The Cairo bulletin., 1912-03-22

Hidi iepoIt CONTAINED elsnl piihtoo PASS.
Attorney General Stead's last biennial
| report contained $40 printed pages. M
Volume of work In Attorney Generals
department since 1905 has Quadrupled-
Office force In 1905 consisted OF three as
sistants, one clerk, two stenographers and
porter.
Office force in 1911 consists of six as
sistants. brief maker. law clerk, an
Inheritance tax assistant five stenograph-
srs telephone operator, porter and
janitor, with temporary Increases IRE
auent during the sessions of the Supreme
court.
These figures afford glimpse only
OF the increase In physical work in
the Office of the attorney general
since 1870.
There Is 20 way adequately to rep
resent the increase In menta. effort
necessary to conduct this department:
for the preparation Of one official opin'
ion in 1911 may have required more
thought and time than the preparation
Of the most intricate court case with
which the first attorney general in
the early seventies had to deal.
increase Accounted For.
This rapid and prodigious growth
| of work can very easily be accounted
for.
Attorney General Hamlln, Mr.
Stead's predecessor, rendered an opln
ion that the attorney general is the
lawful. legal advisor OF all state Off
GERS, departments, boards. commits
| sions and institutions.
At that time practically every OH
Ger, board and commission had its
own attorney. The attorney general
| was a figure head and was little con
sidered In the economy OF govern
| ment.
Piled Work Upon Attorney General.
The Hamln decision centralized the
egal work of the state In the attorney
generals office.
The decision was Just coming to
be felt in this Office when Mr.. Stead
entered and 1t has eliminated In bis
administration in making the depart
ment dignified and effective, as well
as extensive and busy, but the In
crease In employees and expenses nc
where equals the immense saving
hroueh the dispatchIng of the special
attorneys and their elaborate Office
equipments,
The Hamlin decision, however, did
/
| rot get all OF them. There remained
a number of boards and commissions
which maintained themselves solely
upon their fees out of which they con
tinued to employ special attorneys.
Mr.. Stead, in an opinion to the gen
eral assembly, declared that all fees
collected By any agency of state gov
ernment, should be turned into the
state treasury and that all fee de
| partments and boards should be sup
ported by specific appropriations
made by the legislature.
This ruling also was logical though
revolutionary. The assembly made
| The decision law which the supreme
court has already upheld and those
agencies which had been escaping tbs
affect of the HamIn decision have
been forced to apply to the attorney
genera for their legal advice
AS many Of these departments art
complicated and extensive there arise
In them many legal questions for hin
10 decide.
viii Save State Money.
While this ruling will add some e
The expense Of the attorney generals
department, 1t will be far from the ag
gregate OF the cost Of the special at
torneys engaged by these boards ant
commissions under the old system.
The last few years have witnessed
a vast extension Of the activities Of
our state government The legisla
ture has acted 10 response to an
awakened public opinion and ha.
passed many new progressive laws
involving questions on which GU,
courts had never touched or passed.
II would require columns to review
briefly these new laws and the new
questions they have presented.
| Had to Blaze the Way.
| Everyone has had to be considered
The attorney general has had to blaze
he way with his opinions. Follow
lng came the court tests In which 4
was incumbent upon him to defent
| sha new acts and II Ia a sOurca N
treat pride that almost without ex
,eption his views have been sustained
BY the supreme court.
He has perfected the inheritance
ax Law and Its collection machinery
md is able to turn to the state more
han million year from this source
rhis work alone entails tremendou,