Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 September 1908 — WATSON ON STATE FINANCES. [ARTICLE]

WATSON ON STATE FINANCES.

If James E. Watson’s “keynote** Speech is aa unreliable and worthless —so far as enlightenment is concerned —on all other subjects as It is with respect to state finances, then the Republican party is in even a worse way than has been supposed, and that is about as bad as it can be. But doubtless Mr. Watson did the best he could. He felt that he was expected to say something, and as a clear and candid statement would demonstrate the truth of every charge of extravagance and waste made by the Democrats, Mr.

Watson merely undertook to muddy the water Being unable to do even that as to the showing made by the Democrats on the subject of the astounding increase in the number of offices and salaries, Mr. Watson remains silent on that point. Mr. Watson declares in his speech that “the economy or extravagance of state administration is disclosed in the items composing the general fund disbursements.” With that statement as a basis he proceeds to compare the Democratic year 1894 with the Republican year 1906, and says the following, as reported by the Indianapolis Star on the morning after the delivery of the speech in Fort Wayne, Aug. 26:

The reports show the total disbursements from the general fund for the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, 1894, as 12,787,267.25, from which there shou d be deducted $221,526, which was a repayment of advancements from counties, thus leaving $2,561742.25 as the net expenditures from tnat fund. For the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, 1906, there were disbursements from the general fund aggregating $5,045,537.91, from which there should be deducted $1,245,500 repayment of advancements from counties, also a loan from the deaf and dumb fund of $50,508.33 and an amount of $32,016.96 transferred from the general fund to the special school fund, which were in no sense expenditures, leaving $3,717,512.62. Thus it appears that the expenditures from the general fund were $1,151,770.37 greater for the year 1906 than for 1894. But Mr. Watson apparently was not satisfied with his own statements as set.forth above and given to his Fort Wayne audience, for he subsequently changed his figures, as will be seen by reading the following revised version of it as it appears in a pamphlet issued for circulation by the Republican state committee:

The reports show the total disbursements from the general fund for the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, 1894, as $2,787,267.25, from which there should be deducted $£21,525.00, which was a repayment' of advancements from counties, thus leaving $2,565,742.25 as the net exenditures-from that fund. In order that the expenditures of the two years under consideration be placed upon the same basis, it Is necessary to add to the disbursements of 1894 the sum of $195,169.80, which was disbursed from the state sinking fund, making a total of $2,760,912.05. This addition is made because in 1906 there was transferred to the general fund from the sinking fund more than $200,000, which was disbursed from the general fund, and is included in the total disbursements from that fund. For the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, 1906, there were disbursements from the general fund aggregating $5,045,537.91, from which there should be deducted $1,245,500.00 repayment of advancements from counties, also a loan from the deaf and- dumb fund of $75,000 and an amount of $37,620.49, which was one month's salary to state officials that should not be included, as thirteen months’ salary was paid out during 1906 on account of a change in the ending of the fiscal year, leaving $3,681,868.38. Thus it appears that the expenditures from the general fund were $920,956.33 greater for the year 1906 than for 1894.

By comparing the two statements it will be noticed that Mr. Watson, without the slightest warrant, charges to the disbursements of the general fund of 1894 the Sum of $195,169.80, which was disbursed from the sinking fund and was never a part,of .the general fund. He does this in an attempt to offset it against “more than $200,000" of sinking fund tax which the legislature of 1905 turned into the general fund and which became a part of that fund, and as such was disbursed. Not yet satisfied, Mr. Watson, it will be observed, adds $25,000 to the deaf and dumb fund loan. And then he Changes the $32,016.96 which he had first said represented an amount "transferred from the general fund to the special school fund” to $37,620.49 which he had learned from some source “vas one month’s salary to state officials that should not be included. as thirteen months* salary was paid out during 1906 on account of a change in the ending of the fiscal year.” This Is a most remarkable statement, as the 1906 fiscal year ended on Oct. 31, 1906, as he had in one place said, and the change in the fiscal year was made by an act passed March 9, 1907, more than four months later, After all of this struggling with figarea Mr. Watson finally concludes that

the R. j i expenditures from the general fund in 1906 were only $920,956.33 greater than the Democratic expenditures ln 1894, although he had at first fixed the difference at $1,151,770.37. But even with all this agonizing after a satisfactory result, Mr. Watson’s mathematics are wrong. The disbursements from the general fund in 1894 were $2,787,267. This included $647,088 on account of the state debt. As the Republicans in 1906 paid nothing on the state debt, the $647,088 should be deducted from the general fund disbursements in order to obtain a fair comparison of the expenditures from that fund. The deduction by Mr. Watson of the money advanced to the general fund by the counties and paid out by the state on current expenses is mere absurd thimblerigging. The expenditures from the general fund for the two years will therefore stand as follows; 1906, by the Republicans... .$5,045,537 1894, by the Democrats 2,140,179 Increase $2,905,358 Neither Mr. Watson nor any other Republican orator can change the facts as they are shown by the figures. On these facts the Republican state officials stand convicted of increasing the general expenses of the stgte nearly three million dollars annually since they have been in power.