Ladysmith news. [volume] (Ladysmith, Wis.) 1906-1907, 1906-08-25
WHAT ARE The FACTS
D. w. Maloney Shows the Ring Ad-
vocates of Graft Where the
Facts Are.

/ over a column, with a plentiful supply
! of capitals, the Tony Enterprise at
tempts to prove that we have mis-
1 quoted the law and have misstated mat
ters generally We should and do feel
4 grateful to the Enterprise for this
article, for it calls our attention to
Isome things in our other article that
| might possibly be misunderstood
The Enterprise scores US for saying
that it is tn duty Of the district attor-
ney to examine all officers claims,
while as matter of fact it is only
claims for fees in criminal actions and
examinations which it is his duty to ex-
anime. We cannot take space to re-
produce the article which is challenged,
but our readers will remember that we
mentioned sheriff fees being charged
at 10 cents a mile instead of $500 per
day, most of these being in criminal
actions, a class of claims which the
Enterprise admits is required to be ex-
amined by the district attorney and
written report made. Following this
we referred to the section Of the law
setting forth the duty of the district
attorney. We did not quote the law at
all, as charged by the Enterprise, and
we meant simply to refer to the district
attorneys duties regarding the class OF
claims under discussion. As to that
SASS of claims the Enterprise admits
the duty of the district attorney to ex-
anime and report on the legality there
of, so what is Bro Richardson roaring
so about?
Admitting the duty of, the district
attorney to examine and report on
claims for officers fees in criminal
cases, the Enterprise attempts to show
that the ten cent mile rate is fair and
legal, and quotes the law regarding
transportation of prisoners to the state
prison, providing for reasonable
sum as shall be. fair compensation for
the time necessary spent in transport
ing such prisoner. : It asks: What
is there in this, pray, to prevent the
/, 8 SAsnty board from allowing the sheriff
ten cents per mile in lieu of fees and
expenses, in other words as fair COM
pensation?" Perhaps there is nothing
to prevent the county board doing this,
but the supreme court has decided that
| it is illegal, and it was the duty of the
district attorney to inform the board
on the matter.
In the case of Northern Trust Co. VS..
Snyder, 113 Wis. SIG, the supreme court
discussed at some length the matter of
fees for executing commitments to the
state prison, and decided that pay must
be computed on per diem and not on
mileage basis, and decided further
that the legal rate is $500 per day,
Subject to variance in executing COM
mitments to the state prison upon a
showing indicating that the perfor-
nance of that service was more than
ordinarily burdensome.
In this case the court say: "The
statutes clearly indicate legislative
purpose that for taking persons to the
charitable or penal institutions of the
state sheriff shall be compensated
for his personal services on the basis
of time actually and necessarily occu-
pied by him in the performance of such
service, and that the rate of compensa-
ton shall be SIS per day and expenses.
The time basis is mandatory in all
cases.
It.has been claimed by some that the
SIS day rate woul amount to as much
as 10 cents mile, because 8 hours
should be called day. The court in
this same case say: "A day means a
calendar day in all cases where t: e
statute merely provides for compensa-
tion at certain Or a reasonable sum
per day. !"
AS above quoted, the court holds that
pay in excess of SIS per day might be al
lowed where the service is more than or
darby burdensome. Naturally it would
be worth more to transport desperate
than an ordinary criminal, but there
have been no such cases in this co lnty.
/ To recapitulate: the Enterprise ad-
admits the duty of the district attorney
to examine and report on execution OF
commitments to state prison and that
ii o objection was made to the 10 cent
a mile charge; the supreme court holds
that payment must be computed on
per diem basis, not to exceed $5 pei
day unless extraordinarily burdensome,
and none of our cases were out OF the
ordinary, and further holds that day
| is calendar day, "a hours; the 10 cent
a mile rate exceeds SIS per calendar day
Did the distdict attorney perform MS
duty?
/ We might remark in closing that We
know of no law prohibiting the dlstrlc
| attorney from examining any and all
claims containing an element OF graf