The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1913-06-26

Sec. %. "He may arrange TO
meetings with school officers. ~
He shall visit the officers of the sew
eral school districts as often as ma,
be necessary to secure the correc
keeping of records"
Salary and Expense.
Sec. a. "He shall receive an an
nual salary equal that paid the reg
lister of deeds of his county
and in addition thereto he shall re
ceive ten cents per mile for the dis
lance actually and necessarily trav
eled by him or his field deputy in tn,
discharge of his duties within thu
county furnish to the coun
ty commissioners an itemized state
ment, subscribed and sworn to, of the
distance so travelled in the discharge
of his duties, which shall be audited
and ordered paid by the board of coun.
| ty commissioners"
There are so counties in the state
and two constructions on actually
and necessarily travelled" The ratio
| is l to 40. That is, Ward county's
superintendent makes one construc-
ton while all others in the state make
IA different one.
Construction in Ward Co.
In all probability Mr.. Warren con-
strues the precautionary words 'act-
ually and necessarily travelled" to
mean direct instead of circuitous
route. Example:-suppose he desired
to visit Des Laos. This construction
would prevent him from going via
Carpio and charging for such dis
lance when no visit is made at Carpio.
Again, suppose he should make Wis
it to Burlington and while there he de-
cided to visit Foxholm before return
ing to Minot. This construction
would prevent him charging double
fare from Minot to Burlington in Wis
iting both places because the distance
was not actually and necessarily trav-
eled but once.
This condition is good as far as it
goes but is too limited.
Broader Construction.
Among judges of the appellate
courts, one of their methods of casting
a ray of light on mooted questions is
to discover what the legislator had in
mind when he wrote and enacted the
law.
That the legislators intended that
the county superintendent's salary
should be gagged by the salary of the
register of deeds rather than by the
mileage, no one can doubt. That the
officers capacity of superintendent"
should earn the salary rather than his
automobile should earn it, appears
with equal clearness. That public Of
ficials should be reasonably econom-
zeal is well settled principle of law
no one will dispute. That the tax
payer has right to expect economy
on the part of the official is the unan-
imous decision of the courts of all
states. For the very conception of
this right is founded upon the prin-
ciple of prescribing limit to both
salary and expense. Then if we ex-
anime the law in this light it appears
that the legislators meant by the dis
lance actually and necessarily travel
ed by him or his field deputy in the
discharge of his duties" to be an in
junction of economy. For had there
Independent-GALLEY THREE
been no intention to limit the amount
of expense then there could have been
no object in the precautionary steps
of requiring Mr.. Supt. to make an
"itemized" statement, subscribed and
sworn to-" and then the mandatory
requirement of the commissioners
Shall audit and order paid"
The law meaning of audit is taken
from the lexicon, viz: Examine and
verify or adjust as accounts"
It also appears that the legislators
had in mind economy in the number Of
deputies, for the law on expense ac-
count mentions "him or his field dep
uty" in the singular number. The
use of the correlative conjunction "or''
between "him" and CHS field deputy''
makes it appear that the visiting ex-
pense account was not to be acceler-
ated by group of deputies.
fully believe that the author of
the law had in mind that only one
field deputy would be the rule and
that as rule the field deputy would
be visiting the schools when the sup
erintendent was in the office and vice
versa.
Some one may say: Does not the
law, Sec. SO, provide for more than
one deputy? / will answer yes, but
the law on the subject of deputies is
''The county superintendent MAY ap-
point" and "shall be allowed"
According to salary only, Ward
county had more than one field dep
uty in 1901 and 1911-12.
The language clearly contemplates
that the superintenden will appoint
no deputies except as necessity may
require for the good Of the service
and never for the accumulation Of
mileage.
$4,000 or $500, 900, Which?
Mr.. Warren's letter of May IA con-
tains the following statement: "As a
matter of fact the litigation will re-
suit in a loss to Ward county of at
least 100000"
believe this is an over estimate.
But suppose it is not. This amount Is
insignificant compared to the expense