xiv REPORT OF THE COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY

of securing appropriations of this character by inserting after the
amount of the appropriations the word ''annually" has grown
apace. These appropriations remain as such until repealed,
which is seldom the case, and therefore are not passed upon by
the succeeding Legislatures. At each, session of the General As-
sembly new Acts of a similar character are passed, thereby in-
creasing the burden upon the Treasury. In the limited time of
the Session, and especially owing to the physical as well as
mental strain to which the members of the Finance and Ways
and Means Committees are subjected, it is impossible for them to
give such matters the attention they so well deserve and should
receive.

I am equally of the opinion that all special Acts carrying ap-
propriations should be absolutely repealed, their future enact-
ment prohibited, and that all future appropriations by the State
should be covered in two bills, one for each of the fiscal years;
arid, further, that a Constitutional Amendment should be passed
to this end. If this were adopted, every General Assembly
should be advised of the demands upon the Treasury, but more
especially in comparison with the ordinary receipts of the Treas-
ury would they be in possession of the knowledge of the amount
of those demands which prudence would dictate could be safely
given. In other words, the General Assembly having before it
the revenue of the State could always keep its appropriations
within those limitations.

In closing these remarks, I am forced to the conclusion that
in my judgment the State has already gone too far, certainly be-
yond the resources of the State, in appropriating money and
creating new bureaus and commissions with the necessary de-
mand upon the Treasury for their maintenance. I am not to be
understood that this applies to all appropriations or to all new
bureaus or commissions heretofore created, but the work of the
State in different fields has of late been so rapidly and greatly
enlarged that it may be possible in some instances that such ap-
propriations could be materially reduced and the work done as
efficiently by a merger of such bureaus or commissions, or be
done by bodies already in existence, without any loss in efficiency
to the State.

In speaking as I have of the finances of our State, I do not wish