Evening journal., 1908-10-15
Thursday. oetober IS. loos.
COUNTY OFFICES.

"A N EFFORT has been making in certain
Democratic quarters to throw discredit
upon the Republican administration OF affairs IN
this county and to make it appear that the pres
ent holders of positions in the Court House are
in a caba to eXtort large amounts Of money from
the county-that they bad lot and only
by the return of the extravagant management of
the old Democratic days shall the taxpayers be
treated fairly The untrue charge has been made
that the salaries of the county officers have been
practically increased and that the county is sui-
fering loss through the county offices because the
county officers who were formerly paid fees are
now on salary basis
tt is we'll that few facts should be stated in
connection with this matter, that the voters at
the coming election may not be misled For eX-
ample, the statement has been printed that
soon as the county officers under the new law
had been put upon salaries, movement was set
on foot for increased compensation for them, and
y as a result law was enacted giving the officials
ten per cent of their fee receipts
What are the facts? The act placing certain
county officers among them the clerk OF the
peace, register in Chancery, fgcorder of deeds,
prothonotary and register of Wills upon salaries
as the respective terms of those who held the po-
sitions expired. was approved April o, 1905, and
as to the office of recorder of deeds register in
chancery and register of wills went into effect on
January I, 1907. That act provided a salary OF
$1,000 for the combined office of register in Chan
oery and clerk of the Orphans Court, and $4,000
caCn Tor the fcCOfder OF uecdS ana the register OF
wills 1t also provided that the officers should be
allowed by the Levy Court 10 per cent of the
fees collected by them and paid over TO the
county This act is found in chapter CO. volume
q, Laws of Delaware, page os
The 10 per cent commission was provided
in the original bill, and no change whatever has
been made since the passage OF the act in
the salaries of these officers or in their
commissions. The present clerk of the Orphans
Court recorder of deeds and register of wills
have had no increase, either in the amount of
their salaries or in the rate of their percentage
since the adoption of the salary bill. The pres
ent officers had nothing whatever to do with the
ten per cent provision. Ii was proposed by the
attorney who drew the original salary bill, and
was suggested by him from his knowledge Of a
similar system in force in the State of Massaohu-
setts. The object to make the officers dill
gent in collecting the countys money. 1t was
thought impractical TO attempt to put these
offices on a strictly cash basis. The ten per cent
compensation was simply to stimulate the collec-
ton of what was due the county.
The county comptroller in his report of fees
collected for the six months ending June go, 1905
has included with the register in Chancery and
clerk of the Orphans Court, the recorder of deeds
and the register of wills, the sheriff Computing
the fees collected from all sources from all four
OF these offices, and after charging the offices
with the salaries of the several deputies and
clerks and the ten per cent. commissions the re-
port has also charged the several offices with the
running expenses such as stationery telephone
service and the like, which were paid by the
county when the offices were under the fec sys-
tenn, but they should not rightly be considered in
comparison with the old fee plan, BY the comp
trollers report the loss from the four offices for
the third period included in the report amounted
to SI,242.6I. The running expenses of these four
offices. shown by the report. amount to
SI,o6SS4, leaving the actual loss as shown by the
report for six months from these offices. SIzS77.
This however, is not a fair comparisons be-
cause the sheriff's office has been shoru of most
of the privileges and perqusites which made that
office profitable and the county in other ways
has received the benefit The sheriff is not able
to collect sufficient fees TO pay his salary and
other expenses of his office. The boarding Of
prisoners was source of large profit to the sher-
ifs under the fee system. That profit now goes
TO the work house commissioners to help pay ex-
penses. The county formerly paid from $4,000 to
$1,000 year to the sheriff for his services to the
criminal courts. lie does this work now under
his salary. The iollarage, which in large
sheriff's sales made up the largest part of the
costs, has been discontinued thus making the
costs which come from the debtor in a sheriff's
sale less but at the same time cutting down the
sherhs fees Under this condition the sheriff
cannot collect fees sufficient TO pay his salary and
expenses and no reasonable man can expect it,
But the county and the public are both gamers by
the new system in that Office