People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1893-06-23
VOL. III.
RAY VS.. WEIGH.
Defendant Knocks Plaintiff Out at
Long Range.

EDITOR VOICE:-YOur issue of May
26 has been received in which Mr..
Ray has another letter under date of
May %. This neceSSitateS a few
more words from me.
First, | wish to notice his short let
ter of May 6 in which he says he is
done" In speaking of the commits
siOnerS allowing stenOgrapher's bills
he uses these words: whenever the
board of county commissioners under
take, as they have in this case, to
control the district court, they are
usurping power" If this is so, how
else could a reporter get his fees than
through the commissioners? There
was never any objection to this
"usurping power" on the part of the
district court, land that 'usurping
power" continues to allow the bills
of my SucCeSSOr.) If the county COM
miSSiOners control the district court"
it is matter between them and the
court, and is no concern of the repOr-
ter. A clear admission on his part
that he has blamed me for that to
which no blame attaches even in his
own judgment. And further, lit is
wholly immaterial to me as to how
the StenOgrapher gets his fees from the
county, so long as he does not collect
illegal fees, and | have no disposition
to CritiCiSe or interfere with the
board of county commissioners or COM
plain of the amount they allow any
one" What does all this letter wri-
ting mean then when he has no dis
position to criticiSe" OF even ''inter-
fere:?" Nor yet to complain of the
amount that they allow anyOne?"
IA StenOgrapher for instance. He
certainly does complain when he al
legeS the taking of illegal" fees for
the days | ATTENDED court" and for
filing my bills with the county clerk
lin accordance with the county clerks
rulingl to be acted upon by the CON-
missioners. But then he acquiesced
in the matter, as have before shown,
when he certified to my accounts.
The mere fact Of the certiflcation
proves this. Then, again, knowing
as he did, the character of bills he
certified to from the very inception
Of this alleged illegal" business, and
assuming for the moment, for the
sake of the argument, the correctness
of his position, what more lenient
thing can be said thar that he was
particepS criminiS, and therefore
equally culpable? l would suggest
that the gentleman can find in any
dictionary valuable information un-
der the word consistent"
come now to his last letter. The
general tone Of it, by the way, indi-
Gates some moderation of temper
since the roar" of May 1St. Mr..
Ray says the law cited by me has no
more to do with the stenographer's
fees than the ten commandments.
and really not so much, for they say,
thou shalt not steal, neither shalt
thou bear false witness against thy
neighbOr.' This law which | had
printed in my last letter entitled "An
act to govern the issuing, registration
and order of payment Of warrants of
counties" ETC., approved March 10,
1891, provides in substance, that the
term warrants, as used in this act.
shall be understood to include ALL
ORDERS of any KIND OR DESCRIPTION
authorized by law to be drawn on pub
lie treasures for money payments:
that county warrants shall be signed
by the chairman of the board of coun-
ty commissioners and atteSted by the
clerk; that any officer of any county
who shall sign or attest any warrant
not duly authorized by the PROPER
BOARD shall be liable to the county
in the sum of such warrant, and be
deemed guilty of miSdemeanOr, and
upon conviction subject to a fine of
not less than $50 nor more than $500:
that ALL ACTS AND PARTS OF ACTS in
so far as they are inconsistent with
this act are REPEALED. If Mr.. Raw
will carefully reread my last letter he
Will notice | have nowhere said that
act liked the compensation of the
reporter. The first part of the sec
tiOn 1874 "fixes" that at s. per day.
The county clerk holds that this act
of March, 1891, repealed such portions
of section 1914 as are 10 conflict with
said act of March, 1891, because, pre-
viOuS to that month, the county clerk
issued orders to me upon the county
treasurer upon the certificate of the
Judge at any time l presented a bill
SO certified: and AFTER March. 1891,
he refused to do so, and would only
file the bills to be acted upon by the
commissioners in regular session.
suppose he would not have done 9th.
erwise even if my bills had been Ger.
t;Aod to nu tho apt;ro ;nJ;o;on,, - 81 .