| Show COST OF STATEHOOD The committee of ten members appointed bJ the Idaho convention to boom the state constitution sent out an address some time ago intended to show why the constitution should be adopted It was a strikingly veak paper but that could not be avoided owing to the nature of the cause it advocated advo-cated The weakest point was the stress which was laid on tho financial feature of the proposed change from a territorial to a state form of government Figures were given showing the present expenses of the territorial government borne by the taxpayers ayers > and another set ot figures was printed intending to prove that the cost of maintaining the state would amount to only < v > 3760 above the sum now paid If these statements were correct the argumentwould be a forcible one in favor of the proposed change for there would be no comparison between > tho benefits and the satisfaction to be derived from full citizenship and the additional public expense of 53700 The cost would be less than a dollar a head to the people and could not be excessively burdensome if the present taxation is reasonable But the committees statement was misleading leading and its figures frightfully deceiving deceiv-ing A taxpayer in the Idaho Democrat analyzes tho financial part of the committees commit-tees address and makes it plain that statehood state-hood would fall very far short of being mouey in the pockets of the people of our neighbor territory He shows that on the contrary the burden would bo heavier than the taxpayers could carry and while he doesnt say so in words he makes it plain that Idaho as a state would soon be a second rotten borough the people being as eager to return to a territorial condition or to be annexed to a healthy commonwealth common-wealth as are the present handful of tax ayers in Nevada He denominates the address humbuggcry bold deception and conceited presumption The committee saws the legislative department of the state will cost only 15110 while the Demo atg writer shows by actual computations computa-tions that the per diem of legislators their mileage the per diem of officers clerks and so on the stationary printing fuel lights etc for a session of sixty days as provided for in the consti tution will amount to 1511430 the items making up this sum being given in detaiL The writer then goes on to showy b show-y setting forth the items salaries and necessary expenses that the executive dow do-w k r i partment will cost a total of 692155 and the judiciary 17770 Notincluded in these tables but coming under the head of miscellaneous mis-cellaneous expenses are items aggregating 104600 The recapitulation is as follows Actual expenses named In figures in the three departments the state government J11059C6 Minus present territorial government expenses 84363 00 Increase of expense of state government govern-ment in the above department 100004 36 Miscellaneous expenses 10400000 Grand total increase of state government govern-ment K04CM36 Idaho has now a territorial debt aggregating aggre-gating 5200000 ono half of which will fall due within the next two years It will thus be seen that the taxpayers in addition addi-tion to the sum they are now paying will have to raise more than three hundred thousand dollars in two years and this they must do by multiplying their present taxes by three This is assuming that the officials will be honest and the administration administra-tion strictly legal and economical whereas there is good reason for fearing the opposite oppo-site would be the case the community being be-ing now and likely to continue at the mercy of the politicians and office seekers We dontbelicvethoirtelligent property owning people of Idaho want statehood under the present circumstances and with the ruinous conditions attached The adventurers ad-venturers the corruptionists the rabble and the politicians may desire a state government but those who havo to bear tho burden certanly cannot figure it out to themselves that the privilege of voting for President of the United States is worth all that it will cost |
