Digital Extra: The Journal's 175th Anniversary

07.21.2004

1936. Legislature fails rubber-stamp test

Did state legislators study the bills before they voted on them?

A hoaxer invented a little test to find out, The Journal reported Feb. 19, 1936.

With the help of a Barrington state senator, the hoaxer drafted a resolution to provide a customary $100 state bonus to a fictitious World War I veteran, whose name spelled backwards was "Absent W.O. Leave."

As suspected, the Senate quickly approved the payment. The resolution read in part:

"Resolved, that the sum of one hundred dollars is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of paying the bonus to Evael O.W. Tnesba . . ." The Providence Journal reported, "the Senate passed the resolution without inquiry as to who the soldier was, where he came from or whether he actually served in the war."

Or whether Evael O.W. Tnesba actually existed.

In an editorial, The Journal said:

"It is true that members of the Rhode Island General Assembly, except dual office holders, get only $300 a year each for their legislative labors. But even for this modest sum they ought to do better than to vote gratuities to non-existent war veterans."

The Journal did not name the hoaxer, but former Journal editor Charles H. Spilman, in a book published in 1981, credited the hoax to James S. Hart, head of The Providence Journal's political team that covered the Assembly.