The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-01-27
JUDGES USE
FREE PASSES
Major Young Tells Legislators Of
LamentabIe Practice.
FAvoRS EXPENSE ALLOWANCE
DISTRICT ATTORNEYS URGE
PERPETUATIoN OF OFFICES.

put in bills for mileage was told to |
members of the legislature yesterday
by Major Richard w. Young member
Of a special committee of the Utah Bar
association. The committee of attor-
neys appeared before a joint session of
the judiciary and salaries committees
of both houses on behalf of legislation
the bar association wishes to see en-
acted.
Raising the salaries of the supreme
and district judges, and payment of ex-
penses instead Of mileage to the county
district judges. were advocated. Three
district attorneys appeared in conjunc-
ton with the bar association commit
tee and protested against the proposed
abolition of the Office Of dis let attOr-
ney. Two of the three insisted that
their motives were disinterested, as
they were not candidates for re-elec-
ton.
1T is q well known fact that judges
of the state do not pay fare on the rail-
roads," declared Major Young in his
address. This is to be lamented by
every right-minded citizen. This prac-
tice is particularly deplorable when il
is remembered that the judges are paid
mileage by the state.
Opposes Indirect Payments.
THE mileage allowance, however,
does not defray the judges actual ex-
penses, in spite of the fact railroad
fare costs them nothing. Legislation
should be enacted allowing the judges
the amount of their expenses, incurred
in their travels from county TO county
The judges should be reimbursed in an
above-board manner, instead of indi-
rectly through a mileage allowance.
Then there would be no object for them
to accept free transportation. as the
h. n 7~eair So
the actual amounts spent in car fare
as well as for hotel and other reason
able and legitimate expenses"
Ought there not to be a limit to an
expense account?" asked one OF the
senators.
There is no limit placed upon the
expenses which may be incurred by the
governor and members of his boards
replied Major Young. The trouble
with such a limit would be that it
might be construed as a license, and
the official would try to spend the full
regulating his expenses by considera-
tons OF economy. 1t has been the ex-
perience that the practice has been less
costly where no limit has been fixed"
High Salaries For City Jurists
Major Young also earnestly advo-
Gated raising the judges salaries, as
did Judge Andrew Howat and Judge
Charles S. Varian, also spokesman for
the committee. A salary of $1,000 a year
for the justices of the supreme court
of $4.500 for the judges of the Salt Lake
district. $4,000 for the judge of the Og-
den district and $500 for the judges Of
the remaining districts was advocated.
Discussion arose as to whether the
Salt Lake jurists ought to be paid more
than the country judiciary.
1.-The best lawyers go to the city be-
cause there is not enough inducement
for them 20 remain in the smaller
towns declared Senator Gardner. IF
you discriminate against the country
judgeships in the matter of salary, you
make it just so much less of an object
for a good lawyer to remain away from
town. The cases decided in the country
are of the same magnitude as those
adjudicated in the city No class of lit
igation is Of greater Importance than
that pertaining TO irrigation, and al
most all of that comes before the coun-
try Judge When a man is being pros
ecuted for murder he hires the best
city talent to defend him, and unless
the judge is a good one the chances
are the prisoner viii get free, no matter
how guilty he may be. The country
judge works harder and has longer
hours than does the city judge, for he
must spend a large part of his time in
travel, much of which is more exhaust
ing than work on the bench. If any
judge were entitled to a larger salary,
il should be the country Judge"
Major Young cited the fact that New
York, Chicago and San Francisco pay
their judges salaries far in excess of
those paid to the country judges in
New York state Illinois and California,
respectively.
Judges Have Human Instincts.
With reference to the general ques-
ton Of raising salaries, Judge Varian
said TO the legislators:
Surely this much must be conceded
Men occupying judicial station should
at least be put in as fair a position in
life as are men of similar ability who
have the opportunities a judge is de-
prived Of. 1t is hardly just to expec+
judge to merely live. Judges, like
other men, are animated by the desire
to provide for their families and lay
aside something against adversely IN
declining years. Sooner or later the
Judge has TO step down from the bench.
He finds he has spent his years away
from the world, which has been NOV
ing on and leaving him behind. He
finds that his practice, to which he
might have been adding and which he
might have been cementing about him,
has gone TO other lawyers. and that he
must begin life almost anew. If he has
truly observed the proprieJies Of the
judicial station he has kept himself
Tree from business euLduSlelUtnlSs dIu
in all probability has accumulated lit
tie or no capital. The lawyer whom the
community invites to the bench should
be paid a compensation commensurate
with the necessities and dignity of his
office and liberal enough so he can lay
something by for the future day"
Only Twelve of TWenty-seVen-
Dennis @. Eichnor, district attorney
OF Salt Lake county, was the frs
spokesman on behalf of the district at
torney's Office.
There are twenty-seven counties in
Utah." said he, land of that number
fifteen have never been admitted to the
bar. Were it not for the district attor.
neys the smaller counties could moi
prosecute criminals with even a small
measure of success. The district at
torney is able to concentrate his en-
ergy on these criminal prosecutions
The county attorney has so much 10 do
in attending to the law business of the
county and in appearing at preliminary
hearings that ne cannot give the Grim
inal cases the concentrated attention
they require"
w D. Livingston. district attorney o.
the Sanpete district, prefaced his re
marks by a declaration that he is no
and will not be a candidate for re-elec
ton. barring the possibility of added