The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-07
THE NEW COUNTY OFFICERS.
HAVE FILED THEIR BONDS AND
TAKEN THEIR oATHS.

TO Give the County and state.
Two of Them 100000 and Another
S73,OOO-The Ordinary's the SMALL
est Bond-The Commissioners OBJ
feet to Paying So Much to Clerks
and Managers of ElecttOns-They
VIII Discuss the Matter Before
They Pay the Last Bill.
The county commissioners held short
but quite an interesting meeting yester-
day. They did two things: Swore IN all
the new county officers and qualified them,
and then discussed the fees of managers
and clerks of elections with a view to de-
creasing them, If there is any way IN
which they can do it. and it appears they
have the power.
The new county officers who were re-
ouired to file their bonds and qualify with
in thirty days after the election, did so
before the board in the following order:
County Treasurer Waring Russell, Coun-
ty Surveyor E. J. Thomas, Clerk of ihe
Superior Court j. X. p. Carr, Sheriff John
T. Roman, Tax Receiver John r. Dillon
Coroner John A. Goette and Tax Collec'
tor J. J. MCGOWAN.
special oath applying particularly to mis-
office, and requiring him to perform all
duties in connection with it according to
the laws of the state. Then followed the
general OATH which is taken by each OF
the county officers, to the effect that he is
not the holder of any public funds which
are unaccounted for; that he is not the
holder of any Office under the United
States except postmaster, nor the holder
of any office under this state, or foreign
state, and that he is otherwise qualified
by the constitution of the state to hold
the office.
The county commissioners also approved
the bonds of each of the county ofhcers
sworn in before them. The county treas
urer gives the largest bond of all 100000.
He is the officer of the county who handles
the largest amount of the county's funds,
and who, perhaps, on this account has the
greatest amount of responsibility.
The next largest single bond is that of
the receiver of tax returns, which Is $4,000
in amount and which is given only to the
state. The tax receiver gives no bond to
the county. The bond of the tax receiver
was formerly $500, but was increased to
the large amount stated just after the war
the object being to keep undesirable people
out of the Office. There is no particular
reason why the amount of his bond should
be so large, as he handles none of the
county's money nor the states money.
but only agrees to see that all parties
make the proper returns.
The tax collector in fact, gives a larger
bond than does the receiver of tax re-
turns, but 1t is two bonds instead of one.
He gives the county one bond of $4,000,
and the state another of the same
ofFrsf L f44o Of al If
his services are rendered both to the
county and the state in the handling Of
funds, and this rs the reason why both
require bond. 1t was formerly the case
that the tax collector gave bond of $780,
COO both to the state and to the county,
hut now that he makes weekly returns
instead of making them all at once, as
was formerly the case, the amount of the
bond has been reduced. This was done
only a few years ago.
The bonds of the sheriff and of the
clerk of the superior court are $4,000 each,
and those of the coroner and county sur
veyor are 5000 each. The bond of the
ordinary is the smallest of that of any
county officer, being only $1,000.
Judge Hampton l.. Ferrill qualified as
ordinary for his new term yesterday, but
1t was before Judge Robert Falligant Of
the superior court. Judge Falligant, who
has been quite i'll, was considerably bet
ter, ana as ne ndu only one more udy III
which to take his oath and have his bond
approved, Judge Ferrin went to Judge
Falligants residence and took the oath
there. Judge Ferrill is the only one OF
the county officers whose term is four
years instead Of two.
The law requires that all of the county
officers shall be qualified within thirty
days after the election, but the new law
which changed the time of holding the
elections made no difference with their
terms of office. In other words the terms
of the newly elected officers do not begin
until Jan. l. as is provided in the code.
After attending to the matter of swear
ing in the county officers, the commission
ers entered into some discussion of the
salaries OF clerks and managers of elec-
tions. Chairman Dale was of the opin-
ion that the county had been paying tlese
men too much. 1t seems that by GUS
tom long established the clerks have been
paid s. a day, and the managers $40 for
the elections at which they served The
bill for the managers and clerks of the
last election had just come in, and this
is what brought the subject up.
Chairman Dale stated that in Augusta
both managers and clerks were paid only
50 each, while in Randolph county there
is a special law under which the clerks
in the city districts are paid 81 a day, and
in the country precincts 81 a day. Ac-
cordlng to the opinion of the county at
lotHey the county commissioners nave
the right TO fix the compensation for the
clerks and managers of the election.
The commissioners were all inclined TO
the belief that they were paying too much
for the management of elections, and it
may be that there villa be a cut in wages.
Chairman Dale stated that the county nad
spent about $3.50 on the state and cOun-
ty election, and did not have enough left
on the budget to pay the expenses of that
election which has just passed Besides
this, there is likely to be two more cleo
tons this year, he said, and the election
business, he thought, was costing the
county altogether TOO much. In the next
place the county has not the money to
pay its expenses just at present, because
the taxes have not been collected at a
very rapid rate.
The commissioners, after discussing the
matter along this line, decided TO defer
the question until they had a full board,
there being present only Commissioner
Dale Chaplin and Kehoe They are salts
fled, however, that there should be some
change in the rate at which managers
and clerks of elections are to be paid, but
10