The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1895-11-24
The Surveyor Has His Office Run at High
Press sre-fioriicuiturai commissien
70 an Expensive Luxury

hou tOuU bbtouEb tuo lckdl 0bueutldio
that 60 to make up an inquest. Now this
may be all right, aud then it may not.
The trut of the matter is that Coroner
Campbell has given the taxpayers OF Los
Angeles county the most expeos.e al.
min istration Of the coroner's Office that
they ever had ur ever will havs again
for long time to come. The coroner has
not only cha ssd his own fees, as the
gra ND jury has declared, but there are
others Ia his office W no have done like wise.
The old saying Of like master, like man,
holds good In this sase.
AN EXPENSIVE OFFICE.
For the nrs. nine month. Of this ysar
1t cost the taxpayers of Los Angeles
comfy $,6S7.9j to run the CORNERS
office. At this rate the Office will cost
over $500 for the ear. .i ,..t
This 10 truly an exorbitant figure. but
it is only an indication of the spirit Of
extrAvag ance that permeates the entire
county government. here 10 brief
reusns OF " at the expense Of the coro-
ner's office has bsen in years gOne by:
le9l.. $3Sa2. 80
1909 ..................... ........ 80 900
!ooo ..'............ ................ 4iaL.-U
iosi. .................... ........... 5o6I.S
1885. 90. go. 1888
It viii b. noted that the cost Of this
branch Of Povernn ent is stead ly incrras-
ing, until il Is now double what it was
In 1851. The work has lot d"u 9led, but
fee-grabhing OFT Gals have sent the ex.'
pense Of the Office to the taxpayers st, I'D
lily skvwarl. rns expeiss f,r 1896 rs 10
tue last three mont IS If the y ar, ia ,e.ti. I
mated. But air aGy for nine months
more money has been drawn bv the cor-
onsr's department than IN any sucoesn-
ing month in the history Of the county.
A FEE GRABBER. &
Tho oornnsr's stenosrapher, J. ". Sum-
merfield. ha, in his POCKETS nancy which
rightfullv beion.s t. te taxpayers Of
this county, ana which shoald he cvverec
back INTO the county treasury.
Coroner Campbell has been having the
testimony OF every inquest taken down
in snorth AMI. Tnsre are cases wi ere it
Is essential and necessary that this
should be dine, but to order it in every
case is Ike throwing nancy away. The
Ia fixes fe s for the stsnographer, bnt 1t
is expressly stated in the statute that IN
this county the fees shall not exceed $3.50
IN any one month. The law ~ lain on
this Joint. and one would think that
every mem Der OF the board OF sui ervisors
would be up on the clause COVERING the
stenOgrapher's salary, but they are not.
the coroner, who Was so anxious to save
the county money that he charged for IN.
quests that he never held, was also ignor.
ant OF the fact that the state law contned
his stenographer' fee.grac bing capacity
to a reasonable limit.
In June MIR. Summerfield's bill was
$lS4.So, and DR.. Campbell KID it. The
board of supervisors ordered IL aid, and
il was paid. In july MIR. Sum mer fell
To- 1T
coroner approving. il Was paid.
CALLED DOWN.
Under date of October 5th, Mr.. Sum.
merheld put in a bill for $lsO.6o for Sep
TEN Der fees. DIR. Campbeii O.k.'d 1t.
The board Of supervisors pressed 1t. Then
Auditor BicKneIi, who is doing his level
best to protect the treas Try, stepped in
and refused to audit the b II on. the
ground that 1t was illegal and called for
an amount OF money larre- than the awl
allowed Tor MIR. Summerf Ids flee.
This created quite little furry. The
board of supervisors Vailed the uill back
from tn. anditor's ufhoa and hell a secret
s.ssion on it. rhe board Cid not act at
oncs, bat celebrated uatil Move m her. In
the meantime Coroner Campo II scratched
out lis 20. X" f,r the $4,000 bill and
marked down hi approval for $3.50. In
paid. T
SO Mr.. summerfield will not get M ore
than $l50 for any single months fees
after this date. However, he has several
dollars th- best Of the taxpayers thus far
on the record Of the year. This he will
undoubtedly make goodwill he?
BOUNCING UP
In 1891 ths stsnog 'apiic work Of the
coroner's office cost S4lS.90, with the IN
tsrpieting thrown in. In five mo tbs
this year the stenographic work alone
cost 500.
To be true those sums appear to be
rather small, but When you have horde
Of fee-gra bb:ng officials and deputy offic-
ials it 'es not taks them long to eat up
treasury surplus.
Tbe illustration OF the wide-gauge
Management that the coronrr's once has
been secriving nm er the pre,ent galaxy
OF OHIO ais VINO dominate every office IN
the court houss is a sampls OF the gov
eminent tho taxpayers are getting. Any
thing that will put a mans hand on q
dollar In the county treasury. and shat
will tighter his grip on the aforesaid dol
VINO ara running things.
SURVEYORS OFFICE
The grand jury 10 giving soms rigid at
'o"'A"" W s"es'u''ryui ouloe' ~ 10 III
these minnr Offices that the schemers
have got in their work this ear. In 1891
the ex enres of the Surveyors Office we're
$l0i3.05. Tiis year the expsn es of thu
surveyors Office will g. over SIS. 100 lhe
surveyor has filled his offre NJ with an
army of relatives. friends and frien of
friends, without regard to the reqIire.
ments Of the public service. This Is the
main reason wny tine surveyors office is
such an expensive ornament for the tax
payers just how.
DEAR BUT USELESS.
1.-THE no ticultur SITS OF Los Angeles
county have soout as much use for the
prescott horticultural comm ission as dog
has for i've legs" said well.known
horticulturist to . Herald representative
yesterday. But to judge from the way