Daily Los Angeles herald., 1879-05-02
A ROuSING DEMONSTRATION.
Grand Outpourlng Of ths Masses Opposed to
tho New Oonstitution-Eloquent Speeches
by Hon. Byron Waters, Prof. Lip2et and
Charles A. Sumner.

NueAtSs ~ RhAhShs
There was a tremendous outpour-
ing OF the opponents OF the new
Constitution In front of the Cosrno.
politan Hotel last night. At eight
o'clock fully twenty-five hundred
voters were drawn up in front of
the stand. The adjoining balconies
and windows were crowded with
ladies.
At eight O'Clock the meeting was
called to order by Mr.. D. NJ. Berry,
who nominated DR.. Joseph Kurtz
as President.
DR.. Kurtz, on taking the chair,
made short and stirring address,
dwelling upon the importance of the
issues upon which the people were
called upon to decide on the 7th of
May, ensuing. He said that II he
were very rich man, or very
poor man who had yielded to des
pair, he should desire to see the
new organic law adopted; but, be-
ing in middling circumstances, and
desiring to see the State prosper,
that he might prosper with 1t, he
should stand by the Constitution
under which California had known
SO many prosperous years.
Mr.. ID. M. Berry was unanimous
ly elected Secretary of the meeting
aud the following list of Vice-Pres-
idents was read:
w. II. Perry, Pedro GARLIC, J. X.
Skinner, G. +. Collins, II. s. Baker,
Louis WolfskiIl, B. Cohn, Romulo
PicO, w. 3. Moore, G.. 8. Patton,
f. Hollenbeck, w. II. Workman,
F. Ganahl, A. II. Dsnker, J. NJ
Griffith, H. II. Hazard, T.. NJ. Ross
and o. H. Bliss.
The Chairman introduced Hon.
Byron Waters, of San Bernardino,
as the first speaker. Mr.. Waters
proceeded to deliver an address of
great force and cugency, which was
substantially AS follows:
Referring to the new Constitu
tion, Mr.. Waters said that every
ism and prejudice known for the
last hundred years had its repre-
sentatives on the fipor. 1t was a
house divided against itself, and
outside of some forty sections taken
from the old Constitution, there Is
scarce one which embodies the ideas
of q majority Of the Convention.
They We're put in by majority Of
quorum. The Convention had
not been In session above three or
four days before some hundreds of
propositions were submit ted on all
kinds of foolish propositions. 1t
was sufficient to run any ordinary
man crazy. Thus the Convention
was kept In a constant turmoil from
the beginning to the end of its ses.
sion In matters not at all connected
with the issues for which the Con.
vention had been called, namely,
the questions of taxation and ju-
dietary.
Mr.. Waters next asserted that
the three great divisions of Repub.
lican government-of all govern
ments except despotisms and mon
archies-had been wholly violated
and jumbled together like eggs in
an omelet. Instead of u Republic
there was set up centralized form
of government. The one.man
power was visible all through the
document.
THE PROPOSED ABOLITION OF THE
GRAND JURY.
Let us take the first instance of
IL. "Offenses heretofore required
to- be prosected by indictment shall
be prosecuted by information, after
examination and commitment by
u magistrate, or by indictment,
with or without such examination
or com mitment as may be pre-.
scribed by law. A Grand Jury
shall be summoned at least once a
year in each county," Now sup.
pose you know what that means.
That means the abolition of the
grand jury system in this State.
Now there has got to be somebody
to accuse Of crime - somebody,
some individual or some imperson.
al body like the grand jury. One
of the beauties of the grand jury
system Is that it is ancient. The
next beauty of 1t is that it is i'm.
personal. No two grand juries In
this State are ever composed of the
same individuals. Think of it.
The same men never sit twice as a
body on any two grand juries. 1t
is impersonal. 1t is not set up as a
permanent body or board of indi.
viduals who are for a given time
to accuse people of crime in tn g
county, but it Is first one, then an
other, aud then another, that is
brought In. 1t can never be said
that this man for two years has
been harrassing the people, or any
individual of the people, with ac-
cusations against him of crime.
How will it be under the new sys-
tenn? They have abolished the
grand jury system, because of its
cost, they say. I tell you, gentle
men, when you abolish 1t you will
find out the price at which you do
1t. You don't know what you pro
pose to do. You know how much
the payroll of the grand jury foots
up, but ayou don't know the value
of 1t. When 1t Is gone you will
then. perhaps, after a few years, be
competent to calculate the value OF
the grand jury. hope you may
not have to do 1t. All the speakers
that L ever heard in the Conven
ton sad sluQa lbCd uEt or the on
veutiou, who haVa 9d Vasate3 Poo
. absiiiiqu of thH trs1n jury sy fm
have MI based Fl. oG ths gcst Hav.
t1ey ever fe1rs1 oi plpel to mas,
; an ratiUHts 50 f0 tla 4uGrs95sd aG