The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-02-05
TIL, IrIE MILLS

the fees OF public officers. For tn,
correction of this evil. four bills hav,
been introduced, one by AR. Houston
one By Mr.. Gordon, another by Mr.
Brewer and third identical i'm il.
| origial form with tho Brewer bill, pre-.
/ scented by Senator West. This last
| the Senate committee with amendments
! which increase the remuneration of the
! officers beyond the original figures OF
Mr., Vests measure.
| We think II may be assumed by the
! public that the General Assembly In
tends to take definite action on this
| subject at the present session OF As
OF both Houses arc practically commit
ted; to It. also, tho officers whose in
come is involved arc practically rec
onciled.
The only question, therefore. is the
form OF bill upon which II majority
Of both Houses can agree. And this. we
take 1T, Will not be II matter of diff
Guilty If the members of tho Assembly
VIII appreciate the precise character
turns to the clerk OF the Senate made
under the terms OF the West resolution
Of 1912. demonstrate what The Times
Dispatch anticipated would hc the case.
Many officers whose remuneration con-
sists OF fees arc receiving no more than
proper return from their office; some
are perhaps underpaid; IA relatively
out OF proportion to the services rem
dcred. TO change the first of these
three classes from n fee basis 20 one
of n specific salary Is more matter
of principle than OF financial saving; to
give those who arc undcrpaid u proper
return for their labor is an act of JUS
ticc. II is in respect to the third class
and tho third-class only, that the pro-
posed change will be one of economy
We hold 1t useless TO argue that the
sheriff OF u city should be paid more
than the judge, that the treasurer of
municipality should have return
from his Office in excess of that OF the
Governor, that a high constable should
receive as much as member of the
spirit II Is preposterous to claim that
a city sergeant, charged with the Gus
tody OF petty offenders and of persons
awaiting trial for serious onenses.
should have an income in excess OF
that OF the President OF the Supreme
Court
In tho circumstances. then. the chief
~ ft, ne a.
be 10 reduce to n proper figure those
excessive fee-ofices which are the real
political "plurns" OF the state. TO
state tho case in other words. the
primary object OF the proposed lcgis-
ia,ion should be TO fix Il reasonable
maximum beyond which no fee officer
should be allowed TO retain the fees
he is authorized by law TO collect This
VIII involve graduated scale of re-
enumeration rather than a fat compen-
sation for each thousand OF population.
In the same way. it seems 10 lis that
the principle OF the Houston bill, in
respect 10 the allowances to be made
fee officer for clerical assistance nnd
the like, should be incorporated i'm The
S'"'"te- II - so easy 10 pad n salary
thousand dollars or so on the plea
that the Expenses OF the Office" are
high; 1t is equally easy to allow this
to lac made tho pretcxt for a salary
altogether out of proportion TO the
dignity and trust of The Office. Rut. az
we nave pointed out, there il danger
That II this allowance be left TO tho
=.
JUDGE OF tho court. he may be inclined
TO deal too generously with tho clerk.
the treasurer or the sheriff. This seems
10 us TO he the chief defect OF the
houston Dill but this may be correct
eu' we think by a simple provision that
inc allowance mace "N IN" r"'
not exceed n specified sum the thou
SAND OF population,
Finally, as we have pointed out in
our previous discussion Of the subject.
there must be classification of the
fee officers 10 cnoc. for ins,,nco ,ha.