Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1881-01-29


in the territorial lcgi .iature to increase
the salary Of the Judge of the First
Judicial District, seems likely To become
:. law in the early part of the session
la This county we find many conflicting
opi ION with regard to the measure
some s,rrnuou.ly oppose it, claiming
thai the salary WAS Il fixed amount, well
known to the Judge before he accepted
the Off re, and that II" was willing to ac-
cept it thea he ought to b" content now
The CHRONICLE can not agree with this
view Of the ease In the first place the
anout of business to be performed 10y
the Judge Of this district, j. probably
greater than that Of any other district
Judge in the whole United States. He
las actually work more hours, and the
great majority Of the cases for this con.
sidcriny are very important. many OF
them requiring the greatest legal aci-
men. aS they often involve new points
of Jaw foa which there i no established
PRECEDENT This being the ease. it il cvi-
dent that nn medivcrr iuri>t will do for
IL Judge of our district We must have
one of the ahlest that the TERRITORY can
produce Ii l. not for Il moment to be
supposed that such IA jurist, as we need
is going to give mp his practice TO as
sumo the erininc. unless he sees that he
can earn nearly as much on the bench
as he cal. earn practtcing before il. 1t
therefore follows that poor pay will
stimulate none but the poor class OF
lawyers to aspire for the position. 1t
NAV not hc generally known how much
the District Judge gcts for his services
Three thousand dollars per annum j.
the nominal salary. lie gets nothing
for his necessary expenses when away
from; these he must pay himself ont of
the $1,000. Now the Judge of this dis
ne must 90 to Rapid twite Il year. and
he must come here to Custer twice a
wear, and pay stage fare each way for
every mile that hc travels. The actual
miles travelled each ear will not fall
much short OF / 800 the way he now has
to 90. 10 say nothing OF the high rates OF
hotels to transient guests. Then Wien
at home he lives where the actual cost
Of keeping mp the expenses of Il family
IL. "a ~ 4
the eastern portion of the territory
Any one can iigurc up how much our
Judge has for Years work and they
will he astoni>hcd ut the figure. Now
as we said before. we don't want second
class men in that position. and the pres
cut salary will not keep Il iirSt-claes one
What are We 90 do, diminish the quality
of brains We employ, or increase the
amount OF money we pay for them
That Is about the size o|il. The present
incumbent Of the office will not hold it
much longer unlc-, the salary L. inrrraS-
cd, and what ever may be the feeling
against Judge Moody on account of his
course in Lawrence county, even his
most bitter enemies have TO arknOW :
ledge, that as lawyer he has no supe-
rior in the territory. and in fact the
bench of the west will have to be called
pretty closely 10 find his equal. II Is
not an office that should he subject to
frequent changes, and 50 far as we are
concerned, We would far rather see the
made. and thousand times rather than
To see it filled by Il les, competent man
For these reasons VIC heartily ap prove
of the bill as Il whole and we find many
here who concilc with us in this
opinion. Some, however. object to the
manner in which the increase is to be
raised As we understand it, there is to
be five dollars deposited by every one
who starts a snit in the district court t.
apply on the Judges salary. Now
whether this would not act as some
thing OLA hardship on poor men desir-
ous of having their grievances redressed
in court. is a question with many. 1t
niight be better way to let each cour;
pay It's proportion, according to the time
which the Judge consumes in each case
We do not think that it would be at all
fair to tax each county according to its
assessed valuation That would be
manifeStly unjust, but distribute the tax
according to the time consumed. Pay
for what YOU get anal no more, is 4
maxim that ought TO he considered g
fair one. Al present, Lawrence county
occupies nearly all the time of the
Judge, and at present, she ought to pay
nearly al the inarease;.. but ms fast as
business incrcaee cirougsi. - render
longer terms necessary in Custer and
Pennington counties, let them pay
more i'm the same ration.
ormrOYNy~, Dvyrv,