The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-06

ana just rule: but today we have . 5ssst | and proper grond upon which to base c | uniform rule for the salary of tho Clerk of the Spremh Court.
 Mir. Macdonald-Can you state with any approximate accuracy how many cases are appealed to the Supreme Court every year, and is there any dif- ference and uncertainty between the | officer of the Supreme Court and that 1 Of a Registrar or Clerk or Sheri6, og l any other officer of court, and h1W l would you fix the fee or salary. Mir. Ashcraft--I dare say that If VI put this proposition in here, the Leg- | islature will fix the salary of the Clerk l of the Supreme Court about like it fixes the salary of the Secretary of State or the Attorney General, or the Treasurer or Auditor or any other stafs officer. They receive fees but they gof into the Treasury. It has been sug- gested that 1t would not be proper for us to collect fees and turn them into l the Treasury. If we could find out the exact amount of fees that would cover | the salary 1t might be proper to ad- | just 1t in that way. but there can be | nokins improper in turning an excess | of fees into the Treasury, besides, it | doesn't take the fees from the liti- gants for other purposes, because the State already retains a judiciary by l paying a salary, and the fees would be | used in some sense to recompense the | State for the salary it pays the Jus | tiees.
 M;. Jones (Haie) was recognized by the Chair.
 MT. oates-I hope the gentleman will | suspend moment. wish to make . motion that will not consume any time. I move that the privileges of the floor of the Convention be tend- cred to the Hon. Lewis W. Turpin. who served with distinction for several terms in Congress. The motion was unanimously adopted. Mr. Ashcraft-I was granted the
 floor on condition that - gentleman to renew his motion to table, and regret very much that overlooked it and I request that he should have the floor.
 | Mir. Jones (Hale) was recognized by the Chair.
 The President pro tem-The Chair has recognized the gentleman from l Hale.
 MT. Jones (Hale)-I have heard a
 great many silly arguments. but the
 silliest of all Is that litigants are not
 people Are they not the people of
 Alabama? That Is one argument, that l litigants in Alabama in civil or crinni-
 nal cases are not people. Why are they
 not people? And are they not inter-
 ested in keeping dowa the fees as
 much as anybody else?
 l Then another argument has been
 used that the secrets between the Su-
 preme Court and the clerk should be | kept between themselves. Are we
 electing the Supreme Court Judges and ;
 the clerk to get up there and keep 1 the SupIem Court secrets? What se- crets have they between them?
 would like to know, and the people of Alabama would like to know. T know
 of none. There are two arguments
 made against the election of the clerk by the people. How does 1t come that
 we elect the Supreme Court Judges, the Chancellors and all other officers. and yet we cannot. afford to elect cieri- cal officer by the people? Why should we pay him in fees and emoluments l three times as large as the Supreme | Court Justice gets? It Is an outrage.
 and might say an injustice on the Supreme Court of Alabama to give the
 clerk three times as much.
 Mir. Sanford (Montgomery)-wh Is | your authority for saying he gets three
 times as much as the Judge of the Su- preme Court?
 Mir. Jones--My authority Is Mr. Sterl- ing Wood of Birmingham. I was a
 member of the Judiciary Committee and was informed he received 5000
 a year while clerk.
 MT. sanford-I don't knowSwhat he
 got. but some of his fees. they said. were not proper.
 Mir. Jones-There may be lots of them
 that were not proper. but if you put
 them on salary there will be no ira- proper fees.
 MT. Graham CTallad sga)-He got them
 whether they were improper or not.
 MT. Jones-The idea is to cut down
 the fees of litigants in Alabama. And
 another thing Is that we do not want
 any life time tenure of office. Under
 the plan adopted by the Judiciary Cor1-
 mittee. where the majority holds over.
 when a Supreme Court clerk stands ia
 with the majority of them (and don't
 you know the clerk stands in with
 them?), when are you going to oust
 them? You will never oust him in a
 lifetime. I hear a great deal of talk
 about the barefoot girl and the bare
 foot boy. Let the barefoot boy and | the barefoot girl come up here and vote
 on this question. We don't want any
 lobbying here, but let them come up
 and vote on it. Why do you elect every
 body else? If you can elect judiciary officer who passes on legal question,
 why can't you elect a ministerial of- | ficer who writes out the votes and mirl-
 utes of the court? I pause for an an-
 swer to that question. When you em-
 ploy clerk to work in your store. do
 you tell him. will pay you a commits
 sion or salary? What do you tell
 him? What is the difference! see
 no difference. I just wished to sub-
 init these few remarks in refard to what think is the sill!est proposition
 ever submitted to this Convention. MT. Stamford (Pike)-The question as
 to the election of the clerk of the Su-
 preme Court has already been settled. Mir. Jones-Yes, and I am going to
 make a motion to reconsider tor1or- row.
 Mir. Sanford (Pfke)--Did you vote in
 the proper way to do that? The ques- ton now before the Convention Is whether or not the Constitution shali
 fix or shall prescribe that the clerk of the Supreme Court shall receive a sal- ary The only argument that has been ! advanced that has any force in 1t at all, is the bare statement by the gentle
 man In favor of the opposition that the clerk of the Supreme Court receives greater compensation than one of the | judges of the court. They fail to take into consideration the fact that he
 serves five judges, whose aggregate
 compensation is a gre at deal more than he could expect to get under the fee system Now here is the proposition 111innrifv SEa ii accent.