report was made
there were IL engineers or so-called
on the payroll Of the som-
mission, yet when two concrete and
steel bridges were authorized to be
across the Missouri river |
at Great Falls the plans presented |
by the highway commissions bridge |
department. we're not &C