St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-26

The Parker retrenchment committee
| investigated the various offices and de-
| partments OF the city government, but
no like official investigation has ever
| peen made with reference to the county
offices, though it has generally been con-
sidered by the outside world that such
a committee might find fat picking in
this region for few days. A peculiar
| law of the state requires that the coun-
| ty ofhclals shall report annually to
the county auditor and through him to
| the board of county commissioners the
receipts OF their Offices for the previous
year. There is nothing remarkable about
| thlS, but what makes the law peculiar
is the fact that it requires them to only
report gross receipts, without eXpendi-
lures. Following is the language of the
section Of the statute relating to this
matter:
1T shall be the duty of the county officials
on or before the 18th day of January in each
| year. to make and file with the county auditor
| in their respective counties a statement in
| Wfltlng, under. oath, showing the amount of
| all rees, gratuities and emoluments of what
ever nature by them recorded as county Of
ncers, or in connection with the work of their
respective offices, for the calendar year next
preceding the making and filing of such state
ment"
All the officers of Ramsey county.
with the exception of those working
strictly on salary, have complied with
the requirements of that law, but only
one, the Sheriff, has gone further and
reported his expenditures. Therefore,
as regards the others, the county audi
tor, county commissioners and espe-
clally the people at large, are as much
IN the dark as though no report had
been made at all; and, why law re-
quiring such a report as that should
n hxy Iarr r;e-1r
Zles the imagination, much less common
sense All the people know is that the
clerk OF court has received $685. 900 for
conducting his office during the year;
the register of deeds, S13, 900; the county
treasurer, $12,400 and the county audi
tor, $4,000, in round numbers. The alb
stract clerk doesn't count, because the
falling off in real estate deals and the
competition of outside abstract offices
has fried all the fat out of his billet.
The aggregate receipts last year were
only about $1,000, which certainly can
not leave a princely surplus for the
off1ceholder after paying his help.
For the purpose Of furnishing the pub
lie with the lacking information, the
G b has been prosecuting a little
investigation of its own during the last
few days, the results of which are here
given The first office selected was that
of clerk of the court. e. G. Rogers, who
has the distinction Of holding the posi-
ton at the present time, was asked if
he had any objection to furnishing a
statement Of expenses to go with that
of the receipts of his office.
Il have not figured it up yet" re-
piled Mr.. Rogers blandly and then an
innocent smile crept over his face "Of
course you know 1 could tell pretty
near, but that's honest, 1 havn't figured
it up. Let's see, the sheriff made a
statement of his expenses, didn't he,
How much did his office net?'
about $500 according to the state
ment." was the reply.
well, mine will be about the same
els finally. 1T will probably be about
S1O00O."
The reporter then began to do some
figuring for himself. The clerk of court
is allowed six deputies at the expense
of the county, who act as clerks for
the different judges during court The
county pays SO per day for these clerks
but the law provides that the clerk of
court shall receive the money and pay
the deputies himself. so that this
amount is included in his total re-
ceipts for the year. Therefore, in fig
Uring the expense OF his office the sal
aries of these six deputies must be
included. This makes the total number
OF employees permanently in the Office
nine. The average salary Of seven of
these does not exceed SIS per month,
making $4,000 a year, and s., 500 is lib
eral estimate for the other two making
say $4,000 in round numbers as salary
for the permanent employees. In ad-
dition to these, extra help must be en-
ployed for brief periods every now and
then to copy tax lists, and Mr.. Rogers
says he has to have a good deal of
typewriting done. He also claims that
there are some running expenses aside
from salaries.
Well, allowing him the salary Of an
extra clerk, 81 GOO, to pay for the extra
men he has to employ at times, $500
more for his typewriting, and still an
other $500 for expenses aside from sal
aries, the total expenses Of his Office at
that is only $4,000. Mr.. Rogers report