The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-04-12

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exercises it or draws its emoluments.
| The Legislature had power to abolish
/ it and it has done so in unmistakable
Language, and we must take it that tn Y
/ have done so in good faith, Wood VS.
! Bellamy says the officer is entitled $50
/ long as the Office exists not SO long
as the same duties must be performed
! by some one IN some way. The duties
of management remain and the Iegisla-
ture has apportiomed those duties as it
! thought best. If the office of sirperinten-
dent is necessarily beyond humiliation
unless the penitentiary itself is annihila-
| ted, where was it in hiding from 1879
to 1888? There is a wide distinction
between the office of superintendent
with certain fixed duties prescribed by
| the Legislature which cannot be taken
from the incumbent as long as the office
| is continued Tor il it is only colorab.y
not truly abolished and the duties of
managing the penitentiary which remain
substantially the same under every form
of government, however much the Leg
iislature as representatives OF tine soyer-
eign people may change the method OF
the government. The functions of gov
eminent remain substantially the same
under ans absolute monarchy in Russia
as in FIRE country like ours. but should
Russia come to be administered by the
elected representatives of its people, the
office of Gar would cease to exist. The
powers and duties Of absolute sover
eighty would remain.
BY the Act CT 1897, chapter 219,
creating The office of Superintendent OF
the States Prison under wfioia the de-
| PENDANT claims, there was a board OF
nine directors, who had (section - gen
eral supervision of the States Prison or
| Penitentiary and of the employment of
| all convicts sentenced to imprisonment
/ therein by the courts of the State" Then
| by section 4 there was created a middle
man. a superintendent, with large powers
which he was to exercise under the
general supervision of the directors as
! provided by section ,, including tho
lpower to appoint al Subordinatgs d69 in
number. it seemsl and fix their salaries,
lbnt his appointments and adjustment of
salaries We're subject to approval or re-
| lection by the board 'tsection q and he
was required to make itemized reports
which We're subject to their approval,
and he was allowed q salary of $500
| The experience of this system of gov
eminent not having made it acceptable
| to the Legislature, the Act of 1899 abol-
/ ished the middle-man and his salary of
$1,000, and required the board of direc-
tors to govern the penitentiary by di-
rect contact with the subordinates and
not. as under the Act of 1897. through
4 the mediums OF a superintendent with
powers prescribed by the Legislature
not to be changed by the board and he
himself not removable by them. No
such office or powers now exist. The
Board of Directors are to appoint all
sIlbordinates themselves and fix their
salaries in the first place, and discharge
all other duties of general supervision
directly instead of at second hand, by
approving or rejecting the appointments,
actions and rerorts CT a superintendent,
as under the Act of 1857. Thu office
of middle-lnan or superintendent having
lproved expensive and unnecessary (W0od
| VS.. Bellamy SUPRA the Legislature in its
wisdom abolished it, and no vtstige of it
lrcmains. 1t Is true the penitentary must
| be governed but not necessarily by
superintendent. 1t is none the less abol-
| ishud because the board shall discharge
| their Duties hereafter directly instead
lof supervising the discharge of them
| through superintendent To provide
| for the increased burden of direct super
vision the board was increased from nine
/ to twenty-one, and an executive commit
tee of three was provided to be selected
| by the board among its own members,
who are to meet twice q month, 10 act
for and in behalf of the full board be-
tween its sessions, with its acts subject
| to approval by the full board. In all this,
| there is surely no Indication that there
| has been any subteTfuge practiced by the
/ office OF superintendent is still in exis-
ltenoe. If we were disposed - charge
| a coordinate department. with subtcr-
fuge, we muss recall that there sat
| in that body ifty-five lawyers, among
| them many of the most eminent mem-
bers Of the profession. thoroughly ac-
quainted with the decisions of The courts.
and there if there had been subterfuge
lit was not umintentional but Deliberate
/ Certainly it does not appear npc, the
| face Of the Statute, and we cannot pre-
sumo bad intentions in the l. gislature
Angle vs.. Railroad Company, 151 L. S:
| Is. In Wood VS.. Bellamy. The Act on
Its face was an amendato~y Act. end
| There was no subterfnge but simply a
naive attempt to vacate Offices by mere
| ~ changing their titles. The court held
That would not do. and the Legislurure
OF 1899 had knowledge thar nofhing lcSs
| than an actual abolition Of an offce
would vacate it. The office Of snperia-
tendent is. not only expressly abolished
but, as above said, las worry existence is
homeopathic with he very essence of
| tha new government prescribed, which
Is by the board itself without any i'll
| termediate, as heretofore. - make con-
| tracts, appointments and REGULATE ms.
| ut is not the case of ''thG same old
horse under new blanket" Admittedly,
the Legislature had power to abolish
| this office 1t could not possibly have
done so more completely, unlsss it had
Iabolshed the penitentiary itself.
lf because. tae penitentiary must CON
| tinue' to be managed. the office of one
who formerly discharged some of the
functions of management cannot be
abolished, then if he had been charged
with the full and entire management
| ne could not be touched during his
term, however long. since those functions
would necessarily be performed by those
placed in charge, and the unbroken line
| of decisions that all offices created by
| the LEGISLATURE can hp 1holiShad bv