Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-02-10
DAILY KENNEBEc JOURNAL THURSDAY FEBRUARY 10,

the House that the order presented
The Chair recognizes Mr.. Cole.
Mr.. COLE of Eliot: MIR. Speaker. in
presenting this order my ideas per-
haps may be explained in a very few
words. During the past ONE hundred
years of the life of this State, we have
been passing various enactments relat-
ing to the expenditure of money. Every
Legislature that has come together has
been increasing the cost OF the opera
ton of the State Government. So far
as / know the Legislative enactments
regarding the expenditure of money
have never been collected together but
they are scattered through the Statutes.
Many of them are conficting-many
departments are overlapping. There
are great many overhead charges of
different departments that might we'll
be taken care of by one department or
the. other. We have increased our tax
rate from IL mills in 1906 to IL mills
the past year. We have increased our
tax levy from two and one-half million
dollars to thirteen and one-half million
dollars. 1t would seem proper time
for this Legislature to take some step
to Investigate the condition of State
affairs and to see If there cannot be
some method devised by which dupiica-
ton may be stopped. In offering this
order for a small select committee. it
would seem the proper thing for such
committee to employ some man who is
acquainted with statistics and who has
had some experience in connection with
that line of work. to go over the de-
partments of the State for a period of
perhaps twenty-five or thirty years
back-and that is the period when our
increase of expenditures has taken
place,-so that the next Legislature may
see how the State has grown, If it has
grown, and whether the State should
continue it's present policy or change its
policy. We have been told time and
time again that the State is taking care
of a lot of things that the towns and
cities took care Of years ago. our in
sane and our State paupers; but, gen.
tlemen. your local tax bills have kept
pace with the State tax bill
and your county taxes have kept
pace with the State and local taxes,
and there has been widespread
time, with the tax that we pay in
directly to the United States of two
hundred and fifty dollars for every
family of five, or fifty dollars a head,
for every man, woman and child in
this country, added to our State,
county and local taxes. to a man who
earns a thousand dollars almost fifty
per cent. of it is taken, directly or
indirectly. 1t is the simplest thing in
the world for somebody with a hobby
to create a new commission. 1t may
sound good; it may be a charity; it
may be something that seems neces-
sary; but every single one of these
commissions, gentlemen, cost a lot of
money, and increases the burden on
the State, so far as the financial ex-
penditures are concerned many thou
sand dollars. 1t has been my pleas
ure to be a member of this Legisla-
ture for considerable period of
years, to have served in both branch
es, and to have seen the creation of
many of the State Commissions, in
Guiding the Public Utilities and the
State Highway Commission, and the
Board of Charities and Corrections.
l have heard estimates made of what
it would cost to run these commits
sions. and the cost has been duplicat-
ed many times in every one of them.
Now it seems to me that a small,
select committee, taking plenty of
time to go over this matter, employ
ing one or twenty clerks, one engin-
eer Or five engineers, whatever it is
necessary to have, is the best method
to get at this matter. 1t seems time
to take steps to investigate these
conditions and there should be some
coordination among the heads of de-
partments. 1t is said that it costs the
United States Government one dol
lar overhead for every dollar of pro-
lection, so that every dollar of pro-
lection costs the people two dollars.
and it is coming pretty near that in
the State of Maine. I do not believe,
gentlemen, that any of you doing
business in your own private con-
Germs would allow that thing to go on
without once in a while going over it
and looking it up. The people whom
you represent in this Legislature, the
State of Maine, should have