The Salary Steal

Last spring several amendments to the constitution were subtnitted to the people, among them one raising the salaries of the Secretary of State f rom $800 to $2,000, the Commissionerofthe Land office from #800 to $2,000, the State Treasurer from $1,000 to $2,000 and the Superintendent of Public Instruction from $1,000 to $2,000. When the vote was canvassed theannouncement was made that the amendment had carried by a majority of 1,821, whereupon the legislature passed the necessary legislation to carry the amendment into operation. Since that time the before mentioned officials, three of whom constituted the canvassing board, have beendrawing their increased salaries. No one supposed that everything was not right until last Thursday when the astounding announcement was made by the Detroit Tribune that an error had been discovered by the governor which showed that the amendment instead of having carried by a small majority had been defeated by more than eleven thousaad. It seems that the governor, for some unexplained reason, had become suspicious that the canvasss was not correct, and when he began to investígate, he could not find his set of returns. Upon inquiry he learned that they had been loaned to the state department, but when request was made for their return they could not be found, nor could either of the other sets be produced. Finally a demand was made upon the secretary of state for the files of his office and in response, he produced a set of the returns, and from those the errors were discovered. The governor at once summoned the members of the state board of canvassers, but they claimed to be enable to throw any light on the mystery, nor could they account for the destruction or loss of the two sets of returns. The secretary of state, however, with much show of indignation, it is said, at once discharged the clerks who tabulated the returns. This petty action on the part of the secretary, however, has in no sense 'caused the scandalous transaction to down. A recanvass of the votes, which was ordered by the supreme court, has developed some startling facts. In twenty-five of the eighty-four counties of the state errors were discovered in the tabulations, and the remarkable thing aboutall these errors which it is claimed were made unintentionally by the two discharged clerks, is that in every case they worked to the gain of theamendment whereby the salaries of the members of the canvassing board were doubled. By means of the gymnastics, said to have been carelessly performed by the two clerks an adverse majority of 13,000 in these twentyfive counties was changed to 13, by stibtracting 7,000 votes from those cast against and adding 5,000 to those thrown for the amendment. It would seem to b tmpossible to account for all tliis on the ground of a mistake. There is altogether too rauch method in it. The distruction of the returns and the peculiar tendency of the errors point irresistibly to the presence of a large "African" somewhere in the deal. There has undoubtedly been a delibérale effort made to defraud the people in a no less important matter than a change in the fundamental law of the state than which no greater offense against popular government can be cotnmitted. If we have come to the point where a canvassing board can deliberately change the verdict expressed by the people at the polls, there is no f art her necessity for holding elections. It is to be hoped that the governor will faithfully perform his whole duty in this matter and allow no guilty person to escape just punishment for his crime. Justice will not be satisfied by the discharge of a couple of subordinates. However culpable the two clerks may be there are others who are more so. These should be ferreted out and punished, no matter how near they may stand to the governor's political household or what the effect may be upon the future of the republican party. The occasion demands prompt action.