The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-07-09

"A memorandum note from the City Comptroller
states that the removed cases in the year 1859,
from December, 1858, to March inclusive 1859, in
vove cost of Sl0 0784.S8, with a bill not rendered
for over $4,000 more to be added.
The Grand Jury would remark, in continuation,
that if taxpayers will refer to their bills of the pre-
sent year, they will that the levy for the Crimi-
nal Court expenses is three and half (313) cents
every hundred dollars worth of assessed proper
ty. The present basis of the city assessment is one
hundred and thirty-fve millions (S35, 600 000) of
dollars The Criminal Court tax for the present
year is consequently forty-seven thousand two hun
dred and fifty (S47, ,250) dollars, which is about
four thousand per month"; or Sl33 for every day in
the year, Sundays included. This tax is precisely
one-thrd 90 of the sum levied for the support of
the public schools, including the salaries of
teachers, and the education of over twelve
thousand children. But besides the regular direct
tax thus imposed for the payment of the Criminal
Court expenses, it is believed that considerable
also paid into it in the shape of fees, fines
and costs.
The Grand Jury would further present that from
circumstances which have come to their knowledge,
they cannot but believe that a large amount of the
expenses of the Criminal Court, which ought to be
paid by other parties is unnecessarily ifnot impro
perlv thrown upon the city of Baltimore. Brief
this seems to be the case.
1t rarely happens that the daily papers do not
give reports of cases in which parties placed by
Magistrates under security to keep the peace. How
utterly futile such proceedings are is evidenced by
the fact that after having given such security, the
same party is again and again reported, and some
times at intervals of very few days. being arrest
ed other charges involving breaches of the peace
taken before the same some other Magistrate,
and again put under security to keep the peace All
the bonds recognizances thus given by him re-
naming in the clerks office, worthless for any
practical purpose, many pieces ofwaste paper.
But it may not be generally known that for every
bond or recogniZance of this kind returned by the
Magistrates to the Clerk of the Criminal Court the
city is charged and pays for fees to different officers
the sum of 3625 cents in each These recogni-
appear to be returned directly by the Magis-
trates to the Clerks office, and yet other officers of
the Court who have nothing whatever to do with
them receive according to the evidence before the
Grand Jury, fees from the city upon all of them
How much is thus exacted from the city every year
the Grand Jury have not ascertained, but the ag-
gragate amount is considerable. They submit if
this useless form must continue to be gone through,
the parties giving security shall at least be required
to pay the fees accruing in the Criminal Court, as
well as those in the Magistrate office not only in the
ofrecognzances to keep the peace, but in many
others also, when rccognzances of parties indicted
to appear in court forfeited costs to large
amount thrown upon the city which ought to be
collected from the individuals falling to appear,
from their securities 1t has been stated in evil
dence before this jury, that in such it is
tomary to order the recognizances to be forfeited
and attachments to issue thereon, but that very
often nothing further is done in the matter until
the close of the term, when entries made on the
docket which dispose of the cases. and the costs of
forfeiture and attachment alike charged to the
city. Another injustice done to the city consists in
charging upon her treasury any part ofthe costs
incurred by attempts to collect the of the
state, as a revenue measure. The State requires
traders in various articles annually to take out
licenses and to compel them to do so, it is made the
duty Of the Grand Jury, upon the information of
tie Sheriff, to find bills of indictments against all
delinquents. Now to say nothing of the policy of
setting all the machinery of the criminal law in mo-
ton to- ipVaa
to be but equitable that all costs incurred in the
operation, il not collected from the offenders
should be paid by the State, for whose sole benefit
the proceedings are instituted. But this is by
no means the practice 1t must sometimes
happen that the party informed against and
indicted, has actually not violated the law, or
that for other the State does not succeed in
cOnvcting him. In all such cases the Grand Jury
understand that the city has to pay the costs. In
one batch of '1iquor" cases, occurring during the
last twelve months, number of indictments were
found against various parties After trial of one
or more of these, the States officer, acting,
are bound to suppose, as he thought best for the
interests of the State, compromised the cases, each
party indicted paying costs on one of the indict-
ments found against him, the others being all 'stet
ted j" and the costs thrown upon the city. The
amount which the latter had to pay in these cases
has been variously estimated by different officers
examined before this jury, at $500 to 81 ,000
The Grand Jury also respectfully present. as an
evil not contemplated by the Constitution, the
large salaries emoluments received from the fees
and costs above referred to- and from other sources
by subordinate officers of the Criminal Court
Whilst the salaries of Judges, Clerks, &C.. are reg
ulated, and are not to exceed certain prescribed
amounts, the Grand Jury cannot suppose that it
was designed that other officers, upon whom is i'm
posed little or responsibility, shall annually re-
ceiye far higher amount cf compensation
yet the Grand Jury are informed that such is the
case.
| Repeated complaints have been made before the
| Grand Jury by parties who have conceived them
selves injured BY the official acts of constables and