190 Urdahl—The Present Fee System in the United States. 
based on the returns for the first six months, will be $4,861,465, 
as compared with $6,675,239 for 1896, which was the cost un¬ 
der the fee-system. This shows a total saving of $1,813,774 in 
spite of the fact that the volume of business is on the increase. 
The specific items in which this reduction is made as given in 
the report of the attorney general are as follows: 
Salaries and expenses of marshals. $2,995,541 50 
Expenses for bailiffs... 94,920 40 
Expenses for jurors.. 215,306 09 
Expenses for district attorneys. 192,042 81 
In miscellaneous expenses there is an increase of $2,646 over 
the preceding year. One item which most forcibly illustrates 
the extravagance of the fee system, is the mileage of United 
States attorneys and their assistants, which amounted to $93,908 
for the fiscal year 1896, while according to the estimates the 
maximum expense under the new system will not exceed $6,000. 
These figures illustrate, better than volumes of discussion, the 
economic advantages of the new system, and the wastefulness 
of the old method of remuneration. 
But the diminution of the sums paid to public officials as sal¬ 
aries and for other purposes, represents by no means all the gain 
which accrues to the public from this change. The attorney 
general puts this very admirably when he says: — 
In districts where the “ abuses of the fee system have flour¬ 
ished without interruption for a generation, fewer persons are 
called from their daily pursuits; private business suffers less 
interruption; is less frequently disturbed by groundless prose¬ 
cutions and dread of them; the number of persons who as in¬ 
formers, professional witnesses, and the like, seek to gain a 
livelihood by methods which often cause, and always threaten, 
the prostitution of judicial proceedings, is largely diminished 
and the general morale has been raised. There is every reason 
to believe that there has been and will be no failure to promptly 
and effectively enforce the laws. ” 
The salary system is not as yet extended to deputy field mar¬ 
shals, as their services are only required intermittently; nor 
are the clerks of court brought under this requirement, but it 
is probable that they will be in the near future. 
This result of the application of the new system to the Fed- 
