The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1913-06-25
Abolish The Fiscal Court.

time-tried and always inefficient
body, and inaugurating a modern
and efficient system of conducting
the business of the country.
AT the meeting numerous rep
resentative citizens of Louisville
and Jefferson county appeared
A majority of them were residents
of the county prom jnently identi-
fed with the affairs of the city.
There were bankers, lawyers,
business men and manufacturers
whose names stand for creditable
activity in the community. A
majority of them are large payers
of taxes. They attended the
meeting of the court for one pur-
pose. They came to ask the
Fiscal Court as politely an tlil -
matically as possible, to a, enc t.
its business. There were several
groups Of polite petitioners.
They were not all interested in
the same neglected roads, but
their mission was common one.
One group had gathered to pro
test against the payment of $40 a
mile for what its members believed
promised to be cheap and ineffect-
i've results upon the River Road.
To them the court made fair
promises. Possibly little tenn
porary benefit to a small section
of the county may result from the
activity of that group of citizens,
and so long as we have such an
institution as the Fiscal Court
about, all that anyone need ex-
pect is little temporary benefit
as result of efforts to direct the
attention of the court to its delin-
quency. AS this is true residents
of the rural sections of the county
perform services valuable to Lou
isville as well as to themselves and
their neighbors when they absent
themselves from their business to
attend meetings of the Fiscal
Court and protest against cheap
work being accepted at fancy
prices and roads being maintained
in state of disrepair. But il
should not be necessary for dele
cations of taxpayers to wait upon
the road-making body and request
it to attend to it business as scrup
ulously and as intelligently a.
possible. What is needed in
Jefferson county as a supplanter
of the present form of misgovern.
ment, is a commission elected
from the county at large to under
take the systematic building and
maintenance of the roads upon
scientific principles with the ad-
vice of competent engineer. As
long as we have a Fiscal Courl
composed of the County Judge.
who does not necessarily know
anything about road building, and
magistrates who do not necessaril,
know anything about road build
ing, and so long as that unsuitable
body is advised by the Count,
Surveyor, who IS saddled upon
the Fiscal Court in the capacity of
&c unty Engineer under an act of
the Legislature which should not
have been passed, we shall have
rank extravaganza, an utter lack
of system and Indifferent roads.
costing more than good roads
should cost.
If politicians regard the Courier
Journals observations upon the
Fiscal Court as being directed
against the units composing it, or
against any one of its members
they are in error. The Courier
Journal objects to the institution,
and not to the individuals com
posing it. Its objection to the
law which makes the County Sur
veyor the County Engineer is not
an objection to Mr.. Russell Gaines,
the present County Surveyor and
County Engineer, and is not in
tended encouragement for anyone