Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1890 — WHAT COUNTY OFFICES PAY [ARTICLE]

WHAT COUNTY OFFICES PAY

Mo Croat Inoome From Them, as Is Generally Thought by Those Seek. Ing Them. Indianapolis Journal. A gentleman long acquainted with Marion county offices and their business was expressing some ideas on the subject yesterday. ‘ ‘There is a prevailing opinion that the officials occupying the offices over there,” said he—pointing to the court-house— ‘ ‘are re ceiving enormous amounts of money for their services. Some of them pay well, but none of them bring to .their occupants the exaggerated incomes that the public fancy has attributed to them. ”

“Thatoffice,” was his reply, “depends nearly altogether upon the financial sagaeity and luck of the official occupyiug it. The capacity to handle money successfully is the main thing. The la,w does not prohibit the use of the money that is in the custody of the Treasurer by that officer, and only requires that at the close of his term he turn over to his successor all moneys that have come into his hands belonging to the county. The funds he receives he treats practically as his own, and he has all the usufruct upon them.” 5 Tt is said that some treasurers have made as high as $20,000 a year,” “Yes, some have made fully that much, while others have made , very small amounts. As I said, it all depends upon the ability to handle money. The condition of the money market, however, has much to do with the compensation. If there is a strong demand for money the office is all the more remunerative, but if the banks are full of currency and there is more money seeking investment than is needed by borrowers, it is not good for the Treasurer. The few fees of the office' and certain allowances made by the County Commissioners about pay the running expenses of the office.” “What is there in the auditor’s office?”

‘Tt is not as good a paying office as it was formerly, say before the time of Justus C. Adams, and not nearly as profitable as it is supposed to be. Still it is a good paying office. The office that has increased in importance, so far as the fees to the incumbent are concerned, more satisfactorily than any other is that of recorder. I think it is now, in some respects, the best office in the court house. It is run on a cash basis, the fees received from filing mortgages and making transfers of real estate determining the income of the recorder, In tfie last three years the real estate business has greatly increased and the transfers are becoming more and more numerous. The prosperity of the recorder is an indication of the activity of the real estate business and the general welldoing of the community,” “And the sheriff’s office?”

* ‘Not at all what it once was. When all the county prisoners and those from the city court as well were fed by the sheriff, and not carted off to the workhouse, it was the best paying office in the county, though only for two years. I have been told that before the workhouse was established the sheriff’s boarding house made from $6,000 to SB,OOO a year clear profit. The office does not now pay more than half what it once did.” “What about the clerk’s office?” • ‘The compensation of the clerk depends wholly upon fees, predicated upon litigation. In panicky times, when failures bring about suits, the clerk’s harvest follows. The Superior Court docket will now run from seventy-five to one hundred cases to a terfflj that is so many cttSßS7“”hot to each room, but to the three rooms of that court. In 1875, 1876 and along there the average was fully that number to the room, and there were four rooms. The Superior Court judges in that time frequently had reason to complain of overwork, and the clerk’s office was often illuminated late at night, and deputies were at work trying to keep up with the business of the day. The probate business of the Circuit Court runs about uniformly through the year, but the fees in that class of cases allowed by statute are not large. Legislatures, in dealing witb the estates of dead and insane persons, have been considerate of the interests involved and made the fees light. I have known, to return to the subject of litigation in tho years following the panic, as many as two hundred cases in one room of the Superior Court at one term. The only class of litigation that is on the increase is the divorce cases. When these cases are counted and deducted from the docket it will be found that the docket will be scant. About all that the clerk gets out of a divorce suit is the $2 that is deposited when the case is filed, and over 20 per cent, of the cases on docket this term are divorce cases. ”

Does the clerk lose many fees?” ‘‘A good many, and the Sheriff toa. A man beaten in a law-suit wriggles out of paying costs whenever he can. It is a good deal like a physician trying to collect a bill after the patient has passed into the hands of the funeral director. Both the auditor's office and that of the recorder are fee offices, and the collection of their fees is easy and prompt. The sheriff’s fees and those of the clerk, as they depend on the settlement of cases, are slow in coming in, sometimes lingeringfor years and forming an exasperating Sort of revenue for a long time after the inoumbent has gone out of office, hut the older a fee gets the harder it k to collect” ‘There’s a bright side, isn’t there, to this falling on: in business in the olerk’e and sheriff’s offioes?” 1 ‘Well, yes; but not to those officials. The best ervidanoe of healthful business fep a oomm unity is this same falling off of foeain those ofßoes. This is feSHag to be one of the best oitfea in

the United States for a lawyer to enA grate from. The panic taught a greSi many lessons to the people of thrift community, one of wMch was that a man could not always collect money simply by getting a judgment against a debtor. Business men have learned that the way to protect themselves i A not to rush into litigation and adjust matters at the end of a lawrsuit, but to come to an understanding at the beginning. This class of businesslikeavoidance of litigation is a source of income to a number of lawyers in this city. Formerly office advice furnished by lawyers cost but little, as they; humoring the views of their clients, preferred to contest in the courts, now the fees paid for office advice are arge, but no larger than they should be, and quiet settlement of causes saves money and exasperation. There are men in the community with large business dealings whose names never appear upon the court dockets. They employ aif attorney before they enter into a business transaction, and are thoroughly informed against mistakes. TMs is a civilized business method, and shows a healthful financial condition.