Lawmakers Mocked for 'Infra Dig' Stationery and Cutlery
Legislators receive low-quality office supplies, sparking protests, ridicule, and a formal proposal to donate the cheap jack-knives to a butcher's association.
Mr. Babbeson constituted himself a committee of one to report on a subject of some importance to the House. He said after a careful examination of the envelopes, glass inkstands and jack-knives furnished this body by Secretary Turney he pronounced them 'infra dig,' and that in order to dispose of them to some practical advantage that they be sent to our Delegate in Congress. But so far as related to the jack-knives, he moved that they be presented to the Washington Butcher’s Association, as they probably would be able to find use for them. The gentleman here held up for the inspection of the House a large-sized pruning knife with a saw blade in it and asked the honorable body if that was not a jack-knife. It is a new adjunct to legislation on the Pacific Coast.
“He pronounced them 'infra dig,' and that in order to dispose of them to some practical advantage that they be sent to our Delegate in Congress.”
Public ridicule of legislative spending and the quality of government-provided resources is a time-honored tradition in Olympia, illustrating how the legislature has long served as a stage for both serious business and theatrical civic performance.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.