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Show A GOOD NEGATIVE VOTE. The present year's election seems to havo been a bnd one for constitutional amendments. The people of Oregon ro fused ratification to Governor West's proposition to abolish tho death penalty , for murder, and the peoplo of Utah, so I far as appears by tho returns received, have voted down the eight constitutional constitu-tional amendments submitted at the recent re-cent election, and in our opinion have done wisely in so doing. There wasn't one of the amendments that would havo be.cn of any advantage to the poople, while most, of them would have added to the cost of government, and specifically specifi-cally to the burdens of the taxpayers. The series of amendments to the constitution con-stitution of this State already adopted ul former elections have been in the interest in-terest of the. officialdom of this State, the consumers of the public tuxes and to the detriment of the taxpayers, this almost without exception. The amendments amend-ments just defeated would have been even worse in the same direction. There was but one of those ihat scorned plausible, plaus-ible, and that was the one providing (for iho deposit of public moneys no that the State treasury would got interest inter-est thereon; but when practically analyzed, an-alyzed, it was seen that it would be necessary to relievo the Treasurer from the custodv of tho funds, or from liability lia-bility on his bonds in order to do this, and after Ihat release, tho money would be subject to no particular responsibility, responsibil-ity, and the people would -be liable to great loss from time to time. The object to be gained in this proposed pro-posed constitutional amendment is notli-iue: notli-iue: more than can already bo haU under better procedure, for, as seen in the case of Salt Lake City, the treasurer, while Mill held on his bond, deposits the public moneys in the bank that makes the best bid therefor, and gets interest for the public- on that money so deposited. Precisely tho snmo thing could bo done by the Slate Treasurer under tho laws as they arc, and that is exactly what any well-disposed administration ad-ministration will assure to the people. As wo pointed out during tho campaign, the roliring State Treasurer of Ohio under un-der precisely the samo condition of constitution con-stitution and laws that Utah enjoys, will turn in when be goes out of office of-fice .fOOO.OOO of interest on public moneys mon-eys (leposited by him in the various banks of that State. Treasurer Malison, Mali-son, in his recent campaign addresses, admittod that the funds on hand subject, sub-ject, to deposit averaged about a million mil-lion dollars, but his statement of funds on hand at the low obb of the year shows that there is .fl,;"500,000 subject fo deposit for the benefit of the State. This sum dopositod, say, at two per cent interest (which is a very low rate) would yield to the State Treasury &I0,-000 &I0,-000 a year, or for tho four years of the treasurer's term, $120,000. There would appear to be no reason why tho State, under the present legal status of the treasurer and of the laws governing the Stato Treasur3 could not deposit this money and get interest for tho State thereon. Wo trust that the incoming administration adminis-tration will see to this, and will show to the people good Tosults therefrom. Tho amount of $30,000 a year is the minimum that tho State ought to receive re-ceive on interest account, and that in the four-year term is a substantial sum of monoy. But if tho whole surplus money resource available for the Slate were treated in the same waj', the amount of interest would be correspondingly correspond-ingly groatcr. There is an excellent chance for the incoming State administration adminis-tration to make a tcn-striko with tho peoplo by doing justice and turning into tho State treasury the benefits derived de-rived hereloforo by somebody not known, from the deposit of State moneys. mon-eys. If it is contended that tho State received a benefit by way of the handling hand-ling of it3 indebtedness, or in any other manner, through the deposit of public moneys, the transaction should bo open, and every bank should have an opportunity oppor-tunity to take part in tho "cutting of the melon." Heretofore whatever benefits bene-fits havo been derived therefrom appear-to appear-to have been arranged for without pub-licity. pub-licity. and were kuown to the people chiefly through speeches made during the campaign. Bui matters of that kind should bo of current public knowledge, and there should be no favorites played. |