148 
Urdalil—Historical Survey of Fee Systems . 
CHAPTER IX. 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE FEE SYSTEM AS SHOWN BY THE 
STATE AND FEDERAL STATUTES. 
The foregoing treatment of the changes in the Federal fee 
system, illustrates incidentally a tendency which manifests it¬ 
self in the development of almost every state or municipality in 
the United States. This tendency is to pass from a primitive 
fee-system to a salary system. The forces which make this 
change necessary and desirable, lie in the economic conditions 
of a rapidly growing and progressive community. In a static 
society, a society in which neither wealth nor population are in¬ 
creasing, the fee-system of remunerating public servants may, 
with effectual supervision and wise administration, continue for 
any period of time without resulting in either needless expense 
or fraud of any kind. But in a progressive community, like 
any one of our large cities or even states, it has been impossi¬ 
ble so far to frame any system or schedule of fees which will be 
economical and still not be unjust to the fee-paid officer. A 
purely clerical office in a city may, with a certain schedule of 
fees, yield $5,000 this year; and next year, on account of the 
rapid growth of the city or a revival in business, it may yield 
five times that amount, or because of business stagnation, pro¬ 
duce only a small fraction of it. If any schedule should be made 
absolutely just, it would require that the fees be adjusted to eco¬ 
nomic conditions each year by men who could forecast accurately 
the future and take into consideration all possible changes and 
chances. Such conditions are Utopian. No legislature or 
county board can foresee how much business a district court is 
going to have in a certain year. Fees, especially those of local 
officers, when once fixed are not likely to be changed very soon. 
The inertia of such legislation is very great; all the political 
forces are against it. The growth of population may cause a 
certain position to yield fabulous sums within a very few years. 
This continues until some scandal reveals the true condition of af- 
