The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1876-01-04
Ircrs1.ATIvE DEPARTMENT.

The expenses of the Legislative lie
partment have grown recently into enor-
nous proportions. The sessions are now
annual, and have been greatly prolonged,
and there has been a great, and, as we
respectfully insist, an unnecessary IN
crease in the number of its employees,
clerks, door-keepers, sergeants-at-arms,
porters and pages. Formerly all the
clerical force needed was furnished to the
House of Representatives at sl,50O, and
to the Senate at 81 200, for session..
We do not wish to be understood as
stating that the services OF the members
of YOUR honorable body are not worth all
that is now charged, viz: $500 per an
mum, There is no price within our means
to pay, which could possibly be too high
for the inestimable blessing of an intelli-
gent, working and earnest body of men,
who consecrate their lives and devote
their talents to the study of political
economy, and those arts which make a
people great, prosperous and happy, and
who bring to the great work OF enactlng
laws for the State, the rich results of a
ripe and varied experience in civil at
fairs. But, in our present impoverished
condition, we respectfully, but earnestly,
represent that retrenchment in all parts
of the administration is absolutely neces-
sary; and we cannot doubt that the mem
bers of your body will initiate this re-
form, 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 session in that time.
This sum would be greater than is real
lied, 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.
FEES AND SALARIES OF PUBLIC OFFICERS.
The Governors salary might be, with
out detriment to the public service, fixed
at 81 900 per annum, which is far larger
than is paid by other States in the Union
having no more wealth than Mississippi.
The Lieutenant Governors salary
might also be fixed at the price usually
paid to the presiding officer of the Senate,
viz: double the salary Of Senator.
| The salaries of the Treasurer, Secre-
tary of State, Auditor and Attorney
General, we ask, may be fixed as they
were under the Code of 1857; and the
clerks and assistants allowed these officers
reduced to the number and compensa-
ton with the salaries fixed by that Code.
And the salary and expenditures of the
State Superintendent of Education should
be reduced to a very moderate sum. His
office should be room in the Capitol.
And we respectfully ask that the sala-
/ &C. oil I'll Sfo+ M O@E
should be fixed at the rate paid before the
war. The salaries then allowed were suf-
! fcient to procure the services of able and
competent men, and we feel sure they
will be sufficient now The truth is, that
all private pursuits are so depressed, and
all official positions SO highly remunera-
tive, that the difference begets a wide
spl cad greed for Office, and encourages
that bane of all free gOvernment-the
growth of large class whose sole inter
estS in tho State CONSIST IN th-i., .ooor t:o->
of the emolumentS of official position.
The compensation of the County Treas
urer should be fixed so as not to exceed
| in any instance the sum of $500 per an
mum. 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
Clerk 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, like the
United States, will fix point in compen-
sation of county officers, beyond which the
fees shall 60 into the State Treasury.
In many counties this point might be
fixed at 5000, in others at 81 900 or
81 200, but in no instance should it be
fixed beyond $4,000 for clerks, and
81, 500 for sheriffs, including their gains
as tax collectors.
| The Jail fees are great burden on the
people; they are now too high and vet
IN many instances extra compensation is
allowed by the Board of Supervisors.
They should be fixed at the cost of
plain and healthy support of the prisoners.
Imprisonment in the county Jail as a pun
lshment should be made less frequent.
Unfortunately, many who are guilty of
petty misdemeanors, feel neither the bur
den nor 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 intiicting corporal pain, or bringing
forward any badge of slavery, may yet
prove more efficacious in reforming of.
Tenders, and be less expensive to the tax
payers.
ASSESSING AND COLLECTING REVENUE.
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 gain to those OFF