Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-04-16
or coUNnY AUDITORS.

Inc laws now IN force, ETEScriDAAAsss AIS 1
compensation of county auditors. allow
aFy, the amount of which is MADE 20
bear q proportion to the number Of
male inbabi ants over tWenty-One years
of age, residing in their respectlve
counties Where the number OF such
males in any county, as Rscertained OF
the last enumeration, does not exceed
:, 400. the auditors salary is s8oeS and
where the number does exceed EsaO0s
the auditor gets $40 more for each ad-
ditional 200 male adults above that
number. In counties where the num-
Der of males, above twenty-one years
Of age, is less than 1900, the county
commissioners may grant the a1dltoF
still further allowance of salary. not
exceeding $500; and where the mum Der
of such Inhabitants is over 13,000 ana
less than 80, 600, the commissioners may
grant like allowance, not exceeding
$1,000. Such is the present law.
The design of this bill is to make the
salary of the auditor of each county
propOrtionate to the aggregate popula-
tion, instead of to the number or males
over twentY-one years OF age. 1t SUD-
stitutss ths federal census for the quad
rpnuial enumeration, and provides that
in counties having no more than 1O,OOO
inhabiSants. by such census, the audi
tor shall receive $500 year as before;
and where the population exceeds lOs-
600, he shall have for each thousand
above that number the additional al
lUwaBce of $40. It further provides,
that where the populaticn is less than
$4,000 the county commissioners may
make an additional allowance to the
auditor not exceeding $500; and where
the population is over 1900 and less
than 100000 there may be like further
allowances, not exceeding 81 900.
1t will be observed that The bill does
not affect the compensation now re-
ceived by auditors in fees. 1t proposes
no change in the present law, except to
make the salary of the auditor prUpur-
tiouate to the lphoLe population of the
county.
Il viii readily occur to every one that
if the compensation of any public Off
Ger is to be made dependent upon pop
ulation at all, the most natural and lust
standard is the whole population and
not fragment of it, The very ground
work upon which such a rule of COM
pensatiOn rests. is the presumption that
the duties of=the officer viii be in pro-
portion to the number of people to
whom he bears official relations. But
the males over tWenty-one are by no
means the only people having interests
which create business for the county
auditors, or to which their duties aD-
pertain. Toe l1bors of these officials
are enlarged or diminished, rather i'll
proportion to the number of tax payers
In the county than the mum ber of males
above a certain age, so that If any part
of the population should be taken as a
standard of their pay, il should be the
tax paying community, which is very
different thing from the voters or males
over twenty-one. The taxes paid and
property interests controlled by minors,
women, and other nOn-voters, out nof
which grows a large proportion of the
business of an auditor, are taken no
account of in fix ng the measure OF his
pay. 1t Is, therefore, very clear that
the presumption upon which rests the
present rule Of compensation, that the
number OF males above a certain age,
in particular county, fairly represents
the amount of the auditors work, and
may, therefore, be taken as a true stand
ard Of his salary, is incorrect. Plainly.
If any class Of population may be tai I"
en- as such standard. the one now chos-
en- is not that one.
But granting that the number OF
males above tW enty-one years may cor
rectly guage the auditors services and
salary, il c 4nnot, at most, serve that
purpose any better than would the
whole number of people. Different
classes in q community, especially
when defined by natural distinctions,
| represent respectively, whether large OF
small, in relation to each other, the
same aggregate of population. Wheth-
standard, or the 1UhoLe, of which it is a
part, the proportion of salary will be
| the same. It can make no difference to
| the auditor whether he receives $500 a
| year for 6, 400 males over Lwenty-one
/ years of age, or for the population
| which such number represents. Hence,
/ if the present rule Of compensation is
right, the one proposed in this bill is
| equally SO, with this difference in its
/ favor: that 1t more perfectly carries Oui
| and more justly applies the very prin-
| cipie upon which the rule is founded.
| In order TO illustrate the working OF
/ the bill, and show exactly how it will
| affect the salary of the auditor, as now
/ establishSS ID each county, your CON-
mittee has Prepared the1able hereto ap-
! pended.
The totals of present salaries are taken
/ from the annual r. port of the Auditor
/ of State, as are also the numbers oi
| different counties. The columns oil
! p. pu alton ire copied from the census
reports.
| 1t will be observed that the reduc-
tiOns of salary, which will be effected
/ by this bill, should it become q law, are
| almost invariably made in counties
where the compensation is such that
/ they may be easily borne. The total
| reductions in the State is SI2, 800, and
/ the ret saving on salary, effected by the
Dlti, is SIU, ,lo0 per annums
! The bill viii make further saving OF
the amount expended every four years
/ in taking the enumeration sum es-
4 timated at from $4,000 To $4,000. This
| enumeration Is made for tine sole pur-
| pose of computing the salaries of coun-
] tY auditors under the present law, and
is of no other use Wha'eNer Tntre are
many r. asous fur believing that the
| data, when obtained, are but seldom
correct; the indifference or careiessness
| of assessors on the one hand and the
zeal of officials to increase their SALARIES
on the other, making them liable to
gross error and abuse.
In his annual report, for the current
year, the Auditor of State saws, in re-
gard to the enumeration of 1867: "The
enumeration was taken, but owing to
| the neglect of the county clerks, in five
of the counties, to make returns to this
| office, the table of last year was incom-
plete. By writing and teIegraphing,
The deliquent clerks returns have been
obtained from the five countries, and the
table IS again given in this report, az as
perfect shape as 1t can be n30dc, from
The returns made to this Office" After
stating that no return was received from
MOnrue county, by reas IN of the burn
ing of the courthouse, which caused
the loss of the assessors records, the
auditor recommends new enumeration
for that county, and says: Gas the only
legal use of these enunlerations now re-
naming is to determine the salaries Of
tue county auditors, and as these sala-
ries can as well be based upon popuIa-
tion, as ascertained by the census taken
by the United States, I submit whether
they are worth the expe use of being re-
taken hereafter"
The enumeration is taken by the rs
SCISSORS as mere incident to their other
duties, to which it is regarded as of
minor importance. The census is taken
with the utmost care, at great expense,
by persons who give il their whole at
tentiOn, and whose special interest and
duty it is to see to its correctness. As
a basis for computation, the census
may, therefore, be considered far more
reliable Ihau the enumeration.
A column in the table shows the in
crease upon the salaries established bv
this bill, which will probably be made
by the census of 1870. Thi calculation
is made upon the assumption that the
amount Of growth in population, be-
tween the years 1860 and 1870, has been
the same or nearly the same as between
1850 and 1860. The total amount of
such increase is almost equiv alent Co
the decrease now proposed, on the basis
of population in 1860; so that If the
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