The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-09


 of these arrests were for vagrancy, 37 for malicious mischief and one for bat tery. Seeing that the town in question has only 300 inha bitants, 1t must either be frequented by an unusually large percentage of bad men or the constable must have an exceptionally keen eye for evil-doers. Well, the constables bill against the county for that month is s2O9.6S, of which $159.90 is for "milea ge"-the taking of his prisoners to Los Angeles for trial. He Is al lowed a fee of $1 for each arrest and mileage of 25 cents a mile within hls township and 15 cents mile outside of 1t. It Is needless to say that the railroad companies do not charge 1b cents a mile, and in this one item of mileage there is always and every where the biggest kind of a rake-oH.
 Take another town, also given in the latest guide as of 300 population There in December last the constable made 104 arrests surely an enormous num- Der for so small a place Seventy-one of these were for malicious mischief, 14 for vagrancy and 16 for evading payment of railroad fare The bill against the county was $362.80. The previous month it had been only $123.10, and the month before that only $8. In fact, if one were to judge by the of ficer's returns, this village is visited by extra aordinary waves of crime. In a single month the constable does busi- ness that brings him in $362.S0, and there are three months in which he does not make a cent. But an ex- planation lies in the fact that the sal aries made by many country consta- bles become such a scandal that the board of county supervisors limited the amount anyone could draw to s120o a year. It is permitted. however, to lump the entire 12 months, so that the returns for few active months may make up the total that can be charged for the year.
 Makes His Full Allowance.
 Here is another town, in the same district, on the same line of road, prac- tically under the same conditions as those prevailing in the one just con sidered. But 1t has exactly four times Nthe population. Yet the constable's s bill for December was only S9290 as against s362.S0 in a neighboring town of only one-fourth it's size. But he also manages to draw his full amount from the county, the bill rendered for the year being $1201.35.
 Is it necessary to multiply examples? Everywhere and always it has been un- derstood that the country constable, often, if not always, in collusion with the justice of the peace, has feathered his nest from his mileage. One cannot imagine a more direct inducement to run men in and convoy them to the county jail, regardless of their innocence. And constables have been known to help friend who wanted trip to town by making a convenient arrest and putting him in charge.
 San Bernardino county Is good illus tration They put all their officers on straight salary some 14 years ago, but the mileage charges were retained. me amount that certain constables were making became public scandal, sucn towns as Victorville, Barstow, Daggett and the Needles became known as hopo mills," and at one town the justice or the peace was familiarly known as Ninety -nine"-having the reputation Of running in every possible stranger and
 passing one invariable sentence Last August the grand jury, after Investigating the claims sent in by desert constables, recommended that they should be al- lowed to charge only such mileage as they had actually paid for, and at present every constables account contains an af- fdavit to that effect. What has hap pened? The constables have united and brought a test case, seeking to have the action taken by the county declared H. legal.
 Since the mileage rake-off has been stopped these constables have generally gone into the service of the railroad com panies as salaried detectives
 Testimony Is Universal.
 We have given the evidence of sworn
 statements on file in the Los Angeles courthouse but newspaper men know
 well that there Is class of evidence that.
 if possible, Is even stronger thas this universal testimony. Every newspaper man who has investigated this field
 knows that the tSa timony of the men
 who, often from choice, but also often from necessity, pack their blankets will support unanimously our charges, and there Is in Los Angeles more than one re- porter and curious amateur who has gone on the tramp to verify for himself tho general report. An article by one of these Is now before us. It begins by say ing that the man in search of employ ment has nothing to fear from the rail- road detectives or the city policemen who are on salary, but that the tramp catchers flor revenue only" will arrest the sick and crippled without mercy. The reporter in question carried a gold watch and had too prosperous an appearance for the part, with the result that almost the first country constable he met after leav- ing Los Angeles fratefhized with him and asked him to his office. The story pro- ceeds: .r
 "Entering, he invited me to be seated. and then he inquired about different per- sons employed at the Pacific Electric company Just then a fellow carrying l a big roll of blankets passed the depot The constable almost jumped 'out of his seat stopped the laborer and after he found that this harmless fellow who had been peacefully counting the ties toward Los Angeles. where he expected to find some employment on the aqueduct, had only 40 cents in cash, he placed him under arrest as @ vagrant, in spite of all tho pleadings of the poor fellow, who had proof on his person in the shape of letters and recommendations, that he had large family and old parents to support"
 Saves By Paying Salaries. This simple story could be reproduced from hundred different sources, and is repeated over and over again in the narrative just quoted from. Occasionally 1t is relieved by a touch of humor, as where a Mexican constable confessed that s.he had to arrest $75 worth of tramps a month to hold his job, as $35 had to be paid by him to the fellow who had given him the chance to make this Kind of living" But perhaps the most sug- gestive part is that which says: 'I dis covered that Orange county had saved last year $22,OOO in county expenses by paying cash salaries to it's constables and their deputies. I found at Orange to- tai absence of interest in harmless wan derers, and no one is arrested in Orange county on trumped up charges. The tax payers are saving money formerly vast >fx,<r 1,of fnrco Vnd