Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1860-01-07
La m a STER-
Cost OF Dividing Grant County,

thought tf dissolntionists as well as OIL
builders. Every man cornts the tast be-
fore beginning any work whether it be
ths tearing down Of his house and erecting
one or more new ones, or ia less or great
or work. He " counts tie cost" and de
cides; no argument is so strong as The co,
H. figures. Let us therefore count the cost
that must result from dividing Grant
county and erecting three Counties upor
the old foundation.
Las week we presented few practica
reasons why Grant county should moi /! {
split cast and west, north and south ana
three feeble counties be formed out Of one
strong and wealthy county. We cited
speculation in town lots as the main oliec,
TO be realized by dividing the county -
and also cited tho means Of carrying the
agitation about division beyond p. specu.
latIons. inducements are to be offered tC
office thirsty men TO Join The division
ranks and thereby add three fold TO theii
chances for official promotion. County
seat speculations in village lots and an in
crease Of officers are thon tho main spring
I of division. The cost is not 10 be counted /:
nothing is to be said of the Increase Of
taxation; and these villag 70 lot an | official
spectators are even TO conceal that they
have lots to sell and want offices. The
matters Of travel, mileage Of jurors and
witnesses, envy and jealousy towards the
present county seat and local pride towards
prospective county seats and the like are
to constitute the sole appeals and endless
topics Of ha,angue.
II is often remarked that there are al
ready too many Offices to quarrel abou',
too many men hunting for office and too
much officia business to manage and pay
for by the public and individuals. Such
remarks are not heard from the iiouths
of Office hunting men; as well might we
expect to hear that Boscosel wants a
county seat to assist in selling her several
hundred town lots!
We remark here that there are just is
many county offices to fill in small coun-
ty as in large county; aud il is re-
markable fact that small COUNTIES usually
pay their county officers higher salaries
than are paid by large counties, which is
no small inducement to official lradesmen
to go In for small counties thereby to
increase the number of offices and fltcn
them at the same time. We instance
Iowa county, not much exceeding half
the area Of Grant; Iowa county pays her
District Attorney standing salary Of
5000 90 per annum, and so 90 for ey-
cry suit prosecuted amounting some
whore between 500 90 and $1,000 CO
per annum. Grant county pays her Dis
triet Attorney but 800 90 per annum
and nothing whatever for prosecuting suits
nor any pcrquisi,cs. We do rot know
but suppose that Iowa county pays the
rest Of her salariel officers in proportion to
her District Attorney. So far as we can
learn, other small counties pay larger sal
aries than Grant, and we notice that most
Of them pay livery expense to their Sher-
ifs that is, hic all the horses, buggics
and sleighs used by Sheriifs in their Off
cial travels. One Of the reasons why
small counties have to pay such heavy
salaries is this: tho Incidental fees coming
to officers of small counties are few and
far between, while of large conn.ies the
fees are many moro; the plea of officers is,
my office don't ply "a plea easy to
vend; IN such case, the county board has
TO raise the salary.
We now come to notice coart expenses.
His Honor, JuDGE CornaES, usually hollis
longer courts in Richland, iowa and La
Fayettc counties than in Grant. He gen.
orally holds court two full weeks in such
smaller counties. and for once last fall The
same length of time in Grant. Wo do
not remember when before court lasted
two weeks in Grant county; the usual
length of court in Grant has been one
week, and one or two days Of the second
week for chanccry cases. Then it may
be taken as true and fair that courts gen
orally hold as LONG in small as Ia large
counties; also, that the same number Of
Grand aud Petty Jurors and also witness
ses will be required in the proposed new
county Of Bosco5cl and each of the other
proposed new counties as in the present
Grant county though the latter is three
lines as large as amy Of the prospective
new counties.
During the past year the courts OF