The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1898-04-21
LUX OUT FOR JOBS.
Shady Measures Pushed at
Close of Session.
TWO SUSPICIOUS MEASURES.
Lawyers Lootine the Treasury-war and
Politics - Locating the "Expo."
Abandoning the Muskrat.
Easy on Railroads.

Columbus, o., April 2O.-[special.1-
The defeat of the Long bill to make
the terms of all mayors of the state
four years was creditable thing to
the senate. The bare proposition to
change the length of mayors terms
either by shortening or lengthening
them would not be an improper one
to consider, but framed as this bill
was, to give to mayors now elected,
by legislative act, additional time of
holding Office, there was good reason
for believing that there was little or
no reform in 1t. There were good
grounds, indeed, for suspecting it a
Job, and this suspicion was strength
sned By the fact that the senator's who
were pushing the bill wanted it post
poned after the senate had struck out
the Objectionable feature and provided
that 1t should not apply to the terms
Of mayors now In Office. There is too
much legislation whose real object is
to give officials more time to serve
without being elected to 1t. The su-
preme court opened door for crooked
ness when 1t held that the term of an
ofIlcial could be extended under GER
tain circumstances by legislative act,
which is made use of at every session
Of the legislature.
Hands Out of the Treasury.
The fact that ex-Attorney General
John X. Richards has asked that there
be inserted in the appropriation bill
for 1899 an item giving him $4,000
as q fee for legal services for the
state, in the litigation over the excise
tax laws, has led to an investigation
Of the work done by him as An attor-
ney for the state since his retirement
from the Office of attorney general in
lS9e, with the result that 1t has been
discovered that in that time the
amount he has drawn for such serv-
ices, added to the further amount to
which he now lays claim, makes near
ly $4,000 1t will be generally admit
ted that Mr.. Richards is a man of
rather more than ordinary ability and
could do fair law practice wherever
the services of an attorney are in de-
mand, but there are scores of such
attorneys that do not make so much
money as he has claimed in these two
years in a whole lifetime. In these
times, when the value Of money has
been going up, and the value of other
things down, 1t would be a good time
TO scale professional charges down a
little too, and particularly fees for
such services as these.
1t has resulted chiefly from Rich
ards tenacity to his pulls" with the
the state Of Ohio, that a law has just
been passed known as the McKinnon
act, which will hereafter make it i'm
possible for any lawyer to fasten his
tentacles upon the state in this way.
A break has occurred between the at
torney general and Mr.. Richards, and
Mr.. Monnett is the real author of the
MeKinnon law. Attorneys who work
for the state hereafter and expect pay
for 1t must be retained by the attorney
general himself, and the retention for
the service must have the special ap-
proval of both the governor and the
auditor Of state. The general charge
over the matter of employing addi-
tiona counsel for the state has, in
short been placed in the hands of the
attorney general, whore it should be,
and attorney friends of the heads of
state departments will no longer be
able to act in such capacity in spite
OF the wish Of the legal head of the
state department Of law.
1t was generally supposed that when
Mr.. Richards went to Washington to
accept the remunerative Office of So
licitor general of the United States,
salary $500 per annum, he would re-
sign the office of attorney general for
the state medical board, but he has
not done so, and when he was here
only last week he drew an installment
Of his annual salary of 81 900 as such
attorney. Quite nice little snap, but
that will be the last unless he and
other attorneys who have been living
off the state in the same way for a
long time can have the McKinnon act
set aside.
War and Politics.
Probably no persons view the ap-
preaching war with more regret on
purely personal grounds than those
who have arranged to be candidates
for Office next fall. A war is one of
the most disturbing elements known
to politics, and going into politics
while 1t is pending is like putting out
to sea without a compass II the
brush" with Spain comes, as come it
must now, 1t seems, look out for some
uDssts in Ohio political situations,
state, county and municipal.