The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1871-12-07
VOLUME Vino. %

that 1t may have devolYed upon the State Gova
ernment to provide some means for their pre-.
lection and support yet avery unusual and e1s
pensire mode Of extending that support was
adopted. 1t might have been but justice to
have made regular appropriation, and levied
were drivenj THUS the victims of political pre-.
judice would have been provided for and the;
actual perpetrators of-thcse4 outrages made to
feel that'it was an expensive way of controlling
political opinions. =
The commission to codify the laws have been
in existence for nearly three years, and has cost
the State about $4,000, and its work is not yet
completed, 1t is the opinion of some of the
best legal minds of the State that this work
could have been done thoroughly at cost of
not more than $1,000. would, therefore, re.
commend that this standing reproach to the
State Government, and unnecessary drain upon
the Treasury, be removed without delay, by
abolishing the Code Commission and employ.
ing competent jurist to complete the codifca.
tiuh of our laws.
I recommend that the office of Land Commis.
sioner be abolished, and that the duties of the
office be devolved upon the Secretary of State.
GENERAL REDUCTION OF SALARIES.
} The thirty-one School Commissioners, at
their present salaries, which are exceedingly
large for the amount of service that they rem.
der, cost the State $31 500 per annum. I, there
fore, recommend material reduction in the
salaries of School Commissioners SO as to re.
duce the expenditures on this account to asun
not exceeding $4,000.
There is great and instant need for the re.
duction of the salaries of State officers, and for
decided diminuti0n Of the clerical force EN-.
vloyed in many Offices of the Executive De.
partment. In some cases the State is paving
clerks to perform duties that should be, and can
be, discharged by the officers themselves. In
my opinion, the salaries of all officers, except
the Judges, should be reduced one.third. , -.
The Office of Assistant Ad5utant- General
should be abolished, and the Adjutant- General
should be required 10 perform the duties of his
Office.
The office of State Auditor should be abol.
ished, and its duties performed by the Comp
troller- General.
The Office of County Auditor can be dis
pensed with without injury to the public service,
and the duties of that Office devolved upon the
County Treasurer, thus efecting saving to
the State of not less than $4,000 per annum,
ard securing even increased efficiency in the
collection OF taxes,
TRIAL JUSTICES.
invite your early attention to the recoii:
mendations of my last Message in regard to
Trial Justices. The aggregate cost of this class
of officers is very near one hundred end twenty
thousand (12O000) dollars annually. The Tri.
al Justices in the city of Charleston alone en-
tail upon the County an expenditure Of about
thirty-five thousand (85, ,000) dollars year.
would therefore urge, in addition to my former
recommendations on this subject, that the Office
of Trial Justice be abolished in the City Of
Charleston, and that, in lieu thereof, three Po;
lice Judges be created for that city, who shall
receive adequate salaries, and shall exercise the
jurisdiction vested in Trial Justices; / would
further recommend the appointment of one
Police Judge in each of our principal towns;
dispensing with Trial Justices therein, and ves-
ting in such Judges the judicial powers now
exercised by the Mayors Courts, as, under ex-
isting Acts, the Mayors and Intendants Of our
cities and towns may crowd our jails with pris=
oners sentenced for triAing offences; thus
increasing the expenses of the several Coun=
ties
RECORDER OF THE CITY OF CHARLESTON:
recommend that the Office of Recorder of
the city of Charleston be abolished forthwith.
This is q State Office created by Act of the Gen.
eral Assembly many years ago, but it has for q
long period fallen into utter disuse. Although
the Recorder receives salary of twenty-dv
hundred 2,500) dollars per anhum, and has q
clerk at six hundred (600) dollars per annum;
payable by the city, am credibly informed
that he has not held more than two sessions of
the City Court, for the trial of criminal and
civil causes during the past ten or twelve years:
Tt is mere excrescence on our judicial system,
and the people of Charleston should no longer
be taxed to sustain it, r-.
CLERKS OF THE SENATE And HOUSE.
I would especially direct your attention, id
this connection, to the propriety of reducing
salaries of the Clerks of the Senate and House:
Taking the number of days on which these of
fcers are presumed to be employed, their CONS
pcnsatiJn per diem, respectively, is more than
five tines greater than that received bya mems
Der of the body in which they are subordinates,
while the annual salaries of each equals the
highest received by any officer in the State, ex-
cept the Chief Justice. This is an anomaly
without precedent in any other State, and un-
warranted by the present condition of the State
Treasury.
ADDITIONAL LEGISLATION REQUIRED TO REas
U1ATE PUBLIC PRINTING.
recommend that the present system for the
public printing be changed without delay, and
the great drain upon the Treasury, caused there:
by, checked at once. The authority vested id
tuG ClcIkS vi lHC CcIldlc duu III EcSdIU
to the printing should be rescinded, and q
proper safeguard, and a rigid system of &C.
countability instituted, to insure the strictest
economy in this very considerable branch of
the public expenditures 1t should not be left
to the discretion of subordinate officers of the
General Assembly, however honest and judis
cious they may be in the discharge Of such
trust The existing system has involved an
expenditure for printing SO great as to have
proved real calamity to the State: 1t has
certainly eventuated in contract for the pubs
lie printing which is fragrant fraud upon the
Treasury, and should be instantly annulled.
have ascertained that the Company with
which the printing contract has been made, to
wit: the Republican Printing Company, neith-
er owns nor controls any journal or printing
establishment and is even without legal exis-
tence, but has the work executed in this city ut
the regular market rates, and thus derives an