Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1874-08-01
TO TIE VOTERS OF MONTGOMERY
COUNTY.

Judge Tyler feeling, | suppose, the
weakness of his position on the sub
ject of his commission on the Railroad
tax, and hard pressed for defense,
| introduces under the guise Of a Legal
Opinion" long speech by two of the
ablest and most astute attorneys of the
State, to back him up in his position,
and comes out in card in the Clarks-
vile Tobacco Leaf of July 18th.
In the brief circular issued by me
on the 18th day of July, 1874, | sta
ted that the compensation being re-
ceived by the County Judge. was seven
or eight hundred dollars in excess Of
what was allowed by law, that he re-
eeived stated salary of $500, the
same as that received by the Chancel-
lors and Circuit Judges of the State,
and that the salary was in full for his
; services as County and Criminal Judge
To sustain this view of the law, quo
ted from the Constitution of Tennes-
see, as follows: See. z, Art. 6-"The
Judges of the Supreme and Inferior
Courts shall at stated times, receive a
compensation for their services to be
ascextained by law, which shall not be
increased nor diminished during the
time for which they shall be elected.
They shall not receiUe any fees or per-
qniisiites OF office, nor hold any Office of
trust or profit under the State or the
United States" aud further, from the
Act of the Legislature of July 6, 1870,
creating the Criminal Court for Mont
gomery County, as follows: Sec. 10
That the Judge of the County Court
for Montgomery County shall be the
Judge of said Criminal Court" Sec.
1S-"That the salary of said County
and Criminal Judge, shall be the same
as that of the Circuit Judges and
Chaneellors of the State, % be paid
ont of Treasury of Montgomery Conn
IT," Sec. That the Judge of
said County and Criminal Court shall
be a person learned in the law and
possessed of the same qualifications as
the Circuit Judges of the State, with
the same po,ces and Jurisdiction"
Section 42l, of the Code, sub Sec. Q,
| defines one of the duties of the County
Judge to be 80 keep in a suitable
book an account of the receipts and
expenditures of the county, and to
superintend generally the financial
concerns of the county.
The above plain paragraphs embody
the law upon the subjeetand from them
| insist, lst, as one of the Inferior
Judges, his salary is .tfred by lac, and
that he cannot Ia,ctnlly receiue any en-
trd pay or perquisites. I'd, that said
salary is 50 500. Sd, that to manage
the finances of the county is one of
| the duties of his Office as much so as
holding Court or any other duty for
the Legislature in fixing his salary
does not say it shall be for part of his
services. but for the whole. The act
of March, 1873, had for its sole object
as is well known the relief of the
county from paying 81 800 of this sal
airy. 1t repealed nothing, but simply
provides that the State instead of the
county shall pay that much of said
salary, leaving the remaining 500 to
be paid by the county, and which the
Judge is now receiving, and that too
without any appropriation by the
Quarterly Court. Now if the act of
March, 1873, repealed the act of 1870,
as argued by Judge Tyler and his
counsel, the whole Criminal Court
would have been abolished and he
could not draw the seven hundred
dollars from the county which he is
now,receiving. | put it to every candid
man, is not the salary of Judge Tyler
1900 and the taking of any extra pay
plain riolation Of plain provisions Of
Eaac2 Did he not believe it illegal
when he was unwilling to take it with
out additional orders Of the County
Court. as he says in his card he was?
He says it had been the practice for
many years if this was so and you had
no doubt of its legality, why did you
have the matter again before the court
and send for your attorney to instruct
the County Court? Your doubts were
well founded, and | say further that
the conclusions stated by your attorney
IS not the lac, and that if | am elected
your Judge, it cGn4ot be paid TO me.
As for the authorities cited by your
attorney, viz: The decision in Bird
Caldwell and 9th Sneed, those decis-
ions we're made long prior to the pas
sage of the law of 1870, and can have
no application whatever to this ques-
ton. Those decisions eonstrue the
act of 1857, an act totally different
from that of 1870
The law giving the Judge who holds
two courts in Montgomery and ona in
Houston, the same salary as that re-
ceived by Judges Rice and Smith for
holding courts in eight counties each,
is sufficiently liberal. ! am satisfied
the Legislature never intended to do
more, and that this is ample compea-
satiOn for the services rendered.
Judge Tyler argues that by this
three per cent. arrangement, he saves
to the county at least the amount he
receives as extra pay. In reply | say
it is the judges duty to discharge this
duty without any extra pay. He says
that if it was to go into the hands
of the Trustee, that the Trustee would
be entitled to five per cent. Here he
makes aEa;Lar mistake, for the Trus-
tee gets per cent. 90 tas first slG, 600
that passes through his hands,and only
> per cent on the excess over $1,000,
so by his own statement, as the Trus-
ies has already received a sum largely
in excess Of sle,QeQ, the county loses
one per cent, or one third OF this s..