The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1913-04-08
OFFICE OF RECORDER
SHOULD NOT BE ABOLISHED


The star desires to commend Alder
man Livingston for his resolution ask
ing the city attorney to draw up pro-
test against the legislature abolishing
the office of city recorder.
The Star is not able to understand
why any one wants the office of re-
,corder abolished. 1t is quite as nee
essary to the peace and dignity of the
city as that OF clerk or marshal, and
even more so than that of mayor
IL is occasionally asserted by some
one who has most likely given no
Thought TO the subject that the duties
of both mayor and city judge should
be discharged by one individual 1t is
necessary in a country village or small
town for both Offices to be filled by one
man for the reason that it is impos-
sible to pay judge out of the revenue
OF such a place, and the mayor gem
orally has to have the fees resulting
from convictions to induce him to ae-
ecept the office. Even I'm such places,
the office Of mayor is generally held by
q lawyer-when 1t isn't, except in the
case OF some unusually weII-informed
individual, the village or town has to
suffer much unintentional and some
times intentional injustice that not
t3CSAOAA ACSAAhh III ISNGISdAS VI Jug
Hent and sometimes costly damage
suits The larger a place, the greater
this injustice, or chance Of 1t, becomes.
Ocala, since the writer became one
of it's citizens. has been lucky ia it's
mayors. Nearly all of them have been
well informed, level headed and broad
minded men. It is no more than the
truth to say that the judgments rem
edered by the present incumbent have
most always shown a clear sense of
Justice and sound good sense. We may
mot be so lucky in future and it is
well now to keep Ocala on the level
with other towns of its ST .e by keep
ang the office of recorder as a part of
our city government The appoint
.ment OF Major Iziar to the office of re-
seorder was worth much to the city
His decision in the Fausett case was
of more value TO the town than his
salary many times over. Ne mayor,
unless he was a trained lawyer would
have rendered it. He would simply
have ordered the ordinance carried out
and subjected the city to a costly suit
and notifying reversal in a higher
court. It's true there are not many
Major Izlars. but any good lawyer can
avoid the mistakes in court decisions
or business is sure to sometimes make
The mayor OF town is its executive
head. He therefore should not be its
judicial officer. The two functions are
sure to conflict sometimes, and then
Justice suffers. A Judge should be paid
a salary IL possible. If he isn't a man
OF exceptionally high character, the
consideration OF fees viii warp his
sense of Justice as surely as water
viii run down hill
Another reason why the office of re-
scorder should not be abolished is that
very few people in Oeala want it
abolished. Nobody has any complaint
against II, and it is a safe bet that if a
petition to have it done away with was
carried around, the signatures of fifty
white voters to it could not be obtain |
ed
Let the legislature let the office of |
city recorder of Ocala alone and de-
vote the same amount OF time to doing
Ocala some real service.