The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-01-28
COMMISSIONERS
ARE DENOUNCED
County Employees Resent the
Revived Eight-hour Law.
SAY 1T CAN'T BE ENFORCED
LAWYERS CONTEND BOARD CAN
BE ENJoINED By COURTS.

The gale of yesterday and last night
was a gentle spring zephyr os COM
pared with the wave of indignation
which swept over the joint building
yesterday when the county officials
and attaches of the various offices read
the article in The Herald stating that
the board of county commissioners
had revived the old rule compelling
county officials and clerks to perform
eight hours of actual labor each day.
The outbursts of indignation from
the women clerks resembled claps of
thunder during an electrical storm. The
smothered oaths of the men reminded
one of rumbling thunder in the dis
lance. The Spiteful things said about
the commissioners, which were uttered
in true feminine style, sounded like
sharp cracks of electrical bolts during
summer storm
If the left ears Of the county COM
missiOners did not first turn red, then
begin to Jingle. and finally burn. owing
to the sarcastic remarks passed about
them throughout the day, it was be
cause the commissioners are now so
thoroughly used to such things that
they have became calloused.
Say Authority Is Exceeded.
There is a sentiment amoung county
officials and many attorneys that the
commissioners have overstepped their
authority when they say that county
employees shall perform eight hours
work every day
The statutes provide that the county
Offices in counties having a population
above 10000 shall remain open eight
hours day There are no provisions
compelling the official to keep open
after o'clock in the afternoon. If a
county officer chooses to close his Of
flee promptly at o'clock in the after
noon, how the commissioners are going
to enforce their eight-hour rule re-
mains to be seen, especially as the law
says the offices shall not be open for
business before 8 o'clock in the morn
ing.
That makes a day of eight hours
When an hour is deducted for lunch
con the clerks and officials can then
only perform seven hours a day How
the commissioners expect to get in the
extra hour remains TO be seen. accord
ing to the trend of general comment in
the joint building yesterday.
Statutory Provisions.
The section of the statutes regulat-
ing the hours during which county Of
fees shall remain open for business is
No. 54S, in the revised edition. under
the caption: "COunties-Ofhcers. 1t
reads as follows:
The clerks, recorders and treasurers
OF all counties, and, except in counties
having d population of less than 5000,
all other county officers. must have
their offices at the county seats; and
in counties having a population of 20,
GOO and over, the clerk, sheriff, recorder,
auditor, treasurer and attorney must
keep their Offices open for the trans
action of business from 9 o'clock a m.
until 3 o'clock D. M
= One county official was informed yes
terday by several competent attorneys
that the county commissioners cannot
enforce their rule: that if they attempt
to compel the clerks to work an hour
earlier in the morning or later than the
hours which the office is open, they can
be enjoined by the courts