The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1889-10-25

10 u'e EdttoT Of Tie JohJlStolcn Tribune.
SIR / would like. with your permission,
to PROFOUND few questions to the voting
taxpayers of Cambria County.
DO you think, fellow taxpayers. that it
should be necessary to have tie records of
the Registers Office transcribed Did net
the Court, in ordering that they be tran
scribed, place the seal of its dlsapproyal on
the work Of some Of the former Democratic
Registers Have you any assurance that
the WORK of transcrioing is being correctly
executed? Have you any idea of the cost
TO the county that this undertaking will en-
tail? has not the present incumbent al.
ready realized as much from the emoluments
OF bis office as many other Registers, with
far greater claims on the gratitude OF the
people, received in two terms a?
Is 1t not sad commentary on the eficien-
cg OF the clerical force employed by Mr..
Blair that Geo. c. X. Zahm had to be called
In TO direct the work? Would It not have
been better TO have employed none but com.
petent men like Mt. Zahm ? Would 1t not
be wise act on the part OF the voters of
the county to make change In the Office,
that in the event OF the court being CON-
PEELED TO have the work OF transcribine cor
rected it will be in the hands or a man who
will employ suitable persons 10 perform the
work Docs Il not look as though the en-
ployment Of large clerical force in the
Registers office Is intented TO strengthen
the political prospects Of Register Blair
IL Is not TO the interest OF the taxpayers OF
the county to see that hereafter none but
competent men be chosen for this Iesponsi-
Bile office. that the records may be kept in
such shape that there will be no necessity
for an outlay OF thousands OF dollars to
remedy defects that should never exist In
the records OF the county?
Respectfully submitted by
A TAXPAYER.
The correspondent. OF the Tribune
who wrote the above evidently did not
know what he was was writing about.
For his information and :Ur others who
are willing 10 learn, we will inform him
that instead Of the Court placing its
seal OF disappTOval on the wosk OF some
of the former Democratic Registers,
Judge Johnston, who is one of the old
est members OF the Cambria County
Bar, is too young to know whether some
Of the officials who done the work were
Democrats or not. l. Is absolutely Ger.
tain, however, that it Is not the work of
Republicans FOR the simple reason that
at the time il was done the Republican
party was not in existance. The books
l, 2, 3 and and were written hy Ed
ward V. James. Cambria County's FIRST
ProthonotRrY, Cornelius Mcdonald,
James G. Mcclure, Philip Noon, A.
Bausman and d. L. Storm, who in the
order mentioned were his successors in
office. S1me of them were Democrats,
aud we are willing to claim them all
for their work is a credit to them aud to
the people who elected them. The old
records Of Cambria County will COM
pare fsvorably IN clerical ability with
any records in Pennsylvania. but age,
which has no respect foU books or per
sons, has wrought sad havoc with the
paper and binding. Some of them have
been handled and used for upwards of
eighty years and are literally in pieces.
Judge jeremiah 5. Black, Judge Burn
side, Judge Taylor, Joshua Z. Cox.
John G. Miles. Moses Cansn. Michael
Dan Magician, Henry ID. Foster and
scores Of others legal lUminaries, who
have long since gone 10 their eternal
rest have pored over these old books 10
the earlv days Of their legal practice
hunting up the titles in The great land
suits tried in this county and grew elo-
quent as they detailed TO juIies, the
marks, blaZes, corners and lines written
on their pages. One old citizen OF
Johnstown, David Peelor. in hunting
up the titles to the Cambria Iron Com.
pany's lanu has thumbed them over
oftener than the DGilV Tribune has
been issued. The indexes were tran
scribed about five years ago nv RepuS-
lican official, John II. Brown, and the
records should have been Transcribed
long before now. II however, worries
the 1riJ'me'S correspondent 10 think
that the work should be done by Z Dem
ocrat.
As to the second paragraph the wri-
ter admits that Geo. G. X. Zahm is
competent "to direct the work" II
the work is nece sssry, and no man who
knows anything about the records
doubts :t. what more is wanted. The
work is not done to remedy defects as
stated by the Iribto,e's correspondent
but to preserve for The future what AGE
and constant use has worn TO pieces.