Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1908-07-08
WALHALLA, 8. o.:
JULY q, 1908.
STILL AFTER THE CLERKS PAY.


Oakway, July 2.-Editors Keowee
Courier: Noticing the recent articles
in your paper with reference to the
pay OF the Clerk of Courts office, we
wish to say that we and others Of
this section agree that II the salary
or pay Of the Clerk of Court iS three
thousand dollars per annum then he
receives too much pay for the SER
vices rendered. and the pay should
be reduced. We are also agreed that
the salaries Of the Sheriff, Auditor,
Treasurer, County Superintendent of
Education and County Commission
ers were high enough before the re-
cent raise by the last Legislature,
and will venture the assertion that
plenty Of competent men could now
be had to fill these places at the old
or lower salaries. In fact we think
that were the pay of Auditor and
Treasurer dependent on the valuation
placed OH the property, and the num-
Der OF returns made, and the sums Of
money collected that it would do
much toward remedying the unequal
valuation now so much complained
OF, and would be the cause Of many
a tax-dodger being caught. Why not
pay them according to what they do,
as Is done in the case of the Clerk
Of Court? We are of the opinion
that many a violator Of the law would
be brought to justice who now es-
capes, If the Sheriff's pay depended
on what he does rather than what he
does not do. We see no good reason
for raising the salaries of all the
county officers (the Clerk Of Court
eXcepted), as was done by the last
Legislature, and especially do We
think it was a hardship to the people
to have done so at a time when the
country was In the very throes of a
money panic such as this country has
seldom seen, and when good men
were scrambling over each other for
these offices at the pay or salaries
then prevailing. Would these salary
rasers have raised them If they had
had them to pay out of their own
pockets? 1t seems to us that the
grand jury should investigate these
offices and see which one Of them Is
furnishing a salary greater than Is
justified by the services required of
the man who fills it; and they should
recommend to the ensuing Legisla-
ture what changes can be made with
out detriment to the interests Of the
people.
for one, however, would very
farmed out as was the liquor busi-
ness Of the State, and as was recently
tried to be done with the Clerks
office. of which Mr.. Cook spoke and
puts so we'll, for then we might have
a repetition locally of the holding of
Ansel's and Lyons hands while the
grafters were escaping from the
State, as was recently done. | say
that II, upon proper investigation,
the pay OF these offices Is found to be
too high, then the people can elect a
delegation to go to Columbia this
winter who know enough Of law to
frame good law reducing them
ore that will be constitutional In
other words, to reduce the fees Of
these officers to a good living basis,
and let the profits stay in the pock-
cts of the people, and not put them
into the hands of the county officials,
to become the prey Of local grafters,
as were the profits of the State from
the State dispensary at Columbia.
would further object to the farm
Ing out Of the Clerks office, as pro-
posed by Mr.. Jaynes, as it would in
effect be making the man who from
necessity has to give mortgages and
liens pay the taxes Of his more fortu-
nate neighbor. To illustrate, a man
has fifty dollars, and he goes to
mule dealer and pays 1T down on a
TWO hundred dollar mule, gives
mortgage on his milch cow and q bale
or cotton for one hundred and fifty
dollars. The Clerks fee record
ing Is $1.25. Fifty cents goes to the
CLERK as pay, and rs cents to the
county to pay his more fortunate
neighbor's taxes. Do you think this
would be just? | do not.
RpSppctfully T uoIo,,