Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1873-10-17
AN ELECTIVE Judiciary.

An amendment 10 the Constitution Is
pending in New York, providing for filing
future vacancies in the courts by appoint
ment instead of by election. 1t has called
out considerable discussion, An important
contribution to which is pamphlet by
Mr.. Dorman B. Eaton. in support of the
amendment. From an early period to
1876, the judges in New York were APP
pointed by the Governor; since 1916 the,
have been elected by the people. Hence
both methods have been practically testet
in The State, with results which if properly
ascertained ought to go far towards set
Ting the question as to which is the better
Mr.. Eaton presents an array of facts in
his pamphlet which are important They
are taken from statistics gathered in thirty
counties in 1867, to disclose the facts of
the judicial situation, and extend over the
period from 1916 to 1866 They show for
each of the counties the respective popu-
lation at the dates, the number of Grim
inals in each county. the year arrested and
brought before the court and the number
tried. According to this showing the
number of criminals greatly increased,
and the number of trials largely decreased
under the elective system. AS an eX-
ample take the facts in Erie county. The
population of that county was in 1915,
1865; in 1865 it was Isl, $50. The total
number brought before the court in 1917
and 1913, the closing years of the appoint
i've method, was 2sl; in 1865 and 1866
the whole number brought before the
court was 1893. The whole number tried
in 1S47 and 1s4S was III; the whole num-
Der tried in 1865 and 1866 was 101. Thus
in the two years under the appointment
system, almost one-half of those arrested,
liz out of PSI, were brought to trial; but
after the elective system had been in OPP
Grafton eighteen years, less than one in
seveE-101 only out of 79S-of those
brought before the court were ever tried.
In Albany county the proportion of those
tried to those arrested fell from one-third
to little more than one-seventh in eighteen
years. In Suffolk the ratio of those tried
to the number brought before the court
fell from one-halt to one fourth. In Lewis
the chance for murderer or horse thief
to escape trial was three times as good in
1866 as in l847. In Scoharie and Wash
ington counties, amongst an agricultural
population, the facts all pointed the same
way, to increase of crime and decrease of
judicial efficiency under the elective svs-
tenn.
The record is the same in city and coun-
try. whether the population is stationary
or increasing. in the old counties along
the sea or in those of the interior or bv the
western lakes; criminals increasing.
trials decreasing; the idle, vicious and
violent classes requiring arrest multiplv-
ing faster than honest, law abidinc peo-
pie; and decisive proofs appearing of the
dangerous ineficiency and criminal CON
nivance of elected judicial officers ar
it were possible to get at the complete
facts" says Mr.. Eaton, there is reason 70
believe the statistics of crime committed
and UNPUBLISHED in great cities won d give
a still more fearful admonition. The
alarming increase of such crime in oul
cities is well known, but the necessar,
records for such comparison do not exist
All well-informed persons know how mucl
fewer are the crimes, and how much
prompter criminal justice is administered
in Boston, where all the Judges and
Justices have at all times been appointed
than here. in Brooklyn. or in Philadelphia
where they have been elected"
Mr.. Eaton also makes comparisons be-
tween the city of New York and London.
the latter having an appointive judiciary,
going to show that criminals are about
three times as safe in New York as in
London. Other facts are added, the
whole making telling argument in favor
of the adoption of the amendment making
judges appointive instead of Gle tive.