The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-12-18
IT MUST STOP.
The Tremendous System Of Fee
Grabbing in Our Courts.
The System Has Grown to Be an
Enormous Evil.
STILL GROWING WORSE
Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dol
lars Taken from the People
By a Cle-;ly Managed System
osyqueezing-
NOT ONLY IN SHAWNEE
But in Every Other County in
Kansas.
Lawyers to Hold a Big Mass
Meeting
And Organize a Crusade Against
the Evil
NOT ONLY IN SHAWNEE
But in Every Other County in
Kansas.
Lawyers to Hold a BIC Mass
Meeting
And Organize a Crusade Against
the Evil

The lawyers Of Topeka viii shortly
call a meeting to protest against and seek
to remedy that growing and already alb
normally big young industry grab
bing. It Is their aim TO have the justices
of the peace, the clerk Of the district
court. sheriff and probate judge put on
salaried instead Of a fee basis They
want a bin passed b. the legislature
which will give these officers a stated
salary. and providing for a reduction IN
fees, after which all fees collected shall
be turned into the county treasurer for
purposes Of general revenue.
"A Topeka lawer said 10 a JOURNAL re-
porter today. sNou have no idea Of the
enormiry Of fees that are collected every
year in Shawnee county in the name Of
law There is no telling how much the
district clerk and the sheriff collect every
year, but if the clerks fees ia civil cases
are as big. relatively. AS they are in Grim
inal cases. he gets 500 900 a year in fees.
The sneriHs office IS conceded to be
worth az least $4,000 a wear after all ex-
penses are paid Even the Justice courts
have caught the popular idea, and their
charges are just bout five times as large
as they were six or eight years ago. The
records prove this
"As rule the lawyers are reluctant to
censure the Justice courts for fear they
will be worsted in future dealings they
may have there. But the fact appears
to me 10 be that the Justice courts are
nothing less than fee making Institutions
for the benefit Of the Justice and con
stable. They take suits. both civil and
criminal, that have neither importance
nor merit at the start. and before they
drop the case there are big costs for
some body TO Fay.
The lawyers are in a position to know
more about this fee business than any
one else, except the officers themselves.
for as a general thing the settlements Of
costs are made through u.s. The bar
realizes that fees are getting entirely out
of proportion and il ought to be stopped
IT'D fairness not only to ourselves but to
litigants 4 he making of bills for fees
has come to be recognized as an art, and
the clerks can charge for little items one
never dreamed of, and charge like fury
for those he has dreamed Of / know il
~ be the purpose Of the lawyers soon to
cali meeting Id discuss a bill to put
district clerk. sheriff, probate Judge and
Justices of the peace on a stated salary
and turn the fees into the public treas
ury. I got all this Information cOnfiden-
TALLY and I don't want you to use my
name
Judge z T. Hazen. Of the district
court, was seen by a JOURNAL reporter
today. lie said; "A hope to see all the
county officers put on salarIed basis. /
am wholly opposed 10 the fee system.
have heard that the lawyers were in
tending TO call meeting In the interest
If an anti-fee bill. but do not know any
thing definite concerning it. Such
meeting will have my entire sympathy
and approval"
The Justice Courts.
County auditor ". Z. Pagan has some
figures which viii be an eve-opeAer to
people unacquaiated with the operation
Of the fee. system. The three Justices
courts Of Topeka for a single month du-
ring the respective terms of County
Attorneys Charles Curtis. r B. Welch
and H. q. Stafford, cost the state, that is
the county, IN criminal business alone