Los Angeles herald., 1892-11-07
A CARD.
Mr.. Cline Has Hts Say About the Sis
of His Fees.

Mr.. Cline Has Hts Say About the Sise
of His Fees.
EDrroRs HERALD: In answer to the arti-
Gle published in your paper yesterday,
wish to cay this: 1t is not my intention,
either directly or indirectly, of being
the cause of one harsh word being said
against my opponent, Mr.. Marsh. dur
ing our present race for the office of
sheriff. While it is true that 1 would
like to be elected, l have no desire to
succeed at the cost of any man's fair
name or reputation.
/ have been cradled in your midst.
From childhood 1 have grown to
manhood in your midst, and naught, as
far as 1 personally know and am con-
scious of, can be said against my repu-
tation for integrity and honesty.
My aged parents have lived amongst
you for over quarter of a century, and
know of no stain on their character to
be handed down to their children, and /
know of no stain on the character of
their children to be cast up to them.
While constable of Los Angeles town
ship 1 endeavored to discharge the
duties of.the Office to the best OF my
ability-faithfully and honestly. 1t is
true that the Office was dependent on
fees, no salary being, at that time, at
tached to it. For years previous to my
election as constable it was fee office.
and it go remained until two years after
1 went out of office. Almost at every
session of the grand jury, for Years be.
fore l went into the Office, and while l
was in office, and after / served my term
as constable, each grand jury sought to
advance some remedy for the outlay as
to fees. was always in favor OF some
remedy, claiming that constables should
be paid salaries instead of fees.
While l was serving as Republican
constable my bills were always exam
ined and passed upon by Hon. Thomas
f. Rowan, the Democratic chairman OF
the board. All who know him must
admit that Mr.. Rowan was con-
scientious supervisor. and that running
the gauntlet with anything but an
honest bill, with him as the chief scru-
tinizer, would have met with just re.
buke.
The claim that during the two years
that l was in the constable's office
drew over $1,000 from the treasury is
true, but right here wish to state that
out of this amount my deputies and
office rent were paid, and for the entire
two years l did not net over $3.50 per
month.
My successor Ia Democrat) in Office
drew from the county treasury $751;
S6675 for the time he was in office, viz.
two yeals,
1t was never my aim to run up bills
against the county, and close examin-
alton of the county records will bear me
out in this.
While the constable was paid fees the
sheriff was not obliged to serve papers
of criminal character beyond courts
of record, hence nearly three-fourths of
the criminal work fell on the constable.
The assertion that the law was
changed so as to cut my fees off is not
borne out by facts. 1t was two years
after 1 went out of Office, and after the
constable receipts of my Democratic
successor had swelled to $16,SS6.7 rs
when the law changing the fee bill was
adopted by the legislature.
| At the time was constable had but
three deputies-two of whom paid sal
aries. MY Democratic successor had in
| the neighborhood of 25 deputies, work
ing for percentage.
AS for the disappearance of certain
papers concerning my bills while con-
stable, 1 have never been the custodian
of the same, but dare say that through
the system of receipting for claims
that being independent of the origina
claims as tiled-a full and comp plete his
tory of every dollar have ever drawr
from the county has been traced. NJ
doubt the thousands of original claims
as filed with the many county
clerks before Wards time, in the
old court house, have, in keeping then
from year to year, been mixed and re-
mixed, and there is hardly possible
doubt but what, when all the papers
have been examined and placed in
shape, every bill OF mine will be found
1t would not benefit me 10 remove them
and surely it would benefit no one else
to do it, unless it might be an enemy
for political purposes. Respectfully,
JOHN G. CLINE.