The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, November 16, 1916, Page 7

[} ' - How the Politician “Economizes” . Saving Pennies and Wasting Dollars Typical of Government Where the Real Taxpayers Have Little to Say HE politicians whe have run the government of South Dakota have strange ideas about econ- omy.. It is typical of these politi- cians that they have spent taxpayers’ money with a lavish hand in creating Jjobs for deserving party henchmen, but at the same time have failed to provide an elevator boy at $40 a month to oper- ate the elevators in the splendid new state capitol at Pierre. -The elevators are a work of art, as well of engineering skill, with their ornamental steel cages" and perfect machinery. But they re- main idle and employes and visitors ‘at - the capitol have to _walk up- and - down - the wide marble stairs. - The job of ele- vator boy - wasn’t worth creating for political purposes, -and -eliminating ~ it from the legislature’s appropriationsis done on the ground of “economy.” The . state already has electric power going to waste, so it would be merely a matter or employing a boy at $40 a month to make use of the costly elevators. - Not so, however, when it comes to creating jobs with salaries that make them worth while for political purposes. The state has an auditor, elected by the people. His duties are to keep the accounts and check up the state offices and funds. extent the state’s functions to include checking up political subdivisions of the state, etc., this work was mnot turned over to the auditing department, main- tained at a cost of over $9000 a year. Instead, a new, separate department was created by the legislature, giving the governor a new job to fill. The extra department is the executive accountant’s department and consists of an executive - accountant and staff of employes, costing the taxpayers about $10,000 a year. It - duplicates largely the auditor’s work. The executive accountant himself gets as much salary as the auditor. It was pointed out when the new . office and department were created that if the additional duties had been turned over to the auditor the work could have been done for half or less, and unnecessary duplication would have been eliminated. But then, that would not have given the. governor a new. _job to fill, even if it would have saved enough-money.to hire an elevator boy. SPECIAL COUNSEL FOR THE BANKING DEPARTMENT The state maintains an attorney general’s department, supposed under the constitution to handle all the state’s legal work. This, however, does - not prevent the politicians creating a new job of attorney for the bank examining - department at $208 a month. The state railroad commission, handling many intricate legél problems and much court work, depends on the attorney general’s department for "all this work. not “sport” special - counsel at $208 a month, like the banking department. The special counsel for the banking de- partment does not even live at Pierre, the state capitol, or have his office there, to draw his- salary. . s The governor seems to have had the upper hand wheén it comes’ to ' getting patronage to hand out. The office ‘of superintendent of the capitol building, previously existing under the secretary of state, has now been taken away from the latter and placed under the governor. Another job for the governor to fill! In making the change.. the ' legislature . boosted the salary of the superintendent $300 a year, to make it a really v_vorth- while job for the governor to give a deserving politician: -~ ~ There seems to have been no excuse for this change ex- cept to add to the governor’s ‘patronage’ and increase the salary. of the job. At least that is what the secretary of state’s friends say. . : Keeping in mind the elevator boy “economy” incident, it is interesting to consider - how the® politicians in power have failed to stop serious leaks in the treasury and peglected to get revenue from valuable property in the state now . untaxed. * : The legislature appropriates -annually ~ for . “convict ’ conveyance.” “This item ‘runs about.$6500 a year and is mostly a fund for petty graft by sheriffs 6;' the When it was proposed to - It does. various counties. State Auditor J. E. Handlin says the facts about this fund are an open scandal. The money is appropriated on the theory that the state should pay for transporting all prisoners from the county where they are convicted to the state penitentiary at Sioux Falls. It is perhaps all right for the state rather than the counties to pay this expense, but it is the. way the money is spent that is scandalous. ™ EXPENSIVE TRANSPORTATION FOR STATE'S PRISONERS - Sheriffs get a regular salary from the taxpayers for performing their duties. They are supposed to devote. all. their time to the work. Yet, in addition to their salaries, the state pays them at the ‘rate of $5 a day for conveying prisoners sentenced to the penitentiary, from the counties where they were sentenced to Sioux Falls. Also, the state pays-them at the rate of $2.50 per day each for the services of guards to aid in conveying prisoners, making the total they receive $7.50 per day, in addition _to~ their salaries. They thus get two salaries from the taxpayers. Guards sent with prisoners are usually deputy . ~sheriffs, who get regular pay from the taxpayers also, and in .most instances sherifis keep the $2.50 per day given by the state to pay guards. R How the state is wasting this money to convey priscners is shown in the case: of the sheriff of Minnehaha county. The county jail is at Sioux Falls, and so is the state penitentiary. Se it is merely a matter of taking a prisoner. from one part of town to andther when one is sentenced in this county to the peniten- ‘tiary. This ought to take not more than an hour of one guard’s time and cost 20 cents for street car fare per prisoner. For the/service $1.50 or $2 at most per prisoner ought to be enough. Yet the sheriff of Minnehaha county draws from the state, in addition to the salary he draws from the county, $10 for each prisoner he takes from the: county jail at Sioux Falls to the peritentiary at Sioux Falls. For each prisoner he charges Yor himself $5, for a full day’s work, $2.50 for a full day’s services of a guard, gnd $2,50. for conveyance. - This ‘makes $10. e “SPEND THE MONEY; THE STATE HAS PLENTY” “The utter unreasonableness of this is apparent. The state pays the services of two men for a full day to“transport one prisoner from one part of town to another. The sheriff of Minnehaha in the last year reported upon by the state auditor drew down over $180 for this service, of which probably $150 was graft pure and simple. Other sheriffs who bring prisoners to Sioux Falls from other counties do not charge $2.50 for convey- ing ‘the prisoner from the depot to the penitentiary. Sometimes they take g street car and charge 30 cents street.car fare, and sometimes they take-a hack ..and charge $1.50. Often:they make no " charge = whatever ~ for. transportation —u-r.x.‘,:«u.tu-‘;fnna?auwmm"’ et 5 within the city of Sioux Falls. Yet the sheriff of Minnehaha county charges $2.50 per prisoner for conveyance within the city. This is not the worst of it. The sheriff makes no effort to collect a number of prisoners and take them on one trip, thus saving the state money. He reports that he makes a separate trip for each prisoner and charges $10 for each trip. Thus, he turned in two vouchers at one time dated February 11 and one dated February 13; showing he had taken three prisoners to the peni- tentiary, making three separate trips within three days and charging $30, instead of making one trip with the lot at a cost.of $2 or $3.° . The . proposition of sheriffs charging the services of a guard for each prisoner conveyed, besides the charge for the sheriff’s - salary, is also a scandal. The South Dakota state capitol at Pierre Sherifis " when there is one prisoner charge their own and one guard’s salary to the state, and when there are two prisoners to be taken at the same time they charge their own salary and for two guards. That one guard is enough to take one man is patent te anybody, and that the sheriff and one guard can easily take two prisoners is also apparent. This is proved by the fact that in a numbér of instances sheriffs.bring a prisoner to Sioux Falls without a guard, charging for their own services only, and often bring in two prisoners without liring more than one guard. Yet the majority of sheriffs in putting in requisi- - tions for this graft meney from the state, charge a ‘guard’s salary besides their own for each prisoiier conveyed.’ .SOURCES OF REVENUE OVERLOOKED BY THE STATE Other states do not stand for any such waste of money as this. North Dakota has abolished entirely the fee system to sheriffs for conveying prisoners and- has saved three-quarters. of the " former expense. One man is employed by the state as a prisoners’ transportation officer and he brings from the counties to the penitentiary all prisoners sentenced. He brings in sometimes three and four and sometimes five prisoners at a time, all chained together, without any - help whatever. In other . states the warden of the. penitentiary has charge . of taking these prisoners from the counties and keeps one or two guards, as necessary, on the job, doing it for - actual cost to the state, without any “graft in it for sheriffs or anybody éfse. But the politicians of South Dakota in charge of the government have not seen “fit to work out any such plan there. One of the chief sources of revenue the state of South Dakota has overlooked is the taxation of leased sites along rail- road rights of way. Buildings on such -sites are taxed, but no effort is made by -taxing’ authorities to tax the ground " lease. When North Dakota decided to . tax these sites, it found it could put $80,000,000 ‘of “added valuation on the - books, and: there is probably as much in South Dakota escaping taxation. These 2 . interests have done for Wisconsin, sites are used by the Standard Oil come« pany, old line elevator companies, lumber yards, etc. The courts in North Dakota and other states have held that it is not double -taxation to tax these site leases, because they are not a part of railread operating property. Railroads pay a tax only on the property they use for oper- ating, and hence a leased site on a rail- road right of way, used by the Standard 0il company or an elevator or lumber yard, is not taxed with railroad property and. can be ‘taxed separately, according to the courts. e 3 In -addition, South Dakota has “a statute providing that such leased sites must be taxed, a statute that has been entirely overlooked. The state makes no attempt to tax leased sites on railroad rights of way and is probably losing thereby $20,000 to $30,000 annually in revenue to the state, to say nothing of revenue to local taxing districts if this property was put on the books. This would go a long way toward lightening the tax on agricultural land and homes of the state. . . The kind of economy that cuts out an elevator boy at $40 a month at the state capitol, and makes the public walk up long flights of stairs, is the kind of economy among the politicians of South Dakota that has overlooked taxing valu- able sites along railroad rights of way, TRAIN TO STOCK SHOW F. R. Crane of the Agricultural Exten- sion department of the Great Northern railway, is organizing a party of North Dakota farmers and stockmen to make ' a trip in a special train to the Inter- national Livestock show at Chicago the week of December 4 to 11. Already more than 300 farmers have agreed to take the trip, according to Mr. Crane. Invitations to accompany the party have been given to Governor-eleet ‘Lynn J. Frazier and to John N. Hagan, commissioner-elect of agricultire and labor. Mr: according to Mr. Crane. Elaborate arrangements are being made for enter- tainment at the expense of the railroad company and the communities which are to be visited, the farmers who go along - paying a price which covers railroad fare and sleeping berths. : : ? The tour will leave North Dakota, starting over the Great: Northern from Williston on the morning of December 4th, leaving Minot about 1 p. in., passing through Grand Forks.between 7 and 8, and. through Farg8 between 11 and 12~ p. m, -arriving ‘at St. Paul on Tuesday morning, where the party will be enter- tained by the St. Paul Association' of Commerce and the South St. Paul Live Stock association. The train will then leave over the Northwestern at mid- night for Madison, Wis., where the party will spend Wednesday, December” 6 as guests of the agricultural people of the state of Wisconsin. The ' governor of Wisconsin and the Agricultural college instructors have a special program pre- parell showing what' diversified ‘farmin ; Frazier has promised, if . .~ possible, to make the trip with the party,