fl MACHINE INFAMY. Exploiting the Schools, Prisons, Hos pitals and C'liarltlcH, Etc., for Rase Partisan Purposes—Full Details as to the Methods of Achieving This Great Outrage—Senator Penrose's Attempt to Deceive the State as to tho School and Charity Appropria tions Fully Reflated From the Rec ords. At the late Republican convention that met in Harrisburg to express its contempt for honesty and economy in the state government the boss sent the junior senator to represent him and sing a siren song into the ears of the people which, if it did not deceive them, might still be used by the heelers for such clamor as should confuse and drown the cries of the reformers. Mr. Penrose made a very valiant, but manifestly very laborious effort to ful fill his task. He, of course, ignored the detailed, specific and widely published evidences of the Republican ma chine's theft and waste of the public moneys, because it is impossible for him or anybody else to fairly meet and successfully refute them. But sweeping them aside, as with a wave of the hand, he undertook to account for the con stantly increasing cost of machine rule by ascribing it to a greater liber ality to the schools, the hospitals and elemosynary institutions of the state, leaving it to be inferred that Mr. Quay and the machine were being criticized and abused, not for any reai wrongdoing, but for their enlarged liberality in caring for the helpless wards of the state. Even if it were true that tho differ ences in the gross annual outlay of the stale were accounted for solely by the larger appropriations to the schools, the hospitals, etc., these appropriations are themselves made to dishonestly and unlawfully contribute to the main tenance of the machine, whose astute chief and ever watchful lieutenants would consider themselves grossly derelict in permitting such large sums to pass through their hands without gathering on it some profit on the way. But the excess cf the cost of main taining the state government as be tween 1883 and 1897 was almost three and three-quarter millions of dollars greater, leaving wholly out of the con sideration the cost of the schools, the penitentiaries, the insane and the charities, as the following figures will show: Payments 1897, less Interest, etc. (sec. Rep. treas., p. 23). .$12,768,515 Payments 1883, less loans re deemed, interest, premiums and U. S. bonds purchased (see aud. gen. rep., p. 151 .. 4,336,997 Excess of current payments for 1897 $ 8,431,538 Cost of schools, charities, in sane, penitentiaries, etc., '97 $ 7,172,315 lame, 1883 2,440,840 Excess for 1897 $ 4,731,475 Excess of total payments in 1897 $ 8,431,538 Exress for sclioools, etc., in 1897 $ 4,731,475 Excess for ordinary expenses in 1897 $ 3,700,063 And this says nothing of the fact that the state treasurer in making up his estimates of expenses for the year ending Nov. 30. 1898 (which reach a total of $17,346,823, as against an an ticipated revenue of $11,561,000), in cludes, among others, the following items: State tax due counties $1,505,255 School app'n 1897 due 3,439,998 Due U. of P. on app'n 1895.... 75,000 Due W. U. on app'n 1895 45,000 Appropriation for new capitol expected to have been paid in 1897 and appropriated for that year 275,000 5,340,253 The account, fully made up, there fore, stands about as follows: Excess payments of 1897 over ISB3, exclusive of charities, schools, penitentiaries, in sane, interest, loans, etc $3,700,063 Moneys that were appropiiatod to schools, charities, etc., and should have been paid in 1597, but remained unpaid at end $5,340,253 Total $9,040,316 This is a long, long way from veri fying Mr. Penrose's contention that the only reason why it costs more to run the state than it used to is that we now give so much more to the cause of education and in boniflcences to tho helpless and suffering. Going to the official records for the facts com pletely upsets his slyly conceived dec larations and insinuations, as it will he found to upset every plea made by the machine apologists in explanation and extenuation of its crimes. And the appropriations for the schools and the charities, the poor, prisoners and the insane, are all and in numerous ways made to do duty for the machine. Of the $5,340,253 due Nov. 30, 1897, on appropriations made that year and before, and not paid at that time, $3,439,998 was, as will he no ticed, owing to the schools and $120,000 to the charities (see treasurer's report, page 14.) at the same time that a bal ance of $5,136,700 was in the treasury. Here is confession over the official sig nature of a leading beneficiary of the machine that moneys art wrongfully withheld, and no sane man for a mo ment dcubts that the purpose of the withholding is to accommodate the favorite banks and insure the ma chine liberal contributions for its cam paign funds. There are comparatively few other moneys that could he with held in the same way, so that, were it not for the large appropriations to the schools and the charities the banks would have to surrender their deposits and the machine go to some other source for means to deceive and cor rupt the voters. Then ihe myraid of officials that ad minister the affairs of the institutions under consideration are practically all expected to shout the praises of the machine about election time and do what they can to confound its enemies. At tho beginning of each legislative session the governor has 700 or 800 ap pointments of various kinds to sub mit to the senate for confirmation. A large proportion of these are connected with the educational, charitable, penal and reformatory institutions of the state. All of them must sooner or later pony up in some way to the machine, either by money contribution, lip ser vice or repressing: what they know and feel and would like to tell. Refusal to do this in any direction is regarded as threatening the appropriations for that direction next due. For many of these places, even where neither sal ary or perquisites attach, there is al ways warm competition, and in such cases the machine steps in and, regard leas of the local situation or the equities, determines the contest in fa vor of those who are likely to prove most subservient to its behests. There are 117 homes, hospitals, asy lums, aid societies, missions, etc., or ganized and controlled by the state, or managed by private corporations and receiving state aid, to which ap propriations were made by the last legislature. These are exclusive of the deaf and dumb and blind schools, the institutions for the training of feeble minded, etc. In many localities these institutions are looked upon as of such Importance that the men chosen to rep resent such localities are expected to make sure of the appropriations for them at whatever sacrifice. Urged by their two or three thousand officers, managers, directors and employes and depending upon the machine as the sole arbiter in the appropriation com mittees, these poor legislators are often forced to choose between voting con scientiously and losing the appropria tions or voting with the machine and getting them. Thus even the chari ties of the state, the sick and the crip pled are made, unconsciously, to con tribute to the maintenance of a ras cally gang at the head of the state's affairs and their conscienceless robbery of the taxpayers. Mr. Wanamaker said in his speech at Phocnixville, May 27: "Politics con trols the appointment of trustees of state institutions; politics controls the management of state institutions. The needs of overcrowded asylums and un healthy hospitals count as naught against the request of the man with the political pull and who can deliver state delegates." And he might have added that the controllers and officers of the institutions not under control of the state, but receiving state aid, for the most part are but in a degress less the servitors of the machine. Tho appropriations are notoriously Inadequate for the support of the state institutions, notably the insane asy lums. The payments for the insane were $1*38,390 in 1896 and $587,544 in 1897. The appropriations were $920,320 for 1897 and $717,700 for 1898, but of the former S2OO 000 was for a deficiency In the ap propriations for 1895, and $83,950 in 1897, and a like amount in 1898 was for an extension of the reservoir and new buildings for the Harrisburg Institu tion. The committee on lunacy of the board of public charities has been for several years insisting that a new asylum for the indigent insane be built for management under homeo pathic auspices, that a hospital speci ally devoted to the treatment of epilepsy be erected and that the chron ica "who do not require active medi ral treatment, nursing and special care" should be taken from the hos pitals and put in an asylum by them selves. They flirther recommend that legislation be enacted to induce and encourage counties, municipalities, etc., to build institutions for the care of their own insane by the offer of a fixed sum, say $1 per week, paid out of the state treasury, for each patient supported therein. Wisconsin has pursued this plan with highly satis factory results for 16 years, the per capita cost per patient being $1.75 per week, or less than it costs in Penn sylvania. Notwithsatnding the fact that all the insane hospitals are seri ously and even dangerously overcrowd ed, hundreds of beds having to be made up at nights in the corridors and taken down in the morning, the legislature has persistently ignored all these rec ommendations, excepting when in 1895 they passed an act looking to county care for patients, which was so loa'ded down with provisos and Impossible re quirements as to be wholly inoperative. It was owing to the extravagant ap propriations for party and factional purposes that, as Mr. Wanamaker said in his Phocnixville speech: "At the last session of the legislature the appro priations committee was obliged to re fuse actual maintenance for many of the most deserving hospitals of the state. Yet this same committee, under orders, passed for Senator Coyle, of Schuylkill, a Quay lieutenant, an ap propriation of SIO,OOO for the main tenance of the American Hospital as sociation, of Mahanoy township, which was an imaginary institution of Sena tor Coyle's, without capital, without a building, or without even a site upon which to build one. This fraud was fortunately discovered by Governor Hastings, who vetoed the nefarious scheme." And yet as showing how even the state board of charities itself is com pelled to pose as apologists for the machine, the secretary cf the board said in his report Jan. 1, 1897 (see report, page 8): "At the session of the legis lature of 1895 we earnestly urged that provision be made for both the insane and criminal classes. Bills for these purposes were presented to the legis lature, but unfortunately, owing to the financial depression of the treasury, failed to become laws." And vet it is notorious that in multiplying useless offices and expenses the legislature of 1895 outdid all its predecessors and was not a whit less culpable than that of 1897. Following up this subject Mr. Wan amaker says (again the Phoenixville speech is quoted from): "I am informed by an ex-member of the appropriations committee that du ring a recent session of the legislature the appropriations committee, after months of work and the unmerciful slashing of meritorious bills, had suc ceeded in making the total amount of appropriations fall within the estimated revenues. Upon the last night that bills could be reported from the com mittee and be passed before adjourn ment orders came from Senator Quay that more than $500,000 of bills for pow erful and rich institutions must be passed. These bills had all been con sidered by the committee on their mer its and negatived. Upon orders from the 'old man' they were reconsidered and reported favorably within an hour. A prominent Philadelphia business man ''sred not contribute to the Business Men's League, because he was a di rector in the Philadelphia Museum, and he was notified that he must not oppose Quay or hi 3 institution would lose an appropriation that upon its merits alone it is entitled to receive." It is not generally understood, but should be, that the state does not sup port the penitentiaries and reformato ries. The state provides the buildings and pays the salaries, but the counties pay for maintenance. Of the state ap propriations to the penitentiaries for 1896, $50,000 of the $52,000 went for sala ries in the Eastern and SGO,OOO of the $65,000 in the Western. These well paid officials are, of course, another contin gent of the machine's active election eering forces. Mote than half of the cost of main taining the indigent insane patient is } paid by the counties, and from a third j tc a half of the total Income of the in -1 sane hospitals from all sources goes i for salaries. Here, again, the machine i finds profit and support. In the fur ' nishlng of supplies it is the same thing, and It is notorious that the cost of feed ing the patients is much in excess of what it should and would be under honest management. In his Philadel phia speech, June 27, Dr. Swallow said: "Though the average charity in mate of cur asylums gets service, olofhing and food that costs loss than 50 cents a day. the expense to the state is greater than though th°y we e board ed at a first-class hotel." This, like nearly all of the reverend doctor's alle gations, is a haphazard statement, demonstrating the impractical charac ter of the man and the unwisdom of depending upon his "statistics," and yet it is approximately true. The weekly per capita cost for main tenance of patients in the five state hospitals for insane for 1896 is set down in tho official report of the committee on lunacy of the board of charities (see report 1896, page 24) as follows: Harrisburg $3.75 Danville 3.60 Norrislown 3.15 3-5 Warren 3.61 Dixmont 3.89 Average $3.60 3-5 It has already been stated that the cost of the insane to the state of Wis consin. where they are cared for In the counties, etc., is $1.75, and "the quality of care is excellent," says our board of public charities, and the board further says (See report 1896, page 5): "In Pennsylvania there now is some excel lent county and municipal care of the insane, at far less per capita cost than that charged in the state hospitals." A board of charities, whose officials would give less of their time to moving about the state doing the work of the nachine and the party which It con- Irols, would see to it that naked main tenance of at least as good a quality as is now furnished, was nrovided wherever money is specifically appro priated by the state for maintenance, at considerably less cost. The educational, penal, correctional and charitable Institutions of the state, whether supported in whole or only in part by the state, are, as will fully ap pear from the foregoing revelations, vir tually all Industriously exploited for the pupport of the Republican machine. Ev ery dollar of money voted to them in one way or another, directly or indirect ly. pays tribute to it. A great liber ality is Indecently and defiantly util ized to assist the basest of political as pirations. The mere money outgo is not nearly so large as Senator Pen rose tried to make the people believe, and is far from covering the difference between the cost of honest government and the cost of Republican machine government, but it is a great sum nevertheless, fully sufficient to inspire successful revolution against the ma chine and the men who are responsible for Its cruel and wicked maladminis tration. SCHEMES 11 FAILED. VETOED APPROPRIATIONS. A Concise Statement of Legislative Jobbery Ending In Failuro—Soventy nfne Thousand, Four Hundred and Twelve Dollars and Sixty Cents Dis honestly Voted Away—The Govern or's Disapprovals—State Normal Schools and tho Sixty-five Thousand Dollar Abatement. (From Pamphlet Laws, 1897, pages 506 to 517.) DOGBERRY. The salary of the night watchman, two years, the sum of SI,BOO. Appro priation had been twice inserted. NOT FOR JOSEPH. Extra compensation for attorney gen eral. $1,200, for services as a member of the board of public accounts. The attorney general refused to accept pay for said services, the same being with out warrant of law or good morals. The auditor general and the state treasurer had no such scruples, both accepting the appropriation, which was an indirect means of raising their sala ries, contrary to the provisions of the state constitution. THE IMPECUNIOUS MAJOR. To "Major" Brown, superintendent of the bureau of railways, $4,000. As deputy secretary of internal affairs the aforesaid "Major" Brown received an annual salary of $2,300, and by act of April 18, 1895, an extra salary of S7OO per annum was given to this official as compensation for services performed and to be performed as superintendent of the bureau of railways. The $4,000 appropriated by the legislature of 1897 to the said "Major" Brown was in the nature of a fraud upon the taxpayers. | For an elevator man to run an ele vator in a capitol building, which has j no existence, the sum of $900.. ! • COSTLY OLD SEA DOGS. ' For the construction of a new quar antine bo£ft for the harbor of Philadel phia, the sum of $25,000. This intended outlay was a piece of jobbery. Under Governor Pattlson, in 1883, the total cost to the people tQ.maintain the har bor office at Philadelphia was SIO,OOO. It has since been Hwollen to thfe sum of $102,200, to which the legislature of 1897 naught to add another $25,000, or a grand total of $127,200, for the purpose of maintaining an establishment the utility* of whioh. is open to serious question. MORE TIPS. 1 . The sum of $3,000, payment for ser vices of William K. Talor, crier, and John T. Comlv. Samuel Collins and Daniel Ahcrn. tipstaves in the superior court. All these patriots had received the salary provided by law, and the extra $3,000 was an intended rape of the treasury. THE PADDED PAY ROLLS. For salaries of the officers and em ployes of the senate. $7,266. This was an attempt on the part of the legisla ture to obtain state funds for the pay ment of men who performed no ser vice. The total salaries for officers and employes of the senate (librarian, pages and watchmen excepted) wou'd amount to $47,710. The appropriation had been raised to $51,976. HUMOROUS. BTTT EXPENSIVE. For payment to a janitor for keeping in order the apartments of the lieuten ant governor, the sum of SBOO. The apartments in question had gone up in moke, therefore this appropriation was a most flagrant abuse of legislative power. WATCH AND PRAY. The sum of $2,184 for services to be rendered by a watchman in and about the senate chamber. The senate cham ber had shared the fate of the capitol building. The temporary chambers in the Grace Methodist Church were to be, and since have been, released to the church official*, and consequently there was no more necessity for a senate watchman at $3 per day for two years than now exists for the appointment cf a state official to count rain drops in the desert of Sahara. FINE ENGINEERING. For the payment of the salary of an engineer in the capitol building until January. 1899, the sum of $1,650. What possible labor an englnoereould perform where there were no engines, boilers or buildings is not apparent. A WITTY SCOUNDREL. For the payment of the salary of the cellar fireman of the senate, until Janu ary, 1899. the sum of $1,650. This fellow was a side partner of the engineer above mentioned. He could not find a boiler, fireplace, grate or stove }n the capitol building, were he to rake the ruins with a fine tooth comb. FT TIT TJTCTTTS! To one Rogers, the sum of SI,OOO for paymeftt for services as clerk to the senate appropriations committee. Payment had been provided for in a previous item of the appropriation bill, although the aforesaid Lucius Rogers was but a political ward in chancery, whose actual services did not entitle him to any compensation. MORE PADDING. For the payment of the salaries of officers and employes of the house of | representatives (except resident clerk, ] watchman and pages), an excess ap- ! propriation of $12,250. This was an at cempt to rob the people for the bene- j fit of those who, having no visible I means of support, had their names ad' I ded to the salary list in violation of law. One watchman for 11. of % R., the sum ' of $2,184. This fellow here provided ' for lost his occupation when the capi tol building went up in smoke. Our noble and too generous legislators, how ever, sought to give him a princely in come for watching something not in existence. One cellar fireman for H. of R., $1,650. A fireman who could find anything to "fire up" in the ruins of the capitol building is too smart for such menial occupation. He should travel in a side [ show of modern wonders. OLD HARRY. For the express benefit of Henry Huhn, an asthmatic, political barna cle, for extra services, SSCO. This bene ficiary draws a stated salary as speak er's clerk. The extra SSOO was to be a clean steal, "Harry." no doubt, having proven himself a very handy fellow wn many occasions. PETTY KNAVERY. To one John Harner, janitor of the supreme court rooms, Harrisburg, the sum of SIOO for services rendered va rious committees for the session of 1895, together with a further sum of SIOO for like services during the ses sion of 1897. This was an attempt to pay a salaried janitor for services per formed at party caucuses with money drawn from the state treasury. A BLACK RASCAL. To one Josiah Higgins, the sum of $1,650 "for keeping in order the bath room in the basement of the executive building." This item was not for a plumber; but for a fellow whose occu pation it Is to scrub out the bath tub i and wash the clerks. A bath room that costs $3 a day to "keeft It in order" is a luxury to be dispensed with. A CURIOUS GOODMAN. For expenses incurred by the for eign paupers' committee, and owing to one H. I. Goodman for clerk hire and , stenographic labor, the sum of $2,150. The act of the legislature fixed the \ total expenses of this committee at $3,000, and this was an attempt to in crease It by the amount of the sum ap propriated for H. I. Goodman. WORSE THAN CONVICTS. For expenses of committee to investi gate convict labor, etc., the sum of $5,000. A specific appropriation for this committee had passed the senate in bill 627. This was an attempt to draw two salaries for one service. DESECRATING THE DEAD. Hon. William H. Cassln and Hon. D. D. Phillips were ex-members of the legislature. The former had not been a legislator since 1894, and the latter retired to private life after the session of 1887. Both gentlemen died during the session of 1897, and without warrant of law or precedent funeral expenses amounting to $1,027 were appropriated for the benefit of funeral junketing committees. The grave had no victory and death no sting for these commit- , tees, but the governor's veto ax was sharp and strong. ENEMIES WITHIN. The sum of SI,OOO to pay the expenses of the delegates who went down to Tampa, Fla., to discuss "coast de fenses." It was fully understood when the delegates were a pointed that no compensation for services or expenses would be allowed. TWO DROMIOS. To Charles Ettla for expenses and services as secretary to committee on penitentiaries, the sum of $450.80. To George Baker for like expenses, and for services as doorkeeper to same committee, the sum of $460.80. Both gentlemen had been provided for in another bill approved by the governor. This was an attempt to deplete the treasury by underestimating the gov ernor's perceptive faculties. THE RECORD STEAL. ITow the Publication of the Letfsln tive Proceedings Is Made to I>o Duty for Machine Protege*--The Fright ful Padding, Enormous Indices and the Costly, Confusing and Exaspera ting Results—When the Contract Price Falls the Cost to the Taxpayers Increases What An Ilonest and More Intelligent and Useful Per formance of the Work Would Save. The printing and distribution of the Legislative Kecord involves a shame fully reckless waste of the public money, and, if it does not include a straight steal, the facts which the fig ures divulge show a mighty close ap proach to it. Its distribution, by issues, dining the sessions, which was intended to keep the people apprised of what their servants at Harrisburg are doing with their time and opportunities, was for years a scandal, owing to the dila toriness on the part of the publishers, but even more specifically of the pas ters' and folders' departments of the senate and house. The men appointed to service in these departments are the working politicians in the districts of those senators and members who have the strongest pull during the sessions. They receive close to SI,OOO per session as salary, but a large proportion of them never do any of the work. They are content to pocket the pay and per quisites und to appear upon the rec ords as pasters and folders, but either because they regard it as demeaning, or because they have something else to employ their time, or because they are adverse to toil of any kind, they refuse to perform the incident labor and employ substitutes to perform it, at from one-fourth to one-half what they receive from the state. These substitutes are generally very cheap and incompetent men, often boys, and as a result it is happening constantly that even when the printing has been reasonably prompt, the distribution is unconscionably delayed, the pasting and folding rooms being gori stacks of the stuff which should long before have been in the mails. How ever. as has been stated, there has re cently been some little improvement in this regard, because of the persist ent and long continued protests of citi zens against being served with printed copies of proceedings a month or two old and long after, as news, they had lost all Interest and value. The total cost of the printing and distributing of the Legislative Record, as set forth in the various auditor gen eral's reports, was, in the years sever ally named, as follows; 1885 $22 B*o 1891 28 675 1893 3 Vo9t *895 ... 36.161 lfc97 43,580 The figure for 1597 ir, made up by ad ding the $8,500 paid on account in 1897 and the state treasurer's estimate of the sum required to complete the pay ment in 1898. A preponderating element in this sieal Is the index. The reporting of the pro ceedings and the printing of the Rec ord is paid for, under contract, at so much per page. Bids are received and the award mde to the lowest bidder. A maximum price of $lO Is fixed and the competitors bid so much percentage off that price. The president of the senate and speaker of the house make the award and get, by the way, SIOO ear h for the few hours spent in doing It, while their clerk gets SSO. The contract price for 1895 and 1897 was $3.96 per page. This, be it under stood, is for both reporting and print ing, S3OO additional being always al lowed for the compilation of the index. Now, the ponderous tomes that -con tain the proceedings of the legisla tive session of 1897 cover a total of 6.772 pages, distributed as follows: Proceedings 3,732 pages Report aliens' committee ... 565 pages Report penitentiary investi gating committee 231 pages Blank pages 7 pages £ otal ; ""2 pages Here are almost two-thirds as many pases of index as there are in the re port proper. Add to these the 803 rages of reports and blank pages, and we have a total of 3,040 pages, or not far from half of the whole number, which the state paid for as having been stenographieally reported, ns well as printed, whereas not a line In any of them was reported. Whatever is the difference between the cost of re porting and printing and that of the printing alone is, as to these 3,040 pages, a sheer robbery. The volumes arc pad ded by reports, index, etc., to the ex tent of over 30 per cent of the total payment, and this is exclusive of the constant repetitions and not only use less, but confusing superfluities in the proceedings themselves, and which, It is safe to say, constitute fully two thirds of the total bulk. What this padding costs at S3.!)G per page, inde pendently of that in the proceedings proper. Is as follows: Index Aliens' report 2,237.40 Penitentiary report 914. Til Blank pages 27.72 Total $12,038.40 An infinitely more intellgent and sat isfactory record of the sessions' pro ceedings could have been compressed Into about 1,000 to 1.200 pages without sacrificing a word of the "eloquence"-of the senators and members which, it is needless to say. Is, as a rule, far more effusive than edifying. An index that would be really useful for reference purposes could be put into 200 pages, and this is making a liberal allow ance. The 2,237 page index to the 1897 volumes is, in fart, no index at all. It is full of errors. It has countless repetitions. And these are so embar rassing that on the rare occasions when the Itecord must be referred to, the seeker after t information is likely .to he driven half frantic by the difficul ties he will encounter, in obtaining it. For Instance, "An net to regulate suits brought by and against foreign cor porations doing business in this com monwealth. to which certliloates have been or may he issued, etc.," is in dexed under the word "Issued." Was there .ever a padding for robbery, -H<. bold or a method of pletely imbecile? And this is but a sample of hundreds of similar in stances of the fraud. What ts referred to above as the aliens* report Is the report of a committee appointed by au thority of the legislature of 1595 to ascertain the number of aliens quarter ed upon the commonwealth in the var ious public institutions thereof. As a printed public document it is of no more value than would be a second tail to a cat. The 565 pages covered by it contain nothing but the names, sex, nativity, etc., of the individual aliens found to be in the various prisons, hos pitals, almshouses and other like In stitutions of the state, each case being made to consume eight lines, or about one inch in the length of a column, as follows: John Smith. Sex—male. • J 1 Nativity—Kamschatka. Number of days treated—Thirteen. Cost per day—One dollar and thirty one cents. Total cost—Sixty-one dollars and flf ty-one cents. Any sane private individual having such a thing to print would put It in this way: Jno. Smith. Kamschatka: treated 13 days at $1.31 per day; total, $61.51. But that would have consumed only two lines, and would have lessened the grab of the Legislative Record con tractor $3 out of every $4. It is safe to say that a fp.r more in telligible record of the proceedings of the legislature could he reported and printed, with a comprehensive index to the hook, for about SIO,OOO, or less than a third of the cost of the present publication, which is most exasperating to all those who have to consult it he cause of its cumbersomencss and other described faults, and that the sum named would include a fair compensa tion for both the reporter and the printer. But suppose only half the present ex penditure could be cut off. the saving would still be close to $20,000, and that sum would materially help in caring for the indigent insane and other wards of the state, now in large part neglect ed by reason of this and other machine corruption and waste in the handling of the state's moneys. Regularly every fourth year the con tract price for reporting and printing the Record has fallen, owing to the introduction of improved facilities for printing, such as machine type setting, etc. In 1883-S5 the price was $6.56 per page; in 1887-89 it was $5.72; in 1891-93 It was $1.90, and in 1895-97 it was $3.96. The contract for the ensuing four years. 1599-1301, has been awarded to the same parties who have had it for sev eral years past, at $3.41. And the Wilkesbarre Record, a Republican pa per. has this to say regarding it: "The contract for printing the Legis lative Record for the next two sessions has been awarded to tlie same party who had it the last four years. As the price will be lower than before the work is likely to he also worse, pro vided that be possible, which is doubt ed. Parties who have had this con tract heretofore and failed to comply with its requirements should have been ruled out of the competition. But the officials who award state contracts are not in the habit of doing business that way." Passing by this Wilkesbarre editor's criticism of the character of the work clone on the Legislative Record, though it is even more than justified, it is worthy of remark that, though from 1885 to 1891 the contract price fell frorrv $0.56 to $4.90 per page, the cost of the reporting and printing kept constantly increasing. The lower the price the higher the cost. In 1893 and 1895 there was a small drop in the cost, but not at all in proportion to the chop in the contract price, but in 1897, by force of the successful padding already de tailed, it went up again. If there is an office in connection with the state government which, under Republican machine rule, does not in volve a theft or criminal profligacy, the fact has not yet been made apparent THE BANKING DEPARTMENT. A Fako Sclitfine Costing tlio Taxpayers About a Quarter of a Million Every Time the Logl.slature Moots—Exam iners That Never Examine— The Federal Government Does For Noth ing What the state Government Robs Us for Not Doing At Ail. Six thousand six hundred pages of printed matter, at a cost to the state of many thousands of dollars, with an other volume to come before the expi ration of the current year, represents the work of the bank department of Pennsylvania from the date of its or ganization in 1891 up to the present time. That it has been of any use to any mortal man or woman other than those employed in the paper making, the type setting and binding the eight huge volumes, and the commis sioners, deputies and clerks who compiled them, no sane man, familiar with the facts, will undertake to main tain. Prior to 1891 bank statistics were com piled and the banks looked after by the auditor general, without costing the Btate one penny in excess of what would have been paid to that official and his subordinates anyhow. As to the effi cacy and adequacy of this old time method, Mr. Charles 11. Krumbharr, who was the first chief of the new de partment, in his report for 1892 says: "They (the auditor general and his as sistants) were always ready to act in case of trouble overtaking an institu tion, and have rendered service In dis counting the business of weak institu tions which were endangering the com munity.'' If the new and costly ;der partment has done even as much as this in the cause of honest banking and the safeguarding of depositors, .the fact is not apparent, but seems to be quite fully-disproven in the recent al most unprecodontedly disastrous bank failures in Philadelphia. The banking department was created by an net of June 8. 1891. That act provided for a superintendent, to be ap pointed by the governor, to serve for four years, at a salary of $4,000 a year, and not more than three clerks, whose annual salaries should not exceed $1,400 each. During 1892, according to the re port of the auditor general, there was paid out of the state treasury for the support of t he-banking department the sum of 11,000. in 1093 i' was 919,314.38, and in 1894 $18,183.16. But during all these, years th'e department was self supporting, the expenses of examina tion, paid by the hanks, amounting to more than the expenditure for salaries, etc. . ! But in ISfjr, another not was passed, i creating a bank department, that had : already been created and In operation for four years, and giving to It the su ; pervlsion of "banks and banking com j panics, co-operative banking associa | tions, trust, safe deposit, real estate, I mortgage, title insurance, guarantee. surety and indemnity companies, and all other companies of a similar char actor, savings institutions, savings hanks, provident institutions and every other corporation having power and re ceiving money on deposit, and mutual savings funds, building and loan asso ciations and bond and investment com panies." By this act the salary of the superintendent was fixed at $6,000 per year, and he was emp nvered t > appoint, in addition to his three clerks, a dep uty at $2,500 per year. Also, from time to time, to appoint examiners "in such numbers as may be necessary for the conduct of the business of the depart ment, not to exceed ten in number," at a compensation of net more than $lO per day. Jn the same year (1C95) the general appropriation act was made to give to the banking department (for two years), which three years before had cost the state the modest sum of SI,OOO, the following amounts: Salary of chief (two years... $12,000 Salary of deputy (two years).... 5,000 Salary of clerks (two years) 8,400 Salary of examiners (two years). 90,000 Salary of stenographer and type writer (two years) 1,800 Salary of messenger (two years). 1,800 Contingent expenses 5,000 Total $124,000 At the previous election one 1). P. Gilkeson, an attorney and professional politician of Bucks county, had been chairman of the Republican state com mittee. In that position he had shown himself a master of boodle methods in politics, and as a reward for such ser vices it was decreed that the salary of the bank commissioner should be raised 50 per cent and Mr. Gilkeson given the place. Accordingly, cn the 13th day of February, when the legislative session was as yet but a few days more than a month old. the necessary act, having been rushed through both houses, was signed by Governor Hastings, who obe diently and immediately proceeded to fulfill the decree of the machine, and Gilkeson became the commissioner. In ISO7 the appropriation to the bank ing department was again fixed at $121,000, and the commissioner and his deputy and his three clerks and his ten examiners continue to luxuriate on the fat of the land, while the banks go on collapsing in greater number and with greater loss to the taxpayers than ever before. In addition to being a gross fraud upon the taxpayers, the banking de partment exists in violation of the ex press mandate of the constitution, which requires that all such matters as come under its supervision shall he subject to direction by the secretary of internal affairs. When the miners of the state rcught to have a mine de partment created as a thing separate ;\nd distinct by itself, which the miners themselves should have some voice In controlling, the law officers of the com monwealth were quick to find that such a project would Infract the fundamen tal law, though how that instrument can he construed to permit a separate bank department and disallow a sepa rate mine department, only a conni /ing attorney, in the pay of the ma chine, can explain. The 1896 report of the commissioner of banking, which is the last printed volume we have from his hand, shows that 194 institutions, banks, savings banks and trust companies made re port to him. In the state of Pennsyl vania there are 450 national banks. The United States are a great power, with apparently unlimited means, and yet they managed, in the interest of a proper economy, though each bank is required by law to be actually exam ined as to its accounts and resources at least twice in each year, to do this work without any expense to the gov ernment, the regulations exacting from the banks a sum that in the total bal anced the cost of the department. An other somewhat significant fact is that only live examiners were required to look after the 450 national banks, while Mr. Gilkeson lias ten $lO-a-day assist ants making believe to watch and cor rect such fraudulent and dangerous practices as the 194 state banks, sav ings banks and trust companies may venture. While on this branch of this most interesting subject let us again go back to Mr. Krumbhaar, who organ ized the department under Governor Pattison, and who seems to have some conception of the seriousness of the business in which he was engaged. In that report Mr.Krumbhaar said: "While I recognize the efficacy of periodical re ports and the publication of a suffi cient portion of the same to acquaint the public with the condition o. our several institutions, and the nar of those responsible for the management, experience lias shown that no depart ment can be safely run by depend ence upon reports. Many matters of management and objectionable prac tices may be readily omitted therefrom, which would be most apparent upon a personal visit of an efficient and trust worthy examiner." This was six years ago, and yet to-day the banking depart ment of Pennsylvania depends exclu sively upon reports, makes no examina tions until after the newspapers have told that the banks are failures, and the time for examination has gone by, and Mi*. Gilkeson and his fourteen assist ants pocket an eighth of a million dol lars anually for work that Is purely perfunctory and of no more use to the state.than nothing at all. In addition to all this there are the strongest rea sons for believeing that in conjunc tion with the management of the % state treasury tlie banking department winks at practices by certain of the banks that are depositories of the state's moneys that. In ing notified to the peo ple, would make them the objects of a very proper distrust. Mr. Wanama kc-r referred to this phase of this mat ter in sundry of his speeches. A ma chine banking department is a rational and very; probably profitable adjunct to the political banks that do business on the state's moneys, contribute a large share of the funds that help keep the machine in power, and. like the late Mr. Kernble's institution in Philadel phia. go down in their turn to a chorus of depositors' tears, general execra tion and notorious suicides. Read - tlie - Tribune.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers