American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1845-03-24

This is besides the unpaid interest due a
mountiug, as he says, to sl,9cs,sH sc
This sum is to be paid with back interest
upon it, and the additional sum OF $50, 2oo a.
The annual expenses OF the State besides the
interest upon the debt, it appears, are S234,-
sl7.27, and the first question for the people to
decide is, what part of it can and ought to be
dispensed with.
The demands for pensions and common
schools must be paid at all events, and the to-
bacco houses must be finished, and there can
be no deduction from those expenses. or the
enormous sum Of Sl0l $50 for legislative ex-
penses, State officers, SC, reduction of at
least $50, 900 may be made at once, without
any injury to the public service. The 10 ,2sl,
IS, paid for colleges and colonization should
cease till the debts are paid, upon the princi-
pie that States should, like individuals, be just
before they are generous.
Instead of eighteen District Judges and three
City Court Judges, making twcnty-one, let the
number be reduced to eight, ono for each dis
trict, with two extra judges in the sixth dis
trict for the city Of Baltimore; one of the three
TO hold the County Courts, one the Chancery
Courts, and one the Criminal Courts-the three
Judges to hold these Courts interchangeable
All experience shows that one Judge at NfSi
Prius trials is better than three. And the
change would DO an improvement. OF the $780,
$1,000 now paid for judicial expenses, there
may be saving Of 100000. The salaries of
the Judges are not too high; they should be in
creased, and might be even with this reduction.
Instead of sixty Orphan Court judges, reduce
the number to twenty-one; one for each coun-
ty, with an extra judge for the city of Balti-
more. Instead of imposing upon the county
and city Courts the duty of trying petty offenc-
n. ,,,b;,h onnStifnto 6ftl,c If ho n
business of the Courts, let the magistrates Of
fee be filled with respectable and competent
citizens, and give them jurisdiction upon COM
plant on oath, of public officer of all offenc-
es, of minor character, with power to fine to a
limited amount, say ten dollars, and sentence
TO work-house for a limited time, say sixty
days. Let work-h houses be established in each
county, or by several counties uniting, to which
all common drunkards, Migrants, and petty Of
tenders, may by the magistrates be sent forth
with, and compelled to work till they have paid
the expenses of their commitments and the
fines imposed.
Let the Office of Attorney General DO abo-
lished, and let the Court or the Governor ap-
point respectable lawyer in each county to
prosecute offences.
There are certain offices, the duties of which
require no special talents, the fees of which are
too high Let them be cut down to $500 a
year, a sum ample for any clerk in tho State
Let thorough reform be made in the legisla-
ton of the State. Of from $50 to 400 acts an
nually passed, on an average not to exceed %
or 80, all of public nature; all the rest are
mere acts of special legislation, the most PERM.
cious of all legislation in republic, Instead
Of this let county commissioners, to be chosen
annually by the people of each county, take
charge Of roads and bridges, and PaupeIs, ano
county affairs generally responsible to the peo
pie of the county; and instead of the pernciou'
practice of making quasi contracts for parties
by confirming void instruments, and encroach
ing upon the prerogatives of the Courts, let thu
parties make their own contracts, and leave thu
execution of those which are valid and the cor
rection of those susceptible of it, to the Courts
session OF five or six weeks is mole than SUI
fcient to transact all the proper business which
ought to come before the General Assembly,
AS TO the colonization of the negroes, and tin
support Of the colleges, both objects may b.