Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 92, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 July 1902 — HOW THE STATE DEBT HAS BEEN SCALED DOWN [ARTICLE]

HOW THE STATE DEBT HAS BEEN SCALED DOWN

The great reduction of the state debt which has been accomplished during the present era of Republican control has been effected through no policy of niggardliness, and there has been 'a substantial reduction, rather than an increase of*the tax levy. Here is one item going to show how it is that the administrations of Governors Mount and Durbin are able to make so good a showing. In 1895, when the Republican party came into control of financial affairs in Indiana, the auditor of state received 10 per cent of the fees of his office. The same rule obtained In other state offices. The fee and salary law passed by the Republican legislature of 1895 took away these perquisites. In the insurance department of the state auditor’s office alone, the collections from 1895, Including the present year, aggregate one and three-quarters millions of dollars. The state auditor’s commission on these fees under the old order of things, would have been more than $175,000, representing a dead loas to the state. It has not been so very many years ago that state officials received all the fees. Under such a system there would have gone into private coffers during the past seven years from the state auditor's office alone more money than was expended in the construction of the state capitol. Republican legislative candidates in Indiana stand for a denial of the theory that a public office is a private graft A vote for them is a vote to endorse economy, honesty and sound business methods in the administration of the state’s affairs.