The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-02-20
mornin:
Judge Aldrich.
TS,lnater WMchmdn.

[Seuter Watchman.
The Camden correspondent Of the
Ne,cs and Courier, writing under date
of Feb. 5th says:
Judge Aldrich's charge to the grand jury
was elaborate and explicit, though not long.
In his charge he spoke of what he deslg-
mated ss a nonsensical hue and cry of high
taxes, and the demagoGc demand for reduc-
ton in salaries. He said that such men did
not know what they were talking about. So
far as the State taxes are concerned, they are
not onerous, and as to the salaries paid
State, county and judicial officers, they are
not excessive. For example, q Circuit
Judges salary is $500 per annum. He is
required to 60 orer the whole State in the
discharge Of his duties, pay his own cx-
penses, &C. From his experience he had
fonnd that it took every cent OF $1,000 to go
around the different courts in three circuits
during the year. This left only s.. 500 for
the maintenance of his family, and other
necessary expenses Of Judges family:
wUIIG ~ nome, anu Oh ms Ta:lIIy dU!Ing MS
absence, Judge did not have many dollars
to lay up at the end OF the year FOR rainy
day. He then mentioned several instances
among State and county officials whose sal
aries barely gave them living, and in some
cases did not do that; and said that if the
grumblers would turn their attention to the
expenses of their counties, retrenchment
in some instances might be made. He cited
the fact that every county has treasurer
and auditor, when one officer for these two
positions combined would be enabled to at
tend to the duties appertainine thereto.
We perfectly agree with Judge Al
drich in what he says concerning the
attempt of the Legislature to reduce
the salary Of circuit judges, and we
think it is at least a mooted question
whether or not the consolidation of
the Offices of Auditor and Treasurer
in the several counties is feasible and
would be proper proceeding from the
standpoint of economy. But we sub
NIT that a grand jury Is a singular
audience and a judges charge most
unusual vehicle for the publication of
a political speech. When the orator
appears, as in this instance, as plain
tiff against the unwarranted attempts
of the law-making power to rob him
Of his own hard.earned dollars, the
scene loses all pretentions to good
taste, and would be actually indecent,
were it not so supremely ludicrous.
We must not laugh, however, for we
know that the speake, is not Judge
Aldrlch, not the man whom in the
prime of his manhood and the vigor
of his intellect, this State delighted
to honor. The voice is shat of a weak
and querulous child. Let it bring
out sympathy, not our ridicule.
But this last exhibition of seniity
on the part of one, whose public ca
reer should have closed years ago, re-
minds US that the time is drawing on
apace when Judge Aldrich will be
called upon to administer justice in
this city again, and some things should
be said which we would prefer to leave
unsaid, and which have been suppress
ed so far for reasons that shall he Civ
en-. It is mockery, travesty upon
Justice, that this old and broken man
should be left in position where his
duty requires him to sit in judgment
upon his fellow-man. We see that at
Camden he has been called on to pass
sentence of death upon one man. In
all probability the sentence is just,
but what a risk is run! We do not
speak of Judge Aldrich as an individ-
ual. We like him personally, and
look back with pride upon the time
when he could serve his State and did
so, manfully-when he was Speaker
of the House, and when be held other
high positions. But we speak for the
people, who, equally with ourselves,
love him for what he has been, and
say that it is dangerous to administer
justice through an aged and decrepit
man, the brightness of whose intellect
has faded into the latest afterglow of
a winter evening.
When Judge Aldrich last presided
in Sumter, his conduct gave great Of
Tense to the people in more ways than
one. What that conduct was, it is
needless to explain here. The city
was full of people, and they will re-