One Judge for Two Counties: Seattle's Judge Osborn Wants the Bench Trimmed

The problem of cutting down the expenses of the judicial department of the government is now receiving considerable attention, and has been brought before the legislature by the governor's message. It is thought that successful retrenchment may be secured in the superior courts by redistricting the state and thereby lessening the number of judges on the bench. There are now twenty-four superior judges for the thirty-four counties of the state, and the salary of each is fixed at $3,000 per year.

The judicial department is in this respect somewhat singular as compared with other departments, the salaries of clerks, sheriffs, auditors and all county officials being regulated according to population. In King county the sheriff receives the same salary as a superior judge, and has an advantage, from a financial point of view, in that he is given the contract for boarding the county prisoners, which is supposed to yield a fair income.

The above matters have been made a subject of thought by Judge Osborn, of this city, who believes a decrease in the number of judges would result in a material saving to the state; but if the present system of districts is to be maintained he thinks the salaries should be equalized and made proportional to the amount of responsibility placed upon the judges. The state, in his opinion, should be classified for judicial purposes the same as in other respects, and the salaries of the judges who have much to do should be increased and the salaries of those who do little made proportionately small. This could be accomplished without increasing the aggregate expense, and, in fact, would be along the line of the recommendation of Gov. McGraw to consolidate some of the judicial districts.

Judge Osborn said: "There is an inequality, an injustice, I may call it, which has not yet been touched upon, and that is the salaries. A judge in King county receives the same salary as a judge in a smaller county, while the amount of work done is perhaps in the ratio of 4 to 1. The judges in the less populated counties could easily do twice as much work, and, while it is inconvenient in some respects to have a court without terms, the judge could easily arrange to cover the territory assigned to him. Take Clallam and Jefferson counties, for instance. One judge, it seems to me, could attend to all the litigation of both, and then not have half the amount of labor imposed on him as is imposed on each of the judges of King county.

"I should say that under the present system the salaries should be raised in counties of the first class. Too little premium is placed on acquired knowledge. In my judgment, counties should be classified according to the ability acquired. Here, for example, a judge is called upon to decide questions involving delicate phases of municipal law and the intricate relations of commercial transactions. In some of the counties of the state nothing is required of a judge except a knowledge common to fourth-rate lawyers, sufficient to pass upon the relations of farmers to each other, and now and then to straighten out the complications of a real estate contract. In such counties only a limited knowledge is required, while here there must be a diversity of legal attainments.

"The King County sheriff is paid $2,000 a year, or the same as a superior judge. When one considers the vast difference in qualification for the two offices, the inequity of the system becomes apparent. Throughout the state the salaries of county officers are not fixed, while one judge is paid as much as any other, no matter how little he does."

The judges of the superior court for the state are as follows: King county—T. J. Humes, Richard Osborn, J. W. Langley; Pierce—W. H. Pritchard, Emmet N. Parker, John C. Stallcup; Spokane and Stevens—Jesse Arthur, Norman Buck, J. Z. Moore; Klickitat—Solomon Smith; Clallam—James G. McClinton; Jefferson—R. A. Ballinger; Whitman—E. H. Sullivan; Snohomish and Kitsap—John C. Denny; Chelan and Mason—Mason Irwin; Skagit and Island—Henry McBride; Kittitas and Yakima—C. B. Graves; Walla Walla and Franklin—William H. Upton; Whatcom and San Juan—J. R. Winn; Clarke, Cowlitz and Skamania—Judge Miller; Pacific, Lewis and Wahkiakum—W. W. Langhorne; Columbia, Garfield and Asotin—R. F. Sturrlevant; Lincoln, Adams, Okanogan and Douglas—Wallace Mount.

Judge Osborn, as already indicated, suggests the combination of Jefferson and Clallam into one district, and he also thinks that Thurston county, which now has no judge, owing to the elevation of Judge Gordon to the supreme bench, could be attached to Pierce. Klickitat county, he thinks, has far from enough litigation to keep one judge busy, and should be united with some other district.

As to justices of the peace, Judge Osborn thinks they should receive a small salary to pay them for the time spent in consideration of criminal cases, and that the remainder of their compensation should be made up from fees in civil business. The system is now based upon the theory that the justices should be left entirely free to decide cases without reference to fees, but in practice this has been found to result in loss to the taxpayers, because many odds and ends of small expense are never paid, whereas if the officers were stimulated by the prospect of getting their fees out of the litigants the bills would be collected.