French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1916-1919, 1919-01-30
SALARI INCREASES.

A bill nOg. Un,te" consideration IL
the General ASSEMBLY would increasc
| the salaries of sUper'0r court Judges
! from four to five thousand dollars amt
! increase their aIln vanc3 fer travelling
/ expenses from $3.50 to 81 ,00G, and that
of the supreme court justices from
four to six tho4s;,n1 dollars. The iro-
visions Of this dill represent all addi-
tional expendiEni Of $50.On0 Ter year
! for the purpose: mentioned, but we
! take it that thu puDlic will readily see
| the need for allowing Tie States lGdi-
ciarv a living .a.ge. The frequency
which has mara,3 the retiral Of our
superior court sItsses, during re"2n:
years, to resume private practice fof
the purpose OF rrlcC :ti05 their perso>
nal interests S not to The credit OF a
great State. Salaries paid five Years
ago attracted capnbl3 lawyers TO the
Ibench at that time To-day the StaIe
| is being deprived Of the service Of its
best fitted men FOR The Judiciary te-
cause it has fai;,-I to place itself i'll q
position to cor. e with priva,e en-
ployment.
It is a CON = on and not a theory
which presents itself in the proposal
to pay our judges salaries in keeping
with the dignity OF their positions.
They have families to support and OBJ
LEGATIONS to meet the same as other
folks and it is not reasonable to e1-
pect them to undergo personal sacri-
fees for the privilege of holding pub
lie office. 1t is enough to be deprived
of the comforts OF the home circle and
exposed to the dangers to health and
happiness incident to the travels Of
superior court judges. They should
not be required, or expected, to serve
the State at a pecuniary loss to them
selves from a monetary standpoint and
are clearly entitled to the relief pro-
posed in the bill now pending. North
Carolina is no pauper.
A number of State employees have
recently been called into private en-
ployment at higher salaries than arc
provided by the commonwealth for pre-
cisely the same class of service they
have been rendering as public servants
1t appears to have become increasing
iy difficult to obtain and retain COM
petent clerical assistance in the state
~
quate compensation provided by sta
tute, and the public service IS going
to suffer more if the State further ne
elects to place itself in a position to
compete with private EMPLOYERS who
are willing to pay living salaries for
the class of help most needed in hand
ling the public business. II is the
opinion of this paper that remedy FOR
this condition should be provided
without further delay, if North Caro-
lima is to keep abreast Of these pro-
gressive times.
The General Assembly should not
stop with the increase of the salaries !
of the district and supreme court !
judges. It ought to go further and !
give merited recognition to the ser
vices Of every faithful and capable en-
ployee Of the State government. A |
provision of the Constitution prohib- |
its an increase in the salaries Of ecr- !
tain administrative state officers dur !
ing the terms of Office for which they /
have qualified These officials will /
have to struggle along, Or resign, an
til their present terms expire The /
Legislature can, however, allow do I
partmental clerks and others engaged :
in the service Of the State advances
which will enable them to keep the !,
wolf from the door, Aud IL ought 20
10 it ungrudgingly. /.
A salary OF $4,000 today represents .
10 more than $4,000 did six or eighs
,ears ago and it is the salary man who
las most keenly felt the steady ad-
-ance in life's necessities. Members of
he General Assembly have an oppor-