Evening journal., 1890-03-20
TWO GOOD SPEECHES.
|. c. vANDEGRlFT AND HON. GEO
n. BATES ADVOCATE REFORM.

Listen to the Discussion Of the Subject
of County Government Reform.
John c. Farra, president Of the City
Council. presided at the meeting of the
| Young Mems Democratic Club and in ex-
| PLANTATION Of the object of the meeting,
read the following resolution:
Whereas, In the opinion of the
Young Mems Democratic Club the time
has come when certain changes should be
made in the government Of New Castle
county therefore, be it
Resolved, That all Democrats of pro-
nounced views on the matter Of county
government be invited to address this
clnb on stated occasions for and against
this resolution"
In accordance with this resolution
| Hon. George II. Bates and L. @. Vande-
grift, ESQ, had been invited to address
the meeting. Mr.. Bates spoke first He
said that he was not prepared for speech.
making owing to other duties which had
taken up his time. He had not time to
fully examine into the question. He felt
gratifed that the club was taking such
an interest In one of the fundamental
principles Of government, and knowing
this he could not have felt justified in
|
quested to do so. At the time the
subject was under discussion in the
Legislature, Mr.. Bates was absent from
home, and the current reports Of the
affair did not come under his notice In
considering the resolution, the club has
voiced an unmistakable public sentiment,
and in making a statement, it has made
in the resolution you have made q pre-
dietion which will be verified In the near
future. 1t is a good thing to take up this
matter at this time and it is good thing
to have 1t originated and carried out
through the medium of our ow party.
IL is good thing to have aneeded reform
carried out by us instead of over our own
heads,
Mr.. Bates mentioned several reasons
why the present system of county gov
ernment was Objectionable and laid great
stress on its unbusness like and expen-
siye manner of transacting business. He
showed that there was no necessity for
a representative in every hundred now
by reason of quick transportation and
more universal spread of knowledge Of
values Many men ia Wilmington could
tell the value of real estate in any part Of
the county 1t was not necessary to have
a resident of the hundred in the Levy
Court for the purpose of assessment.
He then spoke OF the expenses of the
county courts much of which could be
saved by thoughtfulness in discharging
jurors. He was in favor of having a
court with resident judges for the trans
action of minor business, because he
thought it would be of less expense. He
spoke of the large number Of witnesses
who were summoned before the grand
jury when he was prosecutor. The
number was less now, but it required the
utmost vigilance on the part Of prose
cutors to see that witness was not kept
one day more than was necessary. The
auditors report showed that during the
past year $1,000 had been expended for
petit jurors. He mentioned Of how at q
recent term of court for seventeen days,
while two cases were on trial in which
special jurors were used. the petit Jurors
were kept in attendance. A curious
thing about the county government wa
the system Of fees instead Of salaries
During one year sheriffs have receive,
100000. and entire Judiciary $14, 100 i
Is certainly a wrong system. The who'll
: I system of fees and allowance Is a grea
waste, because under proper and libera
salaries the surplus fee would go into thl
county treasury.
Then he took up the subject of the re
form effect in city affairs by which
great saving had been in the mayor
! salary. The perquisites had increased i
from 81, 200 to $4,000. Outside Of hi
] salary the mayor received large SUM
: which no one thought Of These fees nov
; go into the city treasury, increasing con
siderably the revenue of The city 81
also spoke of the large amounts the higl
+" constable formerly received.
, Another difficulty with the presen
] system of the Levy Court is that AM
0 citizen has hard time to find out wha
{ is done with the plbic money. During
= the past year, S74, 600 was paid for bridges
!, causeways and repairs. This sum is no
paid out by order of the Levy Court oil
I. the county treasurer. but large sums ar
appropriated to a commissioner for hi
9 own hundred You can find no detail
, about these transactions Large sums ar
t paid out to the order Of one man. It is to
n great a temptation for any one man and i
the angel Gabriel we're a member of tn,
: Levy Court it wonld be too great temp
r tation Imagine the Pennsylvania rail
s road or any other large corporation pay
" ing out large sums of money on the orde
r Of one man, that man making no detaile
r statement Of what he did with tn
money, This system worked well whei
the habits Of the people were simple an'
there was no disposi hon to do an inius
], tice in dealing with public affairs. 1t
% not adapted to the present day.
Mr.. Bates gave a curious illustratio
n OF this He said that as attorney for tn
city railway company he applied to th
Levy Court for permission to erect pole
on Market street in front of the Cour
Il House. The Levy Court treated hir
" very courteounly and after he had mad
q his application the court appointed
committee OF seven men to look into th
matter. Mr. Bates thought the seve
men would walk out and look in front (
the Court House at once, but that wa
doing matters in too great hast'
The committee of seven me
did not want to keep hil
t. waiting until the next meeting of tn
court, so during the week after the couI
II had adjourned the seven men came
st the city from their respective hundred
and then they all looked at the pRVemeI
!, in front of the Court House and wake
= z down to the Brsndywine bridge at co:
~ OF $25 to the county. These men had nc
the least desire to do anything wrong
y but IL they had had to come at their ow
y expense they probably would not hay
done 90.
10 In regard to the commissioners bill
I Mr.. Bates said that he did not cal
1 whathar thRra were thraa or 6va conn