Public Expenditures. 303 court did not in its opinion pass upon the question as to whether the constitution prohibits state officers from receiving fees in addition to their constitutional salaries. It disposed of the question at issue as follows : "Assuming without deciding, that the compensation is fees and perquisites and within the inhibition of the constitution, then the acts authorizing them are clearly void, to that extent, and cannot be construed as authorizing the collection of them for the use and benefit of the state." It seems strange that with a people so boastful of their political efficiency a court should content itself with a judgment so negative and incomplete or that it should be allowed to do so. It did hold that the compensation author- ized by the legislature for transcribing the laws and journals was lawful, for it was not compensation for personal services but was pay for the expense of having such records tran- scribed. Again, one must ask why was the court so silent con- cerning the profits pocketed by the secretary in connection with this duty assigned him? The state treasurer, too, was not forgotten when the fee system was established in 1870. He was allowed one-eighth of one per cent on all amounts required to be deposited with him in connection with the .sureties required of foreign cor- porations. From 1870 to 1874 he was allowed one-half of one per cent of all moneys received by him as state treasurer towards compensation for an "assistant treasurer." Of course arrangements were made to secure an equitable division be- tween the treasurer and his "assistant" of the sum thus se- cured, as the treasurer had the naming of the assistant. The main source of the income of the state treasurer, however, arose from the fact that he had charge of the state's funds and did not until 1907 have to account for any interest he might re- ceive from the banks with which balances were deposited. It is well authenticated that the candidates of the majority party before a recent election each spent from $20,000 to $23,000 in his campaign.
