The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-02-11
THEIR LOUD SHREK.
ALI the Bloodsucking Leeches IN
Kansas County Offices
UNITED IN A SUPREME EFFORT

To prevent the People from Getting
Fee and Salary Law at the Hands OF
the legislature and the Legislature
Acting ike,Cowards Afraid to Pass
the Bill
The BalIinger fees and salaries bill
which has been made special order Tor
2 o'clock in the house this afternoon,
promises to provoke the most general
and spirited debate of anything that has
come up this session. Every representa-,
tive knows that his position on It Will
affect his political future and there are
very few indeed who are not preparing
to trim to the breeze set in motion oy the
county officers of their particular coun-
ties
Too many are preparing to reguIate
their course not by asking themselves the
question what is just but rather what ls
nopular and what will send me back here
again. Hundreds of kilograms and let
tiers are pouring in from county officers
protesting against this bill. The follow
ing received by a representative this
morning is a sample:
please vote against the unjust Bal
linger bill VIII explain by letter.
County Superintendent"
They all remember that George l.
the fees of sheriffs and that when ne
came to run for congressman at-large
they organized against him. Few repre-
sentatiyes think there is any limit to their
political futures, and they know to get
any higher they must stand we'll IN their
own counties The probability is there
fore that the bill will be oversloughed
with a multitude of amendments, and
nothing will be done after all to correct
the fee evil One member indeed, who
received letter from a county officer
telling him what to do, had the courage
to answer:
at seems that the people made mis-
take when they elected me to the legis-
lature They should have elected you.
1t seems to me man who can read the
bill Understandings, will know what he
ought to do"
If the house does not show itself more
capable in parliamentary way than 1t
has hitherto there will be the most COM
plete tangle on this bill that this body
has yet twisted itself into. This is say
ing a great deal, but when a simple two
section bill can throw the house into
such confusion that it had to stub every
thing out and begin over" what it will
do with q measure of the voluminOusness
and intricacy of the Ballinger bill, would
be beyond the power of man to predict
Each man from each county will have q
kick. Nearly every one is willing
salaries should be reduced in other
counties but the representative
has yet to be found who thinks the bill
puts them too high in his own county.
The bill attempts to regulate the sala-
ries on basis of population. The offices
most affected are county superintendents
and county treasurers. Under the old
law county treasurers in counties of
10000 got as much as those of $4,000
which contained large cities where there
was the most work to do. Under the pro-
posed bill treasurers in counties having
10000 to 10000 are cut, those above that
getting the same as formerly. or more.
County clerks in counties having from
10000 to $4,000 suffer but those above
remain about the same.
Mr.. Ballinger estimates that the bill
will save the state 100000 year on fee
offices and $67, 231 on salaried officers.
Sherlffs, district clerks, cOnsta bIes and
registers of deeds are cut about fifteen
per cent, justices of the peace and pro-
bate judges twenty per cent In the
register of deeds office mortgages and
deeds are reduced from 81 to 80 cents
Another general reduction is in the
mileage for witnesses, which is changed
from ten to five cents per mile.
Lyon county Is an example OF the
counties which suffer the most. In it
the county clerk is cut $500, treasurer
$1,40O, superintendent of instruction
$500, county attorney remains the same,
while the other officers are reduced
about fifteen per cent
In Shawnee county there are few re-
ductions. The county clerk is reduced
$500, county superintendent 5000, trea.
surer and county attorney remain the
same, while the fee officers are reduced
fifteen per cent