PAGE TEN
HEPPNER GAZETTE TIMES, HEPPNER, OREGON, THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1937.
NEWS
o Lawmaking Costs
O Anti-Gambling
o Mining Board
By A. L. LINDBECK
Salem. Day by day in every way
the cost of law making mounts high
er and higher. A comparison of the
expense of the recent legislative ses
sion with that of 30 years ago shows
that the costs have more than doub
led in that period. 1
Whereas the session just closed
will have cost the taxpayers of Ore
gon between $140,000 and $150,000
by the time all the bills are paid the
session of 1909 cost only $65,360.
High peak in the legislative expense
scale was reached in the session of
1927 which cost a total of $160,103.18.
This figure, however, includes $20,
120 in expense money which the
lawmakers voted to themselves at
the rate of $5 a day and which was
later held to have been in violation
of the constitution and repaid in part.
Increase in the expense of clerk
hire acocunts in large measure for
the mounting costs of legislative ses
sions. Whereas the session of 1909
spent only $23,215.55 for clerks, sten
ographers, door keepers, sergeants-at-arms
and other employees, the
recent session spent $63,834 for the
same service, not including the cost
of revising the House and Senate
journals which work is still in prog
ress. Incidentally the records also re
veal that no session in the past 30
years has adjourned within the 40
days for which the constitution al
lows the members to draw their $3
per diem. Three sessions have ad
journed within one day of the 40 day
limit, but the others have run long
er, that of 1933 setting a record at 60
days. This session, however, in spite
of its length spent only $46,990 for
clerical help and cost a total of only
$102,172.05, establishing a record as
STATE
CAPITAL
1 BAND BENEFIT j
l spner Elks Hall Heppner
I SarJbwdby Apirol 3
I Elmer Steele and his Swing Band J
HI 75c the couple 3
KSjS ,.,M!!m.i!!mn:m ' ' " ' f (SflS
jsKv) " " ' ""' ' 1 ' ' " BScs
Herman, the Emu
SAN DIEGO . . . The world's first
incubator-hatched emu is snapped
right after emerging from his
sheik at the local zoo. Herman
belongs . to a race of wingless
giants from Australia who are
second cousins, tv the ostrich.
the least expensive session since
1919.
The following table shows the du
ration of each session for the past
30 years together with the total cost
and cost of clerk hire:
Ses. Days Total Cost Clerk Hire
1909 41 $ 65,360.88 $23,215.55
1911 41 67,764.46 25,766.57
1913 51 79,862.85 33,219.95
1915 41 68,416.03 31,569.50
1917 43 80,226.99 36,152.50
1919 46 97,780.38 42,118.00
1921 45 110,641.07 46,132.00
1923 46 106,773.93 44,385.00
1925 46 122,371.74 50,041.00
1927 46 160,103.18 58,322.50
1929 50 140,103.18 61,617.50
1931 54 134,811.30 .66,157.75
1933 60 102,172.05 46,990.00
1935 59 116,572.80 59,992.50
1937 57 150,000.00 63,834.00
Includes $20,210 voted as legisla
tive expense but later held un
constitutional and repaid in part.
Estimated.
Two members of the state parole
board W. H. Treece of Portland and
Floyd L. Utter of Salem resigned
this week in protest against the ac
tion of the state senate in killing the
new parole program. Governor
Martin does not expect to appoint
their successors before uJly 1. W.
L. Gosslin, secretary to the govern
or, is ex officia a member of the
board. All members serve without
pay. The proposed parole board
measures would have created a full
time chairmanship at $3600 a year
and allowed the other members of
the board $10 a day for the time ac
tually served in performing their
duties.
The Martin anti-gambling bill
which was left on the table in the
House whqn the legislature adjourn
ed sine die took its place on the stat
ute books along with all of the other
legislative acts which Governor
Martin did not veto, Attorney Gen
eral Van Winkle held. This is the
measure against which the governor
exercised his right to veto the emer
gency clause. When he sent the bill
back with his veto message it was
laid on the table and left there. In
his opinion the attorney general
points out that the House had be
fore it for consideration only the
governor's veto of the emergency
clause. The bill had already passed
both House and Senate and was in
the hands of the governor for his
attention prior to being passed on
to the secretary of state and a place
on the Oregon statute books. Since
the legislature did not override the
governor's veto of the emergency
clause the veto Stands but the rest
of the bill remains intact and will
become law after the lapse of the
90-day waiting period unless the
referendum is invoked in the mean
time. Opponents of the Carney bill out
lawing slot machines who seek to
smother the measure under a "cloud"
of irregularity, appear to be due for
still further disillusionment. These
opponents were quoted as viewing
the bill as invalid because it failed
to contain certain amendments al
leged to have been written into the
mm
Across the Plate
I it
if Jr. 7C1T. -
PASADENA, Calif. ... Here we
have a worm's eye view from
between the catcher's legs as Gale
Wolfe, rookie pitcher for the Chi
cago White Sox, winds up for a
practice throw across the plate. '
measure by the House. Legal lights
around the state house make light
of this contention and point to a
supreme court opinion written 40
years ago in support of their posi
tion. In that opinion in the case of
McKinnon vs. Cotner, Mr. Justice
Bean held that an enrolled act, signed
by the proper officers and filed in
the office of the secretary of state
will be held to have been enacted as
enrolled though the legislative jour
nals show that in its progress thru
the legislature an amendment was
adopted which is not in the enrolled
act. Which would appear to settle
any dispute on this point. ,
Either the Portland city police are
not so vigilant in their pursuit of
drunken drivers as are members of
the state police or the police judges
of the metropolis are more lenient
with offenders than are the magis
trates of the rest of the state. At
least records of convictions, for
drunken driving would so indicate.
During February only one motorist
had his driving permit revoked by
a Portland court whereas in the rest
of the state there were 34 revoca
tions for drunken driving. And ap
proximately one-third of the mo
torists of the state are to be found (
in the city of Portland.
The legal, mining and banking in
terests are all represented on the
newlv anDointed state mining board.
W. H. Strayer of Baker is an attorney
and as a member of the state senate
helped to draft the measure creating
the new board. Albert Burch, of
Medford is a nationally known min
ing engineer and E. B. MacNaughton
of Portland is president of the First
National bank of Portland as well aa
a civil engineer with a considerable
knowledge of mining.
B. F. Irvine of Portland who has
declined reappointment as a member
of the state board of higher educa
tion will continue to serve until his
successor has been named probably
next month, according to Governor
Martin. Irvine has been identified
with higher education in Oregon for '
the past 39 years, first as a member
of the board of regents of Oregon
State college, and for the past eight
years as a member of the unified
board of higher education.
Employers in 27 different classi
fications will enjoy reduced rates of
contribution to the workmen's com-,
pensation fund as a result of an or
der issued by the Industrial Acci
dent commisison this week. The re
duction in rates was based upon the
accident experience of the industries ,
in the 27 classifications.
Mrs. Bonnie Cochran entertained
Mr. and Mrs. Louis Marquardt and
son George, Mr. and Mrs. Ollie Wil
liams and Tom Craig of near Lex
ington, Mrs. Conrad McNamer, Mrs.
Ruth Stevens and Mrs. Lucy Rod
gers at a birthday party one day this
week.
The New York world's fair will
open April 30, 1939, the 150th anni
versary of the inauguration in New
York City of George Washington as
president of the United States.