The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1907-01-16

cut down by the connty court whose
luniawfnl acts he was compelled to re-
strain. To base the compensation on
the! population Of counties, it seems
lwould not work Justice, for the amount
LOT work required especially by prose
leuting attorneys does not always de.
Epend upon the amount of population,
lbut sometimes upon the character Of
1.-The population.
!. There Is one class Of public officers
Whose compensation should be fixed,
and should not be paid by fees at all.
These are justices Of the peace. They
belong to the judicial department Of
government. AS the law has been for
many years, these members of the ju.
dietary are subjected to temptation
! which ought not be placed before any
public ofticer. aud especially before a
Judge. The loser Of a suit before a
Justice mast pay the costs, including
the Justices compensation. The plain
tin may be worth nothing and the de.
PENDANT may be a man of means. In
a close case. the justice should not be
tempted TO decide the case against the
defendant for the reason that if'he de.
cides 1t against the plaintiff he can
collect nothing OF Of him. and will
lose his compensation. 1t seems din.
cult, know, to measure the compen.
sation Of these officers In the first
place, 1t might be veil to reduce the
number to one TO each magisteriai dis.
trict. his annual salary to be fixed by
the county court, and require him to
hold his court at stated times and
promptly to hear, and determine all
cases. Let the fees which are now
charged, and which so to the justice
for his compensation, be paid into tho
county treasury. These fees coald be
increased somewhat If it is thought
best.
In the meantime every officer who
receives fees for his own purpose
should be required to make monthly
report thereof. All district and coun.
tty officers should be required to report
monthly to the clerk OF the county
be reported annually by the clerk Of
the Circuit Court, and these should
be reported annually by the clerg Of
the County Court to the Auditor.
These reports in the county Offices,
of course, would be open to the in.
spection of any citizen. The public
has right to know what every officer
receives as compensation; besides this
the knowledge would be useful in FIX.
ing fees to be charged, as well as the
compensation Of the officers. In some
counties some of the county officers
ara now receiving, am informed, com.
pensation many times greater: than
that OF any other public officer OF the
State; many times the compensation
paid to Judge OF the Supreme Court
of Appeals even. While am, in favor
of liberal salaries, yet where there lis
an office or two in a county which pays
anduly large, it leads to corruption, be-
cause many candidates will enter the
list for the Office and each one Of
them will spend great deal of money
in hopes OF getting the prize; and in
the selection of county officers, too.
everything Is made to revolve around
one or two Offices of this kind.
| What l have said about the abolish
ing of the fees and the payment to-
officers Of salaries instead, will also ap-
ply to official court stenographers.
Your attention is called to this sub.
ject by the Auditor IN hts report. For
years the Auditors have been given
much annoyance by the charges OF
stenographers for their services. The
Auditors think they charge too much,
and doubtless the stenographers think
otherwise. am Informed that in the
State OF Missouri they have arrived
at very satisfactory solution Of this
problem. There is attached to eacn
court an official stenographer. who is
paid a yearly salary, and who is re.
qafred to take down in Shorthand ali
evidence and other proceedings OF the
-
court that the Judge requires. and re.
CURED to transcribe such of 1t as the
Judge desires. Doubtless an arrange.
ment of this kind would be satisfac.
tory to the stenograDhers. The an.
nual salary would be paid by the coun.'
ties composing the circuit, each coun.
'Ity pay such part as would be Just,
based on the number of days court
held. or upon some other Just basis.
This plan In Missouri does not add
anything to the public expenses. for
there is taxed up in every suit or pro.
ceedtng certain amount for the ex-
penses OF the stenographer. which is
paid into the county treasury, and the
amount thereby brought In is greater
IA.