The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1899-09-23

: minority are in hopeful majority
And maybe they are all good. VIII
knows? Are there any better me-
: in this parish than Hon. r. c
Landry, Col. G. G. Brown, Alfre,
Hebert. Martial Billeaud, Jr, Joh1
Wilmington, Alonzo Lacey? 1t i
very true Messrs. Avant and Pri
meaux have been charged witt
some irregularities in connection
with their official duties, but undo
our constitution every man is pre-
sumed innocent until proven guilty
The Gazette trusts that at the proper
time these two members of the
Jury will be vindicated We
hope SO for their own sake and fol-
the good name of our parish TIC
be frank The Gazette thinks i,
would be hard to select a Police
Jury that would, as a whole, more
unreservedly enjoy the confidence
of the people Of the parish than do
the present members of that body
opSdN'HS OF tne SnerltI S once,
Er. Girard says:
''The sheriff gets salary of $4,000 fixed
and established He gets paid for the feed
ing of prisoners and SO far my observation
goes, that amounts to something like $500 a
month or more, or nearly $4,000 year, to-
gether with the expenses of the Jail, quilts
blankets, and what-not which it up to
nearly 100000. His commission on col
lections of taxes runs up from $4,000
to $4,000. The commission licenses
must be something in the neighborhood of
$4,000 And here is $1,000. 90 per annum
that goes into the sneriff's office and iail
1t is not to- be wondered at then that there
is no money!
AS the exact size of the sheriff's
salary has never worried US we do
not know how large it is. We have
always considered that officer to be
a sensible man and as he is not pos
ing as philanthropist just now we
have no doubt that he receives
what the law acCords him. If he
were an angel or saint he might
donate his salary to the State, but
as we have not the remotest suspi-
cion that he is either, we presume
that he takes sswhat the law allows. !"
But Mr.. Girard's figures are mis-
leading. We do not believe they
are Intentionally SO, but they are,
nevertheless. According to his fig
ures the sheriff's office and Jail cost
the parish $1,000. But it should
not escape anyone's mind that out
of this amount the sheriff must feed |
the prisoners; that he must pay
man to attend to the Jail; that he
must engage the services of a com
petent and reliable collector to
whom he pays handsome salary;
that he must have the assistance Of
several deputies; that he must run
Down CRIMINALS; that he must bear
he expenses of conveying prisoners
% Baton Rouge; that he must take
nterdicted persons to the asylum
md that there are innumerable
other demands made upon his ex-
:hequer that he is compelled to
meet in the conduct of his office.
The Gazette submits the forego-
ng remarks with no other purpose
n view than to bring out the facts
there is no desire on the part Of
his paper to be unfair TO anyone.
We believe Mr.. Glrard has erred in
is speech at Falk's hall and we
ave endeavored t" point out his
rrOrs in an unbiased manner We ,
elleve that our contentious ,an
tand the searchlight of a free and
pen discussion and we offer our ,
olumns to Mr.. Girard or to any +
Their reputable citizen who wishes
, combat anything that we have a
aid.
Mess 1Hanza,'cy is the pace to
NY high school books, pencils, +
1aNc