The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-06-10

those officers of the State. There can,
therefore. be no impropriety in IN pproyid-
ments of the Court shall be applied to
the cost of the judicial system, This
would include an abolition of the fee
system. SO far as that system determines
the compensation to be received by the
clerk. All fees should be collected for
the State. and all officers should be sal,
to add to the evil.
The fee system should be rooted, out.
To secure its abolition / introduced an
amendment to the Constitution when.
acting as member of the Constitutional
Commission of 1894, and when this prop
osition was. rejected by that commission,
called as a witness by the Senate Inves-,
tigating Committee Mr.. Corbfn suggested
that placing the clerks of the courts g. on
salary might. interfere with their EN-.
cheney The idea to me was novel one
and invited an assent, which | gave.
WHOLLY WITHOUT MERIT. a
Further consideration, Mr.. McDermott
says. has convinced him that this argu-
ment IN favor of a continuance OF the
fee system is wholly without merit
stance, is under the control of the Court
of Chancery, and it's efficient manage
Court There IS not any reason why
the Clerk in Chancery should not re-
ceive. a salary, and all fees now , re-
the the s. State t m Treasurer.'' The same is, in
his his opinion. true Of the Clerk of the Su-
preme Court, and for that matter, ef az
respective counties: He goes on:
While it would be manifestly unfair 70
interfere with the compensation reeetlvea ftsa
is not a. good reason why general deSls-
lation should not be enacted, nxlng
salaries for future holders. As to county
found necessary to formulate proper leg
islation, but as the clerkships OF the ou-
preme Court and the Court Of ChanSeery, Seisy
mittee will be found amply sufficient 10
guide to proper legislation.
INCOME OF THE OF oFFIGE. eT J.,
Chancery last year amounted to about
$4,000; those received by, the aol ClerR do6 ot
the Supreme Court to about S27,O A
services rendered in previous years, but
the business of these offices will increase
SO that during the terms of the, next m
cumbents the figures gwen may be safely
taken as approximating the annual re-
venues. While the business of these
offices will increase, the services per
more burdensome If the litigation in the
Court of Chancery should be doubled l
would not, as clerk, be. called upon to
perform any greater labor than is de-
voIyed by the present business except as
such additional labor would be found In
the employment OF a larger clerlcal iolse
or IN formally ScrdtCN-uS lioAS oi5iie'-
The salary of the Secretary of State is
fixed at $4,000. and he is certainly called
upon to render more service than the
Clerk in Chancery. The Attorney -Gener-
aPs salary is fixed at $1,000. If the ser
vices of the Clerk in Chancery are worth
S16, 900 a year, the standard by which they
would be so adjudged would fix the salary
ef the Acknowledgement at about the
entire revenue of the State.
THE PROPOSED SALARY ENOUGH.
1 believe that a salary of $1,000 would
secure the performance of all the SER
vices necessary from the Clerk of Chan
the slightest interfering with the efficient
management of the office. net at least
10000 year by fixing the salary at that
amount and requiring the clerk to pay
all fees collected by him into the State
Treasury A similar proposition being
Court, the State can derive from these
two offices. additional revenue amounting
to about $50, 600 a year. This revenue will
increase annually if proper laws are
entced to compel the collection of the
fees.
State for judicial services is SO small as
to present annually, very large def
ciencv in that part of the State budget
devoted to judicial expenses, the proprie-
ty of making the sala~ied offices men
toned and adding the excess of fees to
the State revenues is self-evident.
Mr.. McDermott concludes:
'The amount annually gained to the
State would exceed the average amount
which will be gained by the proposed
change in the. method OF. publishing the
laws and be in excess of the total saw
by the Senate Committee and affecting
tba salaries of State pmDlOVeSp