The Sidney herald., 1956-12-06

~ " VI VIC COllSLtlullOIldl
status of the gasoline tax and
the refund should prevail, the
ant1-d1version amendment in this
state would mean virtually moth
ing, for after retirement of the
present issue of highway bonds,
the legislature would be free TO
appropriate the gasoline tax or
any part of it for whatever pur-
pose it chose.
Undoubtedly, in his message to
the legislature, Governor Aron-
son will have something to say
about the highway program. 1t
is a reasonable assumption that
nothing he says will imply that
he wants the gasoline tax drawn
into litigation, or to see the tax,
especially with reference to the
non-hlghway use refund, become
embroiled in legislative or adj
minIstrative controversy.
$50
(Last Week.
Helena - To you folks around
Montana this may be of no more
than passing interest, but here in
Helena there is renewed alarm
lest the original state capitol
building, dedicated in 1902, might
collapse. The two wings, added
about 10 years later, and n of
which contains the house of req
r~esentatives hall, are presumably
safe, but even this sturdier con-
struction, if susceptible to human
emotions resulting from the full
limitations of state officials and
the verbal detonations in the leg
lslature would have sagged into
a heap long ago.
A rather sharp earthquake /
Helena one recent Sunday nigh
was a reminder of the vibrations
in the fall of 1885 which stopped
Just short of leaving the city in
Last Chance gulch a mass of
rubble. On superficial examine
ton, the original part of the
state capitol appeared to have
withstood the shocks with minor
damage, but a report last year
revealed what engineers consid-
cred a critical situation.
For several years a program of
propping up and undermining the
capitol has been going forward.
Presently the state is out of
money for this project and is
undertaking to sell bonds against
the capitol land grant.
Having seen the original CAPT.
tol erected and observed quite a
of the political violence I'M
der its roof, l would say that
over the years the capitol has
been at least as stable as the
state government itself and that
the burdens the structure has
had to support have been no
greater than those on the tax
payers.
In defensive loyalty, Helenaites
tell you that the wind blows in
Livingston, Great Falls and else
where but that in Helena all
hey have is gentle breezes. Yet
On a winter day some Is years
ago one of those gentle breezes
caused the bronze statue atop
he capitol dome to shift her
eyes in a different direction. This
of liberty, justice and
quality was not yanked from
Ter moorings but until she was
'e-anchored her perch was pre-
'arious.
During that political era affairs
n the capitol and in the state
government generally we're such
hat it behooved the old girl
urmounting the capitol to take
apprehensive look around.
hose were days when the state
reasury was habitually empty
f just about everything except
vidences of Indebtedness and
yhen, paradoxically, the state
treasurer installed a burglar
larm. In that period state Of
icials were being impeached or
lreatened with impeachment.
md in reaction to economic con-
itions, our legislature drifted
conservatism to radicalism.
The fear then - and not with
Ut some justification - was that
economically the commonwealth
-ould suffer utter p~rostration and
lat the state government, be-
ause of inadequate income,
'ould be unable to continue even
of its most essential func-
ons, but nobody seemed dis
lrbed about the durability Of
lie structure housing the seat of
)vernment. The fact that there
now a growing concern over
e physical sturdiness of the
lpitol indicates perhaps a chang
G attitude in these times of gall
ping government.
In n respect, times have not
In 1925, my first year
a legislative reporter, the cry
as for economy = demand that
'vernmental activities be cur
lied or eliminated, but louder
i'll was the wall for new and
gger appropriations to launch
expand agencies that influen-
ii groups wanted. Economy, it
inferred, should be applied
sewhere.
Perhaps the only difference
w is that the demands for APP
OPERATIONS r bigger and more
rsistent and with even less
or concern by these peo-
- - 49, Al IL