Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-07-09
LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.
THE OFFICIAL FEES


THE OFFICIAL FEES.
l0terviews With Knowing People Concern
ing their Reduction.
Hugh Il. Fulton, esq, county solicitor,
states that before he rendered the opinion
upon which the county commissioners
acted in cutting down the pOlicemcn's fees
he carefully studied the several acts of As
sembly relating to the matter and forti-
fled his position with authorities that can
not be disputed. His predecessors, Coun-
ty Solicitors Brown and Kready. sustain
him in all his positions. He acknowledges
that the law, if strictly carried out, is in
many instances unfair and unjust to ofi-
GERS who make arrests in good filth and
for sufficient cause. 1t often happens, es-
pecially in cases Of drunkenness and dis
orderly conduct, that the officer makes the
arrest ut the request of or on information
given by other persons, and that these
persons failing to appear as witnesses
against the accused, he must Of course be
discharged by the magistrate before
whom the hearing takes place. The mag
istrate (unless he be the mayor) gets full
fees for hearing the case, while the officer
making the arrest gets nothing. This
seems unfair, but it is the fault of the law
and not of the solicitor or county commits
siOners. There is this to be said in favor
OF this provision of the law the policemen
are salaried officers, they are paid Il salary
for keeping the public peace and arrestins
vagrants even if they get no other fees for
services.
The lNTELLIGENCER reporter suggested
that the amendment to the city charter of
1869 cutting down fees of the mayor and
city policemen had been passed by Re-
publican Legislature as punishment to
the then Democratic city administration.
and that the law had ever since been con-
strued SO rs to prostitute the machinery Of
justice to ting exigencies Of the Republican
party, that is, SO long rs Mayor Sanderson
was in power, his fees and those of his
policemen were cut down. When Mayor
SandersOn was "counted out" and Re-
publican administration assumed control,
the law was allowed to remain a dead let
ter and the policemen received their
full fees for dismissed cases. When Mayor
Pyfer, Democrat, came into power the
law was again enforced and the fees were
cut off. When Mayor Stauffer, Republi-
can, succeeded to Office the law was laid
aside, and now that we have a Democratic
mayor and \ large majority Of Democratic
policemen it is again revived. The re
porter maintained that not only the
amendment of 1869, but every amendment
made to the city charter by Republican
Misunderstanding the division Of the
city into nine wards, the fixing of the
mayors salary, the changes in the mode
of electing school directors-was enacted,
not in the interest of the city, but for the
express purpose of aiding the Republican
and crippling the Democratic party.
An Ex-COunty Solicitors Opinion.
B. c. kready, ex-county solicitor, with
out expressing an opinion as to the motive
that induced the passage of the law regu-
latlng the fees of city policemen, said tina,
while he was solicitor the law was impair
TALLY enforced during both Republican
and Democratic administrations lie could
not say what was the practice under his
predecessors.
An Alderman on the Law.
Alderman Spurrier thinks the law 4
very unfair one. especially to the police
men. 1t frequently happens that men get
drunk and misbehave so badly that it is
proper and necessary to arrest and lock
them up. The arrests often cause the pO-
licemen great labor. and sometimes sub.
ject them to danger and expense. Some
times drunken man resists and soils or
tears the officers clothes; sometimes he
has to be taken to the lookup in a carriage
or wheelbarrOw. He may be hard
working man who very seldom gets drunk,
whose family depends Oh his earnings for
support. A nights lodging in the lockup
is generally sufficient to sober him up
and make him anxious to so to work. To
commit him to the county Jail would be
unnecessarily severe, and would be a great
deprivation to his family. and yet if he is
dismissed the policemen who made the ar
rest gets nothing for his trouble, expense
and danger under the present construction
of the law. Alderman Spurricr thought
Solicitor Kready was in error in stating
that he had allowed no fees in dismissed
cases. He thought the bills on file in the
treasurer's office would show that half
fees had been allowed in dismissed Us well
rs Jail cases. He was certain that he had
since Mr.. Kready's time, made out bills
for the policemen, and charged half-fecs
for dismissed cases, and when he saw that
certain other aldermen had made out bills
for full fees for policemen, and that the
bills were paid, he adopted the same prac-
tice. The alderman added, however, that
there could be no doubt that Solicitor Full
toms construction of the law was correct.
Alderman McConomy is inclined to think
that Solicitor Fulton's position is unten-
albeit differs, at least, very much from
the position of his predecessor, j. Hay
Brown, esq. Alderman McCOnomy says
that during the first month of Mayor Mac
Gongle's administration the bills were
made out for half fees for both dismissed
and committed cases, as was done during
Mayor Stauffer's administration, but that
after awhile Mr.. Brown changed his views
and said that the officers were entitled to
full fees, aud the bills were from that time
on made out for full fees.
George Nauman, esq, and VIM. Lcaman,
ESQ.,, who have been employed to revise
the city digest, are of opinion that the law