In another place in the columns of the REGISTER will be found the reasons assigned by Governor KIRKWOOD for withholding his approval from the bill for reductions of salaries of District and Supreme Judges, District Attorneys and Officers of State. They are based exclusively upon the consideration that the bill, so far as it relates to certain Judicial officers, would be a plain violation of the Constitution. The facts are presented in a clear, comprehensive manner, and on reflection we think the General Assembly will thank the Governor for assuming the responsibility of exercising in this instance the important negative power which the Constitution has placed in his hands. If the provision relative to the Judges had been omitted, we think it probable that the bill would have received the signature of the Executive, however much he might have differed with the members of the General Assembly as to the policy of their particular measure of redaction in other respects.
As a matter of relief to the State Treasury, the bill would have been of very little consequence, even had it become a law. It would have taken $400 from the annual pay of each of the three Supreme Judges; $300 from the salaries of each of the State officers, save the Governor, and $400 from his; and reduced the compensation of District Judges and District Attorneys respectively from $1,600 to $1,200, and from $800 to $600. It would have added a little more than $8,000 in the aggregate to the revenue of the State Treasury, by taking it from the income of the officers above enumerated, while the great mass of men receiving lucrative salaries from corporations and other sources were passed by unnoticed. The House Income Tax Bill would have reached all classes alike, raised some $30,000 for the State revenue, and been a measure of visible relief. Inasmuch as that failed of becoming a law, we believe the People will have reason to be thankful that the substitute for it has also failed, not only because of the embarrassment and injustice it would work to faithful present incumbents, but because of the premium it would offer to incompetent and consequently unprofitable public officers.
– Published in the Daily State Register, Des Moines, Iowa, Friday, April 11, 1862
As a matter of relief to the State Treasury, the bill would have been of very little consequence, even had it become a law. It would have taken $400 from the annual pay of each of the three Supreme Judges; $300 from the salaries of each of the State officers, save the Governor, and $400 from his; and reduced the compensation of District Judges and District Attorneys respectively from $1,600 to $1,200, and from $800 to $600. It would have added a little more than $8,000 in the aggregate to the revenue of the State Treasury, by taking it from the income of the officers above enumerated, while the great mass of men receiving lucrative salaries from corporations and other sources were passed by unnoticed. The House Income Tax Bill would have reached all classes alike, raised some $30,000 for the State revenue, and been a measure of visible relief. Inasmuch as that failed of becoming a law, we believe the People will have reason to be thankful that the substitute for it has also failed, not only because of the embarrassment and injustice it would work to faithful present incumbents, but because of the premium it would offer to incompetent and consequently unprofitable public officers.
– Published in the Daily State Register, Des Moines, Iowa, Friday, April 11, 1862
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