The Empire County argus., 1854-11-25

FEES IN OFFICE.-lt is an ndisputable fact The
unanimous voice of the people has proclaimed it.
Fees in Office must be reduced by the coming Leg
islature 1t is burden no longer to be borne, and
one that the community will not submit TO. The
old fee bill must be repealed and a new one enac-
ted-one that clearly defines the compensation Of
every officer for each particular service that can pos
sibly be required of him. The present clause which
provides that an officer performing service shall
be entitled to receive the same compensation as
any other officer who is by law entitled to perform
similar service, will no longer be allowed to stand
as a cover for extortion--a cloak for illegal fees
1t is well known fact that many of the county
officers make fortunes in single term some Of
them, it is said, receive from sixty to one hundred
thousand dollars per year. In the small county of
Santa Clara Of the San Jose papers asserts that
the Sheriff receives ten thousand dollars for the
mere item of collecting taxes But the fees of tho
Sherfs do not sum up anything like equal to those
of County Clerks in counties where the Courts do
large business; though with collecting taxes, keep
ing prisoners, ten dollars per day each for attend.
ance on four of five Courts, fees in criminal cases,
fees received from civil Gtigants and the percen.
tagc upon judicial sales Of property, the Office of
Sheriff in any oft the populous counties is birth
that few would refuse to accept, and more would
expend thousands to obtain. But the grossest of
all the outrages upon party going into Court to
demand his rights is the taxed costs to which the
lawyer in the is entitled These costs are enor-
nous, and unheard of elsewhere and never would
have been thought of in this State had not some Of
the earlier Legislatures had among their component
materials large number of pcttifoggers who. not
having the legal ability to command what they
thought sufficient price for their services, enacted
a law to obtain from the defendant what they knew
their clients would otherwise never allow. And
the consequence of this law is that pettifoggers
throughout the State urge litigation merely for the
sake of obtaining the taxed costs
Some two years ago, the Senate passed bill
striking out attorneys costs and providing that
when the fees of any county officer exceeded ten
thousand dollars per year, the surplus should be
paid into the State Treasury. The bill was sent to
an Assembly Committee and never was heard of af-
forwards, except at oyster suppers and champagne
drinkngs; some ten or twelve county officers from
different sections of the State having deemed it pro-
per TO reside that winter at the Capital.
So long as some of our county offices are the cer-
tain means ofacquring large fortune in one term,
so long will our county nominating conventions
merely be an arena for political gamblers to buy
and sell delegates; and the worthy poor man bo
ruled out to make place for him who wishes to add
to his already overgrown wealth. If an Office is
worth some ten, twenty or q hundred thousand
dollars as portion of the county Offices in this
State are acknowledged to be- an asprant can we'll
afford to spend from five to twenty thousand dollars
to obtain it. Therefore, without reference to the
onerous burdens on the people, morality and the
purity of the elective franchise demand that the
fee bill be repealed State Journal