Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-02-16
A GOOD EXAMPLE.

An incident transpircd at the meet
las bf the Kent county Levy Cou1t
st Dover. Tuesday morning. that
should inspire to emulation In Kent
and susss1. In fact. It should havc
. profound effect IN respect OF State
administration details. Such a result
undouhte edly would bring much public
benefit
The Incident was the formal prescn-
tsuon 20 the Lcvy Court. by Arley
N. Mnwcc, a leading member Of the
Kent county bar. of q copy OF a let
Ter he had written AID sent 10 the re-
eora.r Of deeds for Kentocounty. tell
ina tho latter. IN plain terms. that he
was not properly attending 20 the
duties OF his ONCE. kindly advising
him TO be more attentive IN the future.
and giving plain warning OF what
nigh, ~ expected II reform Old not
follow. The Levy Court seconded
Mr.. Masce's action by specifically pro-
vidins for such clerical assistance IN
the cff,ce OF tho recorder os deeds a.
would leave no excuse for not having
80 work properly performed.
70 ia significant IN this connection
that the levy Court. in taking this
.ction. attached 20 the clerical posi-
lions payment ranging from $50 10
80 per month. and making at least
one of them temporary. 70 continue
untsi tho work ot the once shall be
brought up TO date. This 1. quite Q
contrast 10 tho trend ot compensation.
ssvsn for subordinate of,cesA IN the
work os county administration IN this
state.
Hut the moral OF the entire incident
repcses In tho fact tina; Mr.. Mases.
In tnking This rather surprising and
summary action. spoke for all the
members OF tho Kent county bar.
And there 10 no doubt that this ex-
precision Of plain opinion by the Kent
county lawyers means they VIII take
notice Of subsequent events and see
hat the duties of this particular once.
with which they are Immediately con-
cerned. arc well conducted In the
future.
Now. why should not the lawyers
OF New Cas,l. And sussex counties
take similar action. and then the bar
~ the entire State exercise n super
vision over the performance OF Official
duty in all IN. court house ofnces7 II
can readily he conceived what q good
work the lawyers could accomplish ho
such course. They could see. nrs,
that the work was thoroughly and
compc,cntly performed; and second
that no pretext for the employment
- uzeiess officials was allowed TO be.
come effective. TO the cos, Of the pub.
ilo.
Lawyers could easily perform a tAsi
OF this character. They have access
10 all of,,cial records: the people have
not. IN. records no, being open q
public inspection IN cur State. Tn,
lawyers could easily determin,
whether the work was being eficienti.
performed. and whether there wer
any costly supcrnumersries in IN
public service.
There il no reason why the law
,ers should no, perform this servics
In an organized manner. They hav
an influence that 10 not Possessed b
other citizens. They have an equs
concern with all others IN erectiv
and economical administration. Ther
~ no reason why they should becom
self-centrsd and self-intercste
body Of oitixens. regardless OF goo
sovvtnment and public concerns. Tn
lawyers of Kent county. although pos
s,bly affected by their professional In
tsrcsts certainly have set a good 81
ample. The bar Of the rest of IN