Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-12-06
"Imported Luxuries.'

"ImDOrted Iuxurles.
No doubt many citizens, soreiy op
pressed by our onerous ana a'hpiiieo
,,,e. and those resident in Wilmington
Justly irritated by the undue proportioh
~ tba cost of State and county. admins
tration they are compelled to BEAR oc-
casionaIly wonder where their tax money
co-. IN what manner of detail 1t is eN-
o.,ded Notwithstanding biennial pub
lication. by the State, IT must be adnl''teo
,bere is a surprising ignorance OF the re-
.nlt. on the part of many taxaoies.
Also il is frequently surprise TO many
.n,.rc..ed citizens to learn, long after the
sd;ournInent of q legislative session, oil the
enactment OF measures that add 10 their
.ax burdens. or at least open unusual
avenues of expenditure, previously IN
known 70 them. No doubt many were
enI;gbtened in one particular Of this char
octer nv the recent discussion over GER
,ain matters connected with the School
law that recently was featured IN the
newspapers Of this city. The Dover Sta'e
Sentinel. referring 20 one oi the parties
~ this controversy, Mr.. J. b. Gordon oil
Dover. said he lis evidently presumed 70
ne an expert newspaper scribe, having
been brought here for that purpose ana
,urped over TO the State 70 the tune OF
sva hundred dollars month and ex-
3enses." And it adds: "Mr. Gordon IS
,nlv one OF score or more Of these I'M
ported luxuries we might mention.
There is no doubt this information will
be news to many citizens who heretofore
had no knowledge of such situation 1t
was news to the Dover Index, as that
paper, referring to the State Sentinefs
assartion in respect Of this gentleman,
sditorially says In its current issue
"Ama1inel We knew that among the
hundred and odd mostly useless commits
.ions created in the past dozen years
there was one known as q survey com
mission and we knew also that such COM
mission might spend all the money in the
State treasury if the governor was SC
foolish as 20 oountersign warrants drawn
by it's chairman, but we did not know that
anv one enplove of such 9 commission
sas drawing $500 per month and ex
pen,es. And for what, pray? Aren't vi
pretty tired Of being surveyed by thos'
innported experts? There are many use
full purposes that could be served by th'
expenditure Of the Sc o per month vast
"a "a we believe on this one employe o
Governor Townsend's survey commission
The act creating this commission
typical of the commission craze IN Della
ware snd the reckless appropriation Q
public money by our Legislatures. "
quote part Of 1t: THE expense incurre
bv the said commission in connectlo
herewith shall be paid out Of the Stat
treasury on warrants drawn by the char
man of the said commission and countel
signed by the governor.
II is not to be presumed, at this LAT
dev. that this remarkable piece OF legii
iation, authorizing expenditures Of publ
money apparently with no limit save th
discretion Of the members OF the comrnI
sion thereby created, was enacted by II
Legislature in q surreptitlous manner,
without the full knowledge OF the pubh'
We have no doubt the newspapers faltf
fully reported, in detail, the progress
this piece of legislation, in connectiC
with other legislative matters. 1t
probable, however, that thousands
persons read this information withol
gi~ing a thought to it's import or Il
extent of the expenditure it might j
volve. II also is probable the neTspape
failed 10 discern this dangerous looseness
the measure in respect Of IFS control ov
public funds.
And 90 we find that this legislatio
which now seems to be unbusnesslike,
sav the least, was permitted TO prev
because the people were not sufficient
interested 70 realize how Intimately
concerned their financial interests as ia
PAYERS. Probably the expenditures
the commission have been judicious q
it's accomplishments of public benet
But it liz now plainly apparent that su
legislation is an invitation to extrayagar
and unwise, Improbable expenditu
And should not be coun tenanced.
This points the way to the duty I'll
confronts the next Legislature. 1t is, fiji
10 correct all evils Of legislation Of t
character that may exist; second, to
there is no more such reckless and d.
.arous legislation throughout the comi
s,essioD