The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1874-08-06
An obiection Answered.

er0me06. hO0s OQafIoS II. MITCHELL,
the member of the Constitutional Con-
Vention frsm Tusearawas county has
published an address to his constitu-
ents, in which he discusses this OBJ
lection, showing the groundlessness
of the charge and proves that under
the new Constitution, If adopted, the
expenses of the State government will
be largely reduced. We copy so
much of the address as relates to this
subject. He says:
1t is true, that the cost of the Judi
ciary department has been slightly in
creased, by increasing the number of
Judges from 64 to p, and the proposed
increase of the salaries of Supreme
Judges to $1,000 per annum. This
increase of salaries is left, hoaoe1eT,
entirely IN the hands of the legislature
aChich has cypress authority to reduce
them at any time.
But how stand the figures.
The proposed Constitution provides
Judiciary at the following cost:
5 Supreme Judges at 5000
per annum . S25,OUU
q Circuit Judges at (say)
5000 per aBnum. . 63,OOO
46 Common Pleas Judges at
$500 per annum, $500 115,000
Total cost of new system $203,o00
The old system costs as follows:
) Supreme Judges at $1,000 $4,000
81 Common Pleas Judges at
$500, 127, 800
Ind nf from
$4,000 to $1,000, . $4,000
sl775CO
To this cost of the present system,
however, should be added the expense
of dispOsing of the business which
has accumulated upon the court dock
cts under the present system. To ef-
feet the disposition of old cases on the
Supreme Court docket, the new Con-
stitution proposes a commission for
three years at cost of 25,000 a year,
and to dispose of the 10000 cases
which have accumulated upon inferior
court dockets the number OF Judges
have been Increased from So to 81,
and until otherwise ordered by the
legislature, six of the eight Superior
Court Judges are continued at their
old salaries of $27,C0 per annum in
the aggregate:
The account then stands thus:
New system (annuslly) $203,0C0
Old system (ho.) ..... 177,5O0
Difference in favor of old $25, 500
To this must be added the
cost of the Superior Courts
Cincinnati and Cleveland, $27,OC0
S52,5Co
And in all fairness there should be
deducted from this balance the cost of
the commission made necessary by
the insuficiency of the old system, ,and
the increase of Judges made necessa-
ry to dispose of the overburdened
dockets of the inferior courts. So
that the increase of cost of the new
over the old will not exceed %, 600 per
annum. This result must also be con-
sidered in connection with the fact
that there has been large increase in
litigation since the present Constitu-
ton was adopted. The wealth and
business of the State have more than
doubled and the population has adj
vanced from / 100000 to nearly 3,0C0,-
600 of souls.
And not only SO, but the proposed
Constitution provides for four terms
of the Courts OF Common Pleas in
each county per year instead of three,
as now and gives us Circuit Court,
composed of Hnprejndiced and inde-
pendent Judges, of tlCO terms per gear
IN each county, instead Of the District
Court, once a gear, and composed Of
the same JUDGES a1hO haze tried the
same causes IN the courts beLOac.
The slight increase of cost growing
out of the necessity of making the
Judicial department more efficient, is,
however, greatly overbalanced by
other reformatory provisions in the
proposed Constitution.
L. A general election in this State
costs more than $4,000. Instead of
three such elections, (two for State
and county, and one for members of
Congress, in every two years, the pro-
posed Constitution provides for one
only. Thus saving to the taxpayers
of the State more than S4O,Cj0 annu-
ally.
That this reform will bear heavily
upon party newspapers, and those
who thrive on party strife, may be
admitted-in fact. it takes away two
thirds of their occupations-but, new
ertheless, there can be no doubt that
the peace and prosperity of the peo-
pie of the State will be greatly pro-
NOTED by this provision.
2. The proposed Constitution COW
ers into the county treasures, the fees |
charged and collected by five of the |
principal county officers, and compen-
safes the officers by q fixed-salary.-
Assuming that the salaries will be
fixed at $500 to $1,000 each for this
county and taking Tuscarawas as an
average county in the State, it is capa-
bic of demonstration that the property
owners of the State will thus save at
least $220,000 per year. The salaries
of these officers are to be regulated by
the legislature.
The proposed Constitution cOmpen-
safes members of the general assem-
bly, by salaries, which we may assume
will be fixed at $500 for each member,
per year. Upon this assumption
there can be no doubt but the State
will save at least $4,000 per year on
an average. The saving thus effected
does not consist solely in reducing
the pay of members, but largely in
the reduction of other expenses incl
dent to legislative bodies.
4. The restraint imposed by the
Constitution upon the power
of taxation and assessments, by coun-
ties and townships, and the Limitation
upon the Indebtedness of municipal
and the consequent dim
mutton upon local Taxation is the
great reiOrmatOry provision OF the
proposed Constitution. Under the
most salutary provisions it cannot be
doubted that the taxation of the State
will be reduced three millions, if not
five millions of dollars. The State
duplicate which now stands at the
enormous figure of $23.OO0,000, will
probably be reduced to $lS,OO0,0 1000