The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1875-01-07

door keepers, Experimentation, POfeSfs
and pages. Formerly att the clerical
force needed was furnished to the House
OF REPRESENTATIVE at 81 500, and to the
senate at 81 200, for session.
We do not wish to be under TODD as
! stating that the services of the members
of your honorable body are not worth
J all that is now charged, viz: $500 per
annum. There is 10 price within our
means to pay, which could possibly be
too high for the inestimable blessing of
an intelligent, working and earnest body
of men. who consecrate their lives and
devote their talents 10 the study of polItl-
cal economy, and those arts which make
a people great, prosperous and happy,
and who bring 10 the great work OF en-
acting laws for the State, the rich results
Of n ripe and varied experience in court
sfairs. But, in our present impover-
| ished condition, we respectfully, but ear
| neStlv represent, that Ietrenchment IN
all parts of the administration Is abso-
lutely necessary; and we cannot doubt
that the members OF your body, will ini-
tate this reform, by fixing their salaries
at the sum paid before the war, which
amounted generally, TO about $3.50 for
two years, there being but one SEES
! sion in that time This sum would be
greater than is realized on the average by
citizens in private life, and greater also
than the average paid members of the
Legislature by the other States in the
Union.
The Governors salary might be, with
ont detrIment TO the public service, fixed
Al 81 600 per annum, which is far larger
| Than is paid bv other States in the Union
| having no more wealth than Mississippi.
The Lieutenant Governors salary
might also be fixed at the price usually
all to the presiding officer of the Sen
| te. viz: double the salary of Senator.
The Salaries of the Treasurer, Secre
tlry CT State and Auditor and Attorney
| General, we ask, may be fixed as they
were under the Code OF 1857; and the
clerks and assistants allowed these otfi-
GERS, reduced to the number and com
pepsation with the salaries fixed by that
| Code. Ard the salary and expendi-
lures of the State Superintendent of
Education should be reduced TO a very
moderate sum. His office should be a
room in the capitol.
And we respectfully ask, that the
salaries of all other State and District
officers should be fixed ut the rates paid
/ before the war. The salaries then al
| lowed were sufficient to procure the ser
vices of able and competent men, and we
| feel sure they will he sufficient now. The
truth Is. that all private pursuits are 50
depressed, and all official positions so
highly remunerative, that the difference
I L. off nj
encourages that bane of all free govern
ments-the growth of large class whose
sole interests in the State consist in their
reception of the emolumen!s Of official
position.
The cost of assessing and collecting
the Revenue of the State is out of all
proportion to the necessary labor and
responsibility required in the discharge
of those duties. The gains to these Off
GERS are enormous. Under the code of
1857 the maximum which an Assessor
could receive in any one year was $500,
and the commissions of the Collector was
graduated according to the amount col
lected SO that it rarely happened that Il
collector received as much as 81 900 per
annum, and he seldom, if ever, received
as much as 81, 500 in one year, We
respectfully ask, that the compensation
paid to these officers should be so regu-
lated as in no case to exceed the sums
above mentioned.
The improvisation of the County Treas
urer should be fixed so as not 10 exceed
in any instance the sum. Of $500 per an
num- His duties are light, and his re-
sponsbility will be small, if the county
levies are restrained as are hereinafter
asked for.
The fees Of the Chancery and Circuit
clerks and Sheriff are too high, and we
are sorry to add, in many instances, are
very much increased by exorbitant and
illegal charges. We ask that this subject
be carefully looked into by the Legisla-
ture, and the rates so fixed, that whilst
fair and just compensation is allowed for
these services, the burdens Of the sutton
shall not be so great as they now are.
And we suggest that the State, Ike the
United States, will fix point in com
pansation of county officers, beyond which
the fees shall go into the State Treasury.
In many counties this point might be
fixed at $500, in others at 81 900 or $1,000,
bat III no instance should it be fixed be-
yond 50, 900 for clerks, and 81, 500 for
sheriff including their gains as Tax col,
Iecturs.
The Jail fees are a great burden on the
people; they are now too high; and vet
in many instances extra compensation is |
allowed hv the Board of Supervisors. |
They should be fixed at the cost of a
plain and healthy support of the prisoners.
Imprisonment in tie county Jail rs pun
ishn ent should be made less frequent. |
INF, rtunately many who are guilty of |
petty misdemeanors feel neither the bur |
den Tor the disgrace of imprisonment in |
the county Jail. We leave it to the wis
dom of the Legislature to devise some |
other mode Of punishment, which, with |
out inficting corporal pain or bringing |
forward any badge of slavery, may yet
prove more efficacious in reforming often
ders, and be less expensive to the tax
payers.
The law also should require the
convicts, sentenced to the penitentiary, to
be Immediately removed to the State
prison. They are now, in many instances,
left in the county jails for many months,
to the great cost Of the several counties
The jail fees for day should not exceed
30 cents.
The salaries Of Inspectors of the Peni-
Tertiary ought to be saved to the State,
by imposing the very light duties of these
offices on other State officers, or co COM
petent citizens without salaries.
The trustees Of the Insane, Deaf and
Dumb and Blind Asylums should be pro
hibited from using any of the funds APP
to these Institutions, in the
way of salaries or fees to themselves.
The appropriations to the State Uni
gersities are beyond the means of the
State to pay, and beyond the necessities
If these TuStitutionS