The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1907-03-29

QUESTION UP
Some Reasons Why the County
Should not Undertake Business.
AFINf GAME IN FINANCE
Every Cent Derived Goes into Pocket Of
the County Clerk While County
Treasury Pays all Expenses
Editor TRIBUNE:

Editor TRIBUNE:
I'm the issue of the 22nd inst Of the
Fort Pierce News there appears edi.
tolially an article under the caption OF,
1.-The Abstract Question" The purpOrt
of this editorial seems To be To try and
make it appear that the grand jury did
not know what they were talking about
when they reported untavorably on the
proposed scheme for the county to go
into the abstract business
AS member Of that grand jury, |
had prior to the time of making the re-
port been for eighteen months chair
man of the board of county commission
ers, and had gone fully into the merits
and dement's of the proposed scheme,
consequently my investigation was not
confined to the day or two that the
grand jury was in session as the smooth
editor of the News would lead you to
believe.
There Is one point however in his edi-
torial upon which | fully agree with
him which, Is as follows: IF there Is
any one thing that we do not know all
about, it is this abstract business and
| am prepared to swear that he told the
truth, the whole truth and nothing but
the truth when he made that statement
as if fully evidenced by the fact that
he further states that "if it abstract
ing) pays private concerns, why should
not it pay the county," If he had in
vestigated the matter at all, he would
have known full we'll that the county
never gets a single cent of revenue
| from the abstracting, all the fees going
| into the pocket of individuals, mo are
simply private concerns" as under the
present system.
There were members of the grand
| jury who had signed the petition asking
! that the county go into the abstract
business, who stated that they did not
fully understand the plan proposed and
that they were now, after investiga-
ton, opposed to it. These reasons ]
think fully answer the editorial ques-
ton of why should the people sign
the petition to this effect ii they did
not want it done" and ] wish to say
in this connection that petitions came
before the board of commissioners
while | was member asking that GER
tain things be done, and some of the
parties having signed 1t would come 20
me and ask me to prevent It's beng
done, stating that they had signed it
ito get rid of the party circulating it. "
Know ny how easy it was to secure
signatures to any kind Of petition
that was circulated, felt that it would
be unsafe to act too hurriedly upon
petition calling upon the county to go
into a scheme, the merits of which
were of such doubtful character. Act
ing upon this conviction, when the
petition came before the board, we LAID
it aside for further consideration, and
at the expiration of our terms or before
we found that there was such a grow
ing sentiment against it., that we de-
cided that it should not be done.
Let us look into the merits of this
abstract proposition. Chap. III, Sec.
25J6, Revised Statutes, provides that
Upon petition of majority of the
registered voters of any county of this
State, the board of county commission
ers of said county, if they deem it adj
visable, shall have any on all instru-
ments of records relating to real estate
situated in said county distracted, un-
der the supervision Of the said clerk
(circut COURT For such services the
clerk shall receive compensation hot
20 exceed S75 per month for himself or
each deputy employed in the actual per
Torrance of such service.
Kindly note, that SO far only job IS
created at price not to exceed $40 per
month for the clerk and for as many
deputies as he may see tit TO employ
After the clerk and his possible numer~
Gus deputies are through with the jolt,
and there is no restriction requiring
them to ever get through provided for
i'm the law, then the clerk gets all Of
the fees for making abstracts, the
county not getting one cent, but paying
all of the expense. In addition to this,
when IA man carries deed to the clerk
TO have it recorded, the clerk will
charge him AN additional ten cents,
which is one of the provisions of the
abstract scheme. This additional ten
: cents goes into the clerk 5 pocket,
while the county treasury continues to
remain empty, For the sake of argu-
ment, let Us suppose that the county
has this work of abstracting done by
the clerk and his deputies at SIS per
month for each of then, what benefit
b will the great majority of tax payers
[ receive? None whatever.
y. Let us admit for the sake of argu-
( ment that our present clerk is thorough.
n " competent to do all of the clerical
t work necessary, and let us go still
y further and admit for the sake of ar.
r gument, that he is competent to detect
). any flaws or defects in the drawing OF
CONTINUED on page 81