The New Orleans daily Democrat., 1878-01-14

now are; and there exists grave political rea-
ssrrrs why at present the sheriffs should not be
the collectors. Besides, the law of 1877 re-
ttsoes costs and fees lower than they have
ever been In the State, and provides for only
two tax collectors in New Orleans after this
year, whose compensation shall be only
and per cent. ! have overlooked saying
that the assessors, in the parishes and in
New Orleans. are only paid umier the present
law one-half the compensation for the years
In which no general assessment Is had, the
general assessment occurring once every four
years.
g. In New Orleans the sheriffs and clerks
should be salaried officials, and the enormous
revenues Of those offices should be turned oyer
TO the State or city, or largely reduced, In the
interest Of ltigants.
The doing, In my view, MS 10 these offices,
what you recommend would be- rainous to the
and clerks, as nm informed. are feed officers
ON the continent OF Europe, in Eng
land, In Canada. in the United States courts,
and IN every State Of the Union. The 1lniyer
sal existence of the system alone would justify
it, were it not for the fact that its wisdom is
established by the. very nature Of things.
These officers requitb nm Incentive tp make
them prompt and adtivea II they were salaried
no incentive would exist The public
treasury would be called upon TO pay The sal
aries. not only Of the clerks and eheriffs, but
their deputies also, and the fees, II any were
ofafgtsls would be laxly collected or enbezzled
and d system Of favotitiam and peculation be
established have been told that the system
and bad tbe' b be aban,ipnel for M these Teasohs.
Within my loFn regnectton, justices d, the
peace HerYs lsalafed, their salaries being pay
able out Of the fees earned, the surplus be-
longing to the State or city. The consequence
was. es ! am told, that the paving
and the system was abandoned. You may say
that the. evils in the sberiffs' and clerks
offices exist, and will agree with you, but do
not think the salary system remedy. but
the sheriffs office. his fees In some particulars
are too high, although they were very much
cut down in 1876. The real evil in his Office
from which his inordinate compensation grew
State and city, have been taken from him by
the assessing law of 1877. Though not
intimately acquainted with the workings of
the sheriff's Office, | believe that between
twenty and forty thousand dollars have
vision which was applied TO the State tax Of
last year, and will this year be applied to that
Of both State and city In other words, In any
given year, il there were 10000 tax suits, the
writs went to the sheriff's ofIies and he was
go there at all ard this source Of revenue is
cut off and the public saved large amount
1t is matter of doubt whether, when
deprived Of the tax business, THE sheritfs
office will be fairly lucrative In view Of the
responsibility growing out Of IT, The clerks
Of court, instead of needing the. reduction
of fees, should have them raised. The honest
truth IL that the fees presently allowed by law
are SO low that the work cannot be done for
them and the offices made reasonably self-sus-
tanning. This has engendered a commonly
acquiesced in habit, tolerated by the legal pro-
fesson, Of over charging. The statute books
are full OF summary remedies entail1lg prompt
punishment and Dismissal from office for these
over-charges. but the standard oflegal fees is SO
lpw that almost every lawyer implicitly recog-
1iizes It's inpossfbiilty, aud approves bills
against his clients nitrve THE legal rate This
habit is, OF course, wrong in the clerks and
wrong in the lawyers but 1t is q habit enRen-
dered by the immortality of the law in fixing n
few, If any consider themselves morally or
equitably bound to give it their adhesion.
What is the remedy2
In my view 1t is to make the fees reasonable,
them simple and free from ambiguity, SO as to
do AWAY with the motives Of equity by which
lawyers, litigants and the public have grown
to habituate themselves to o violation of law.
By this means the motive from which over
charging is now tolerated would disappear,
and the punitory laws thcreagainst be invoked
and enforced. OF course the curtailment of
the tax business In the sheriff s Office under
the act of 1877 Is equally applicable to the
clerks In tho future, the present system of en-
hithfS tda'S btIIE llou ny Sut, pub ny
ure.
o. Some limitation to be placed upon the
power of police juries In imposing parish
taxes.
The act of 1877 (No. 96) limits police iuries
to / per cent, and II some exceptions were
made 1t was because, in the excepted parishes
the rate of assessment would have made the
tax too low for ordinary purposes Having
had the opinions of gentlemen, both in and
out of the General Assembly, on this subject,
am free 10 say that I have heard no com,
plant, but, on the contrary, / have heard
universal satisfaction expressed on this sub
ject, as well as on the subject of the many
other reform measures applicable to the par
ishos passed IN 1877, which leave little to be
DONE s....r.-....
Your reference to parish and city debt and to
registration will he noticed in my next COM
munication, II this one be deemed worthy of
publication. 4tsE 4s "0ti s-4t.'.
A MEMBER OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.