Birmingham age-herald., 1894-09-01
THE PEE SYSTEM.
MT. London Calls for Correction of Alleged Inaccuracies, and Presents
 Six Pointed Questions.
To the Age-Herald:

To the Age-Herald:
 The interviews with tn court house off, cisls as published in your issue of Thurs day are no answer to the issues l made. It is a rule of law, as we'll as one of common sense, that if q party, and especially an official, is charged with matter in regard to which be has peculiar knowledge, 1t Is no answer to say the charge is inaccurate And fail to see the relevancy to the issue l made to say I represented the Elyton Land company, or that the valuation of the properly of the Elyton Land company had been increased. Concede that 1 fell into inaccuracies, does that prove any thing? The officials have entirely failed to correct these inaccuracies except where the facts are well known or salaries are hxed by law, and content themselves in regard to fees by saying the "hgures are entirely too large.''
 The figures given in regard to the sher if, judge of probate and the clerks of the city and criminal courts were simply est1- mates, aud so stated to be, and if these fig
 ures are too large, why don't the court
 house officials, who must know what the correct figures are, give the public some accurate informatios in respect to this, the
 main question? If the official knows, as presume he does, that the incomes of these offices are estimated at more than they | really are, I would like to know how and where be got his information, aud why it is h e is unwilling to take the public into his confidence?
 The only question of any importance is, what are the amounts of fees now paid or
 which have been paid annually to the judge of probate and sheriff and the clerks of the city and criminal courtsF It IS idle to talk about any individual | going through the fee books to determine what the officers receive or have received in the way of fees when each one of them knows the amount of his own fees, and the examination would involve an amount Of labor that no private citizen would under | take, and which is wholly unnecessary, in | view of the Knowledge possessed by the | several officers.
 These officials want accurate figures, and | that is what wish, and that is what the | public demands, and, with this end Tn | view, and for the purpose of removing all | doubt, will simply ask that when the of- | ficials are next Interviewed your reporter
 will get answers to the following questions: 1. What was the amount of fees paid 10
 the judge of probate for each of the past | four years?
 9. What was the amount of fees paid to | the sheriff for the past two years? | 8. How much has been paid the sherl Ii | for the maintenance of prisoners Tor the | past two yearsf
 4. How much was paid the sheriff for 1 deputies this year and how much did he
 pay these deputiesf
 | 5. What amount of fees has the clerk of
 the city court received in the past four | years?
 l 6. What amount of fees has the clerk of | the criminal court received in the past four | years?
 If the officials who are so accurate will be | good enough to display some of their ac- | curacy in replying to these questions they will go long way towards reaching set | clement of the fee question.
 ALEX T. LONDON.