The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-05-29

TO ABOLISH FEE system

Legislation probably VIII Do attempteu
very soon to change the present system
in the ONCE OF the auditor Of the District
Supreme Court = the result Of q report
prepared by w. W. spaldins. account
ant. and submitted yesterday for the in
formation of the House District Commit
tee.
The accountant had been working
quietly on the report for some time. Only
a few members of the District COMMITTEES
know of it, Abolition OF the fee system
and putting the ONCE on salary basis
is expected to follow as the most i'm
portant change In the system. 1t 10 ex-
pected that the salary WIN be fixed at
about $4,000 The. following are some
Of the high points in the accountants
report: Sss.ss
the expenses Of his once $50 per day,
and for testimony taken before him NJ
the rate of g 1-2 cents per page. His
average annual fees. after the payment
of all expenses, during the last four
years. have been 312s7S.s7.
Certain Allowances Unwarranted.
I'm many cases the allowances made
by the auditor to attorneys and fdu-
Charles have been liberal. but not obvt-
ously excessive. In other cases, dis
cussed in this report. certain allow
ances have been unwarranted and
others excessive.
"The auditor should be commended
for his work in certain cases cited in
this report.
Tho auditor should be compensated
on a salary basis. rather than under a
fee system"
The report commends the auditor for
work done in cases where he had dis
covered fraudulent practices which
were robbing the estates OF incompe-
tent persons On the other hand. II
criticises the manner in which the case
OF Eugene Peters has been conducted.
Under the prevailing system. the fees
OF the auditor, often burdensome In
amount fall upon estates that are least
able to pay them-such as the estates of
inso,vent corporations and In fewer In
stances the estates Of decedents.
The fees fall also upon trust estates
and those of infants and lunatics. II
Is the policy of the law to protect such
estates. The courts and their agencies
should be open for cases involving the
administration and settlement Of such
estates without imposing upon them q
tax that b not borne by other classes OF
cases
1T ID Inevitable that the present sys-
tenn will result in abuses. The fee sys-
tenn in large communities il q recognized
failure and Is being discArded."
Report inaccurate, Says Dent.
shown the statement of Mr.. spalding.
Auditor Dent said: 4
THE statement a. to the income Of the
auditor Is erroneous In my report to
the judges of the District Supreme Court
last November I showed that the in
come under the abnormal conditions ex-
isting by reason of the congested con-
dition of the business and earned by
excessive overtime work in order to bring
the office up to date was a little less
than $4,000 a year.
Mr. McNish, of the Department of
Justice, in his report to the Attorney
General for the United States Senate.
raised these figures to 11.7n. by admit.
teddy including unpaid fees and estimated
unearned fees"
Mr.. Spaldipg by the same procedure,
continued Mr.. Dent, admitted and by
some other methods Of calculation of his
own now raises the income to about 49,
400. 1 can conceive Of no logic in stating
a mans income to include moneys un,
earned and not received"