Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-03-07
I'D ASSEMBLY
NOTED FOR ITS
EXPENDITURES
whiteoub Rner. ana the eleven propos
& ontinued Prom Page one.)

L. 0nClnued r rom rage Onc-l
whitcoInb Riley, and the eleven proposed
amendments to the constitution.
The legislative reapportionment bills,
in which the Republicans made a sincere
effort to gerrymander every normally
Democratic district out Of existence, was
one Of the principal exhibitions Of true
partisanship. Aside from that move the
party lines were seldom drawn.
STATEWIDE PRIMARY
Law REPEAL FAILS.
The only singing rebuke the Governor
and his party colleagues suffered was
when the administration attempt to re
peal the Statewide primary law In or
der to ease the way for Senator Harry
S. News denomination signally collapsed
because Of the pressure of public opinion
and a threatened division in he Senate.
The Governor who, as his friends say,
may be devoid of political sagacity was
eanny enough not to press the issue to
the breaking point and thus the threat
ened breach was easily healed.
Another squabble that drew popular In
terest for a time was the attempt to abol-
ish the public service commission made
BIZ House members The movement
however. suddenly died from an adverse
vote administered by the representatives.
The Senate at one time started an in
vestigatiOn that manifested a spirit to
probe a problem fraught with interest
for the school patrons, but it dropped
the matter without reaching a decision.
That was the investigation into the text
book contract awards made by the State
board of education, which Investigators
assert, win cost the people a small for
tune.
Although frequent attempts were made
to place the Legislature on record as IA
voriEg paternalistic and moralistic laws,
practically all failed. For example, the
solons refused to acquiesce in the pro-
Posal to enact blue Sunday laws, nor
would they adopt bills designed TO re-
strict the exhibition of motion pictures.
An even keel was displayed on the
whole, for on the other hand they refused
to throw down the bars to Iegalize box
ing
CENTRALIZED POWER
TREND IN EVIDENCE.
The trend Of the legislation was IN
mistakably toward centralized power.
tendency that met with the approval Of
the Governor. This is manifested in
the text of the tax law, in the budget
bin and in the refusal OF the Assembly
TO pass q measure subjecting all local
constitutional amendments, a heritAge
Of the Goodrich regime. are also a link
in the chain Of Capitalization toward
which the State government has drifted
under two Republican administrations
The immediate effect Of the session,
however, will be the rehabilitation Of the
insane hospitals, the placing Of the State
on a business basis through the budget
law, the strengthening of the criminal
do I,- ION, Of acrfN-
lations governing schools, municipalities
and welfare agencies.
EXPENDITURES
BY ASSEMBLY.
The prediction that the Seventy second
General Assembly would be a twenty
milliOn-dOllar Legislature fell nearly FIVE
million dollars short of the mark, calcu-
latiOns based on appropriations and tax
leyies which have been completed indt-
cate. As a result of provisions made by
the Assembly the expenditures Of the
State during the next two years, the
period for which provision was made, will
amount to approximately $24,94s,O72.
This figure by no means represents the
total that will be spent by the State for
the next two years, for the Legislature
did not fix the highway levy. Neither do
these figures take into consideration the
various fees collected by the State, the
inheritance tax and many other sources
of income, including the six-tenths of a
cent memorial levy.
The total actually appropriated by the
Legislature is S1O,041, 925.71. This was
vided as follows:
Regular appropriations. Sj.795, 500; spe-
cifc appropriations 50, 739, 2SS II; dehcien-
cy Appropriation, S975, $3.50; expenses of
conducting the session, 100000; re-
moval Of the Reformatory, ZOO; Riley
Memorial Hospital, including mainte-
nance, 100000; Lawton monument
s., $500; monuments to AshbeI P. willard
and Michael c. Kerr, s.. 900; Grand Army
Of the Republic, 500; Kankakee drainage
commission. $1,000; uliana harbOr com
mission, $4,000; Evansville bridge com
mission, $1,000.
Besides these actual appropriations the
) Legislature fixed tax levies tOtaling 12.s
cents on each 500 of taxable property.
This levy is divided as follows:
Purdue experiment station, four-tenths
of a cent; higher educational institutions,
cents; vocational tax levy, FIVE tenths
IA cent; common school levy, cents.
On the basis of the present valuation it
would require an annual tax levy of
about cents to take care of the ap-
preparations. The tax levies fixed by the
Assembly would raise about S7.474, 0S6 a
year, based on the present valuations. In
addition the State must yet fix a high
way levy, which Governor Warren 7. Nc
Cray says will be about cents. This
latter levy, together with the memorial
levy already fixed, would bring the to-
tai to be raised by the State to $751;
3S7.72. Subtracting the highway levy
and memorial levy funds from this total
gives S24, 948.72 for the two years that the
Legislature is actually responsible for.
M'CRAY HOPES FOR
a5-CENT LEVY.
The total tax levy required to raise
this amount, based on the present valua-
ton, would be 27.5 cents. Governor Nc