Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-03-28

TcoNMUSICATEn.l
Cur COUNTK AFFAIRS.
PEAra OEcHAED, SMILEY COUNTY
March n 1857.

March y, 1857.
Editors Memphis Appeal
Having occupied a position that has
rendered me somewhat familiar Win
our county affairs, / wish to direct atten-
ton to the importance of the changes
made by the legislature in the mode OF
doing county business in Shelby. IN
Davidson county the magistrates devote
one day in each quarter 70 county DUST
ness, aud for that service they get eaeh
two dollars a day. Our magistrates mere
used TO get the same pay. and go through
business equally expeditiousiy. before
The war our county magistrates voted
themselves five dollars day for tne tilee
employed. When the county court was
rcorganizad in 1864, prices went up, snG
now our magistrates, l confess, spehu
much time unprofitably, yet vote tnenl-
selves each ten dollars day. nave
considered this wrong, but what IS the
use of one man opposing q thing When = =
majority are determined to carry IL
through? The legislature has now au-
thorized the appointment OF hVe COM
missioners and a lawyer to do the county
business. In Memphis this change y
commended by some on the ground W WoI
sunnosed economy. The Legislature were
soieIv infiuenced, I am credibly informed,
bv the alleged dislOyalty OF the coufty
magistrates.
Ts the change likely to be advantageous
"a the publie? 1 do not question the
Character of the gentlemen who are re-
Dorted TO have been appointed eommis-
sioners. I think two Of them persons
who can be safely trusted with the peeu-
nisrv responsibilities Of the position.
Perhaps all of them may be SO. But
how will the cost OF Uhe new
system compare with that OF the old
How much better will public business pc
attended to? do not think there VIII
he a fracas between the county magis-
trates and the new county eommisslon-
erS. The county court Is expected 70
meet next week. What can it DO Wnen
the law recently passed relieves the
MAGISTRATES of all duties as members OF
a county court? It can't yet eDJoln the
new commissioners, for they Will not
have given their bonds and been duly
Qualified. 1t can, perhaps, by manda-
inns. enforce the attendance OF the
county clerk and lis books If he should
not recognize its continued existence,
but then il can't do business. Inc
county court is rubbed out until, by judi
ciaI decision that the county eommls-
sioner law is unconstitutional, there Is a
revival Of the county court. Ihat Will
take time. The ultimate will De, /
think. the abolition Of this county COM
mission: but for the present Ut Is sad
died on Shelby and no other county ID
What win it cost? For magistrates
and judges, the county paid last year
about $3.50. As there is now another
iudge and five commissioners and
LAWYER to pay, we may safely calculate
that the increased expense VIII De ioI
this branch of the public service at teasO
Sl6.O As the lawyer OF the county
will get I'D new blanks, we may calcu-
late that instead of $1,000, the usual eX-
pense annually for county printing, we
will now pay $4,000. This y more
likely from the fact that, appointed as
partisans. the new commissioners Will
fael Obliged to give the printing TO theLr
party organ. ,-.--
From the increase of court machinery
that I consider entirely unnecessary, We
NAV estimate that the expenses OF the
criminal and other courts will De- during
the ensuing year, Sl5,uOO lnsteAu Oh
Sll ,OOO last year, and instead OF the
$4,000 charged last year to jurors We
may be sure the expense viii run up 10
so, 900 during the present. Similar rea-
sons insure increased expenditure for
iails and prisoners that, last year, cost US
SIS, COS, and will now cost US SZ5,VVO
year.
Another feature viii certainly involve
stiI larger increase OF expenditures.
There were thirty-five magistrates con-
Ionred to the several districts OF the
county. seventeen in number. They
may. at times, have been governed by
preiudices, but looking to the people OF
their several districts fer approval and
reelection, and having, themselves, To-
cal interests in different parts OF the
county, they could, and did attend better
to the making and repair OF roads the
building and repair of bridges, the assist
ance Of meritoriOus paupers, and the eX-
elusion of unworthy ones, than the nve
new commissioners can possibly DO these
duties. Is it to be supposed that Mr.. Hlli
will leave his banking Office, or Jduge
Lewis his law business, to ride twenty
or thirty miles to visit the dinefent
districts of the county and become as
familiar with the roads, bridges ana pau
pers Of each IS the magistrates VINO re-
Side permanently IA them? The new
will have all their per-
sonaI interests in two or three districts.
They will, we may be pretty sure, go II
blind when making appropriations for
three fourths of the county. We may
thus be certain that the bridges OF the
county will cost US somewhere between
$50. coo and SO, 900 instead Of the So, 900
rbat thew cost last year. The roads viii
De more neglected and will cost more,
and the poor, whose support cost US last
wear about 5000, will almost certainly
foot up $4,000 or 100000. The entire
expense of county machinery VIII re-
uuire q revenue Of over S2OO,OUv instead
Of Sl52 600 last year. Yet the business
must necessarily be more ignorantly
done. l say this simply to let the public
know the load that has beeg eaddled
upon US by the Brownl0w clique. We
N ust stand it, but it should be known and
remembered.
AN EN-COUNTY OFFICIAL.