Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-05-21
State Expenses.
INCREASE OF COURT EXPENSES AND COSTS OF

ard an important article by Hon. Charles L.
Marsh, court auditor of Windsor county, on
the subject of the serious and even alarming
increase of the costs of the administration OF
Justice in our State. The subject is one OF
very great importance TO every taxpayer,
and it is of the first importance to have all
the light possible thrown upon it. As long as
nothing is said about such matters, nothing
is done about them in the way of remedy.
If nothing is done, they will drift along in
the future, as in the past, getting worse
rather than better every year, with Con-
stantly increasing burden of expense and
consequent increase of taxation. 1t IS Ger
tainly time that halt was called in this mat
ter of unnecessary expenses of the courts and
machinery of justice and the subject Is one
which may well occupy in earnest the atten-
ton of the next Legislature. Mr. Marsh
says:
Two wears ago. as also four years ago, the
political newspapers in the State exclaimed
loudly about the increased and yearly ln-
creasng amount of our State expenses, and
the COSTS Oh jul Hi'''S
cutions and expenses, which instead OF dim
inishing, have for number of years past,
been steadily and alarmingly upon the in
crease.
The State Auditor for the years ending
July 81, 1877, and July 81, 1878, in his re-
port to the Legislature at the October SEES
sion. 1873, gives clear summary of the
court expenses, showing the actual expense
to the State of each county for courts and
criminal prosecutions and expenses, for each
of those years, after deducting all cash re-
ceivcd for State fees, actions entered, tried,
etc, and also all amounts received from all
the counties for fines and costs in criminal
cases during said period. From this report II
appears that the actual expense to the state
for courts and criminal prosecutions Tor the
fiscal wear ending July 81, 1877, was Sll3,-
231 L. and the like expense Tor The year
ending July 81. 1873, was SllO, 5io. a., show
ing a slight decrease in this latter year OF
S2GS13j But as compared with the same
expense for the year ending July ii, 1915,
the increased expense for the year 1873 was
over So, O00. 90 what it was in 1876, as was
stated by Gov Proctor in his admirable
message 10 the legislature at their last ses-
sion in 1873
Here would seem 10 be flood for thought.
In our county Of Windsor, the gross amount
paid by the State for court expenses and
criminal prosecutions and expenses for the
two years ending July 3lst, 1878, was SIS
2j9 80, while the gross amount received by
the State from the county for State ices,
actions entered, tried, etc, and the amounts
received for fines and costs in liquor and all
other cases, was only Sc, l35. 50; showing
the court expenses and criminal prosecutions
and expenses in Windsor county Tor those
two wears to he S1a, 1913. 20 over and above
all receipts for fines and costs during the
same period.
The last report of the State Auditor was
published in September, 1878. There have
been three terms of the county court held in
this county since the expose made in that
report
The actual expense to the State OF Yer
mont of these three last terms OF the county
court in the county of Windsor is shown by
figures, taken from official documents, to be
50, 346 GO, after deducting all money receiv-
ed for State fees, fines and costs. The fig-
ures show that in this county for the last
several years there has been gradual but
constant net increase in the expenses OF our
courts and criminal prosecutions. 1t is rca-
sonablc to suppose that in this matter of
court and criminal expenses and receipts an
investigation will disclose the fact, that most
of the counties in the State will show rela-
lively, nearly, if not quite as large dis
proportion of receipts to expenses as does
our own. In some counties, particularly
Bennington, Chittenden, Franklin, Rutland
and Washington counties, and probably some
others, the net expenses will he found,
think, to quite exceed those of this county,
so that multiplying the expenses in this
county by IA, the number Of counties in the
State, we get an aggregate which must clear
" demonstrate, to even the most simple
minded citizen, the imperative necessity that
exists for our increased and increasing State
taxes.
In 1910 the population of Vermont was
POI, 94S In 1860 it was only 315, 09S,
showing an increase of only 90, 900 in
twenty years. In 1870 the population Of
the State was $50, 551, showing an increase
for the ten years preceding of Is, 453, and
this increase mainly accrued in the towns OF
Burlington and Rutland. 1t can hardly be
pretended, therefore, that the increased ex-
penses of the State, and the increased taxa
ton consequent thereon, is TO be attributed
to an increase of population.
In no one year from 1910 to 1860 did the
State tax exceed Il cents on the dollar of the
grand list, and in only one year during that
period was it as high as II cents, and that
was in 1859. In the year 1860 the State tax
was 90 cents. The increased State tax Tor
the last two years was in consequence of the
expense the State had to incur in building
new State House to replace the one burned
in January, 1857. From the year 1861 to
1865 inclusive, being the period of our civil
war, our State taxes were necessarily high,
ranging from so TO 125 cents on each dollar
of the grand list during that period. AT the
conclusion of the war it was hoped and ex-
pectcd that our State expenses would be so
far reduced, and our State Indebtedness so
far extinguishcd, that in a very few years
our State tax would again fall below 90 cents
on the dollar as in the period previous to
the war. This result would undoubted-
ly have been realized but for the acts of
the Legislature at the sessions of 1865 and
1866 and of some subsequent sessions in so
materially increasing the fees OF sheriffs,
county clerks, justices of the peace, etc, and
the salaries of all State officers, so as in many
cases to nearly double the amount paid for
the same service for more than score of
years previous thereto.
Gov Proctor took realizing sense Of the
changed condition of things among the great
mass of the people of the State, when in his
message he alludes to the reduced cost of
1860, and expressed hope that AS a result
of the legislation of the session they would
feel warranted IN reducing the State tax TO
20 cents on the dollar of the grand list" But
that kind of legislation did not seem to meet
with favor high fees and high salaries were
mainly retained and a State tax of 40 cents,
the highest tax since 1872, was voted for the
year 1879 and this, too, in face of the start
ling fact. that the grand list of the State for
the year 1879 is one hundred and sixty nine
thousand six hundred and forty-slX dollars
less than it was in the year 1874, which was
the year of the largest grand list ever known
in the State There has been material fall
ing off in the grand list of the State most
every year since 1874, and all the signs in
dictate that the end thereof is not vet.
The entire amount of our State expenses
in the year 1860 was Sl42. 9S24S In the
year 1876 the expenses of the State were
1896, 126. 90, being ) 1873. IA As in excess of
year 1860, more than double, as can be seen.
The State expenses for the year 1877 were
S3l5, 59l 60. The expenses for the years
ISIS and 1879 will he made known when the
State Auditor publishes his report, which will
be done in the month of September of the
present year. have no doubt that the two
last years will show quite an increase in the
expenses Of the State over the years preced-
ing. We have on our hands now to sunpor,
two rcformatory institutions, as they are
called. which We did not have in 1860, Re
form School" and House of Correction"
Whether our tax-burdened people can well
afford to sustain such luXurics in II State so
purely agricultural as is Vermont, may well
he questioned hut the existence and support
of these institutions in no way accounts for
only n small portion of the Increased expenses