Evening star., 1947-03-09
Senator's Study
Sick Leave Of
City Judges
Unit Weighs Need
For More Jurists on
Municipal Court

A critical study of the time Mu-
nicipal Court judges actually spend
on the bench Is being made by menu
bers Of the Senate District Conf
mittee as one test Of the need for
three additional judges.
One report on sick leave and va
cations Of the 10 judges, supplied
by Chief Judge George P. Barse,
now is being examined by Senator
KEN, Republican, of Missouri.
Senator KEN, chairman of the
Judiciary Subcommittee of the Dis
trict group, also has called for SINH
lar reports on the judges from
Attorney General Clark and Con-
troller General Lindsay G. Warren.
The report of Judge Barse listed
the number of days each Of the 10
judges was absent from the bench
during the last six months Of 1916
as compared with the same period
OF 1945.
This showed the judges together
took 1917 days of sick leave In the
1946 half-year, as against 1T days
for a similar period of 1945. Be-
tween the two periods covered, an
nual leave for the judges dropped
from a total of 3011s days in 1945 to
255 days In 1916. Judges are per-
mitted So court days Of vacation
annually. The majority did not take
the maximum.
The KEN subcommittee soon will
hold hearings on two bills propos-
ing appointment Of three additional
Municipal Court judges. One is
sponsored by Senator McCarran,
Democrat, of Nevada, and the other
by Senator Johnston, Democrat, of
South Carolina. They differ only
In qualifications of candidates.
Margold Leads List
The Barse report. made public yes
terday by Senator KEN, shows Judge
Margold led the list both in 1945
and 1916 in days OF on sick leave.
He took rs days in 1945 and 7S in the
last half Of 1916.
In contrast, Judges Scott and Fen
nell took no sick leave at all IN either
year. Judge McMahon took three
days in 1945 and five last year. Judge
Quinn had four In 1945 and six last
year. Others listed for sick leave in
1915: Judges Barse, n, Casey six,
Clagett 16, Nelson "a, and Raedy %.
For 1916 these hstings were Judge
Barse 241a days, Casey is, Clagett
seven, Nelson none, and Raedy four
4days.
1 Judge Barse made strong case
A{cr the requested three additional
Ejrdges, citing an increase in the
work OF Municipal Court and the
fact the court receipts amount to
several times the amount Of the
courts cost. 81 VI
Clark Gets Reports.
He submitted copies Of his reports
to Attorney General Clark to show
that for the last six months of last
year-the first half of the current
fiscal year-total cash collections
from fines, fees and forfeitures
amounted to $756,543 This was COM
pared with $498, 8,406 for. the similar
period of the previous year, an in
crease of 81 per cent.
The courts outlay for expenses,
he said, was only $406,225 for the
present fiscal year, so that the cash
income of the court for a half year
was about double the costs for the
entire fiscal year. Estimating cash
receipts for the whole 1947 fiscal
year June 80 at $1,5l3,000, he said
this would be more than three and
one-half times the amount OF the
entire years budget costs.
In addition, he noted that the
number of both civil and criminal
cases had increased, along with .
consistent increase in demands for
jury cases. He asked for action "as
soon as possible" on the additional
three judges in view Of the CON
tinued increase in business"