The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-01-05
OFFICIAL SALARIES.


was detected in the wrongful appropria
ton of the public money and was forced to
resign. His bondsmen will make his short
age good as soon as they ascertain the
amount. The newspapers are jumping
onto" the fellow in great shape, which is
proper enough and it would also be right to
send the official to the penitentiary. And
then the newspapers of the state might do
good service by advocating a rearrange-
ment of the salary list in that state. The
present pay, as we find the amounts
in an exchange, Is as follows: Governor.
| 81, coo, recently increased from 81, 600; sec
recary of state, $500; lieutensnt-governor,
$500; treasurer, 1000; auditor, $1,000; at
torney general, 81, 500; judges of the su-
| preme court, s., 500
The size of a mans salary should have
no influence upon him in the matter of his
honesty; tnat is to say he should be just as
honest with small pay as with large. The
official who will steal to help out in
sufficient salary is just as much thief as
any other fellow who steals. And yet,
small pay to public servants is mighty bad
economy. We say this without the thought
of rejecting upon the integrity of any
man IN particular. If the official is badly
paid the temptation to steal is stronger
his necessities will sometimes make him a
thief 1t is somewhat remarkable that
such niggardly salaries have not produced
more official thieves in Michigan.
1t will not be long before Utah will have
the fixing of salaries for her officials and
rup In n re p oh IN q
protest against both parsimoDy and extrava-
gance. We believe the better the pay, in
reason, the better men will get the offices,
the better service will be given and
the fewer will be the breaches of
the public trust. Now and then
there is rich man who
would gladly take the Office without com
pensation, the distinction being sufficient
pay for him; but he is not the man for the
place; it would be cheap to have another al
an excessively high salary. The $1,000 q
year which the United States Senator
} draws from the treasury is of small conse-
quence to the majority of the members Of
} the upper house of Congress, the result
4 being that that branch of the nationa
! legislature is made up largely of mer
totally unfit for the place. OF the eighty
c eight Senators it would be a liberia
t estimate to say that a score of then
q would be there if they depended
= upon their intellectual qualifications ant
u training for the duties in hand. The 9th
i ers are Senators because they are rich ant
can afford to pay handsomely to pleas
their vanity in the matter of titles. Tn
average newspaper writer will realize hov
true this is when he racks his brain tryin
G to name the United States Senators, an
s concludes, when he fails to recall NOR
It than a dozen who figure in legislation
y that the Senate, which should be the fin
r est intellectual body in the world in a law
!, making way, Is very small potatoes"
! The evil effects of small salarie
d are felt, perhaps, most keenlW i
e the judiciary. While it is not al
e ways the case. it is too often tru
n that men who are not good lawyers an
cannot succeed in their profession go upo
4, the bench for pay that a lawyer qualifie
Z by intellectually, training and integrit
e for judgeship would scorn. The resu
IS is seen in the incompetency and the dis
0t honesty which are so often encountered j
I'd the American courts. If fair salaries wei
y paid lawyers of ability and who are aboy
IS corruption would more frequently aspil
S. to the bench.
t, The public wants the best men IN II
at offices, and can afford to pay them VIII
I'd the men can earn in other walks of life.
10 We hope that when it comes to arrangir
a the official salary list for Utah, the wor
will be done with the understanding th
te good men can command high salaries, ar
st bad or cheap men are lot wanted.