Bisbee daily review., 1909-11-03
travelling expenses and living expen. OFFICIAL FEES SHOULD BE ABOLISHED


 OFFICIAL FEES SHOULD
 BE ABOLISHED
 If statehood shall be granted tc Arizona there is an important mat ter, to which so far little considera ton has been given, which should re ceive attention in Arizona, and ii statehood shall not be given us this matter should be taken up by the next session of the territorial legislature This is the fee system in county of. fees.
 In a very sparcely settled country, in the early days of county govern ment, there are many reasons why the various county offices should be conducted on a fee system, but with growth of population and a closer set tlement of the country those reasons immediately disappear, and what is best in the one case later becomes detrimental, source of graft and of political corruption. This has been effectually proven in the older sec tions and states of this country. and wherever the fee system in office has been abolished it has been found a benefit to pure government and a de terrent to political corruption.
 Whether statehood is granted or not the legislature should at once ab- olish the system of office perquisites as now in vogue in all counties of the first class and require that these county offices should be filed with salaried officials. There can be no reason why in counties, with the pop ulation of the first class counties of Arizona, any public officer should re- ceive annually as his recompense for services sums approximating or to exceed as much as S15.000 There would never be any difficulty in find ing many excellent and competent men who would fill the office of sher- if at salary of s5.OOO and even less. The deputies. too, should be salaried and sheriff and deputies, in addition to salaries, should be allowed actual travelling expenses upon their sworn accounts. Thus would thousands of dollars be saved annually to the tax payers of the territory and in addi- ton to this much chance for political corruption would be removed.
 District Attorney Williams is now engaged in a warfare against the for mer system of charging fees by sher- if, deputies and peace justices. He declares that he will save the county many thousands of dollars, and while this economy may work well it cannot be compared with the results which would be achieved by making all such offices salaried positions.
 The democratic party in the last legislature made a step in the right direction and toward the proper end when it abolished the fee system of the clerks of the courts, but in Co chise county this act has been nulli- fled by court actions which have gone against the county. While he is MOThluS LiA5 ASlCiAA HI OHV NAA CS1AOiA he is neglecting to do so in another instance. and the fees of the court clerk are being paid as they were be- fore.
 The salary. system can possibly be no better shown in it's benefits than the the counties of New York and Kinks in New York In one case the sheriffs office was worth from s60,0O0 to s1OO.OOO per year. and in the other from $25,OOo to $5O,00O. There was always a scramble for the office, and the result was a condition of graft that was appalling. With the aboli- ton of the fee system came better and more competent officials in both counties at salaries which have brought the savings in that line up into the millions of dollars. The re- suit was the abolition of the fee sys- tenn in all offices and minimizing of salary bills with a maximum of efficiency.
 This can be achieved in Arizona as well as it was in New York and the etayf cannot be made too soon-