The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-05-31
COSTsi COSTSi ENDLESS AND
mEAsURELEss COSTS.

Jefferson pays its city officials 5000.
Will some one tell what Is the sum
total of salaries and perquisites and
jury and Witnesses fees gathered in
and absorbed by the divers place
holders OF Austin2 Salaries per Sc con-
stitute small share Of the sum total
appropriated by placemen, and il there
be those having an inside view Of the
facts who will give them, our gratitude
will be boundless. The mayors
stipends and salary constitute an in
definite sum. The perquisites are the
richest pickings. Even justices Of the
peace here and there have acquired
great skill in multiplying their little
perquisites. Only last week in a
neighboring town q drunken young
man OF good; honest, sober parentage
fell intoxicated in a whisky shop.
There was no understanding between
the barkeeper and the justice, and we
are not certain that the pair divided the
spoIs; but when a young man with
money fpds himself suddenly and
neryously blind drunk he always comes
his senses at the seat OF justice Of
Which we tell. The officer knows
where to take him. The youth is
drugged perhaps that he may fall
and when removed, an insane stagger-
ing sot, as he seems, to the seat
OF Justice, he is fined, and thus be-
comes at once the property of the
guardians of public veal. Whatever
aithe mailman has upon his person is at
ace appropriated by these exceedingly
civil authorities" His pockets are
.mptied; pistol, watch and money are
carefully taken care of, and the fine
and costs-especially the costs-are
made to cover the value of all the inc
briate's visible worldly possessions.
The crime, in this case an actual oc-
currence, was drunkenness, the youth
having been made mad that he might
be plucked. He was borne in state of
insanity to the den of the justice. He
was fined one dollar, but the costs and
perouisites of the court and of it's
ropers-in, shysters and attendants,
were twenty-five dollars. These are
every day Incidents of Texas life IN
der the operation of the Rutabaga per-
quisite system of maintaining consta-
bles and courts. Our mayor is main
tanned by the same process, and he
and the board of aldermen should re-
form 1t by special agreement, the
board making fair estimate of the
proper value of perquisites of the
year, and paying the sum quarterly.
An honest mayer should not be sub
jected to the suspicion of wrong-do
ing, and to the temptation to crime in
volved in this wicked system of brib-
ing ofiiceholders to rob drunken idiots.
II is generally true that none besides
: innocent, ignorant strangers are very
= ferocIously plundered. These, when
made drunk or caught with pistol,
are left penniless and are only too glad
to get away with their clothes. They
never elbow" upon the robbers; bat
In the case to which we refer in neigh
boring town, the officer mistook his
man and must refund the $25 or tEere
will be an investigation in the circuit
court and an ignorant and corrupt JUS
tice of the peace may be thrust out of
Office. The young man should assent
70 no compromise. He was drunk and
cen best atone for the sin by prosecut-
ing the depraved officers and court, and
then let him come and hear brother Penn
every night If he consent to preach, as
proposed, in Austin.
Meanwhile, who can tell us the cost
Of local systems and incidents of gov
eminent IN AustIn2 What do the
mayor and police and Justices of the
city costY Perquisites and jury fees
and court costs all come out of tax
payers at last, and the people should
know what they pay for the stupen-
dous luxures of the neat little courts
and juriss that never suspend their in
satiate demands for costs.