The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-27
VARIANT WRITES ON IMPORTANT ISSUES Candidate For Legislature De-
 fines His Position REMEDY IN FEE SYSTEM Rights of Towns to Be Annexed to Greater Birmingham Should Be Preserved-Attitude Toward
 Prohibition.
 
REMEDY IN FEE SYSTEM

In response to The Age-Heralds re- quest for expressions of opinion by can didates for the legislature on the most important subjects now before the voters of the county, Dr. Felix I. Tarrant has defined his position on the issues. Great CT Birmingham, prohibition and the fee system are all treated in his statement, which is as follows:
 To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 Your paper has kindly invited candl- dates for the legislature to express their views upon questions that arc likely to be passed upon by that body in the com ing special session.
 I am interested in the numerical and financial growth of the city of Birming- ham, and nothing would give me more pleasure than to see 1t the largest city in the south, both financially and nu- merlcally However, in the enactment of such law 1t Is nothing but proper that the rights of the municipalities sought to be annexed by a bill of this character should be carefully preserved.
 It is my desire to see the prohibition laws given a fair trial before the pub lie, and if it is determined by the courts
 
 my honest efforts to strengthen them along lines where they seem to need 1t.
 The public is much interested in the fee system as now in vogue in Alabama, and of course this will have the attention of the legislature. I am advised that this system of remunerating officers has been in existence since the establishment of the state government and has been part and parcel of our government for so long a period that any change must be very carefully considered, because of the constitutional questions which are in- volYed. I am advised that the fees of the various officers of the state must be uniform throughout the state. In the smaller counties of the state I am ad- vised that the fees earned by the vari- ous officers are not over-remuner- ative, and if the state were to change to salary system and put its officers in those counties on any thing like salaries commensurate with the duties and responsibilities and turn the fees into the treasury, the county and state might face a deficit between the fees received and the salaries paid out. This would not be true in the large, pop ulous counties of the state; hence the difficulty of drawing a bill which would conform to the provisions of the consti- tuition. If bill can be drawn in con- formity with the constitution, I should favor putting the larger county officers on salaries and turning the fees into the county treasury. Not being a lawyer, however, I will have to govern my action in favoring a bill of this kind according to the advice of the lawyers of the legis- lature, and this I am willing to do in order to pass some bill that will give the people the relief that they ask for. If the judiciary committee of the house is of the opinion that constitutional relief can be had by putting officers on salaries I am of the opinion that some of the abuses might be remedied by creating the office of jailer in counties of the size of Jefferson, Mobile and Montgomery, covering the fees for feeding the prison CTS, the turnkey fees, and the relinquish- ing fees into the county treasury, and require the county onc of these fees to feed it's prisoners and pay the jaier. Re- spectfully, FELIX l. TARRANT.
 Birmingham, May 26, 1909.