The Dickinson press., 1883-12-08

or letters and parcels opened during. the year tc
money. amounting to $50. 647. %; 1905 con.
tanned drafts. checks. money orders, etc. represent.
ing 81, 3S !,99l.47;96,S0s contained merchandise
samples, books. ETC.. &c. 1877 contained postage
stamps: 40.215 contained receipts. paid notes, can.
eeled drafts. insurance papers. etc: 35.l6O con.
tanned photographs. From letters for which the
department failed to find owners the sum OF
$7.782.16 was separated aud deposited in the
United States treasury.
ATTORNE Y GENERALS REPORT.
IMPORTANT RECOMMENDATIONS.
The report of Attorney General Brewster is Z
comprehensive document. reviewing the worl
of the department of justice for the past year,
giving the present status Of the business before
the several courts, and making several i'm
portant recommendations.
The expenditures of the department for the fiscal
were $2.929,S SO $40. Deficiencies 1892, 600.
The attorney general that the number
OF witnesses which the United States shall be re-
Quired to summon and pay for any defendant lex
cept In capital cases. shall not exceed four. The
attorney general believes that inadequate COM
pensation to witnesses in the Territories causes
many suits to fail because of ill-w Of witnesses,
who avoid summons, or decline to obey, preferrlng
70 be taken to court on a bench warrant. He there
fore additional legislation to relieve
the people of those hardships. providing that wit
nesses aud jurors be paid their actual expenses in
gong to. while in attendance upon court, and re-
turning to their places of residence, in lieu of the
mileage and per diem now allowed by law.
TERRITORIAL DGE
Under the provision of existing laws there are
appointed in each of the Territories Except Da-
kotal one chief justice and two associate justices.
Much complaint is made by the bar and citizens
having business before Territorial courts that the
same judge who presides at the trials in the dis
trict courts also sits in the supreme court when his
decisions are reviewed. The justice of these COM
plants is so apparent that comment is unnecessary.
The matter is therefore submitted for your consid-
GRAFTON. Since it is essential that the supreme
court of each Territory should be composed of an
uneven number of judges, the public interes: re-
quires that q fourth judge should be appointed in
each of the Territories If the judge sitting below is
not to sit in review of his cases. Moreover, the
business in each of the Territories is sufficient to
Justify the appointment of another judge, making
four instead of three; there is, therefore. no rea-
sou why congress should. not grant the citizens Of
respect.
Recommendation is made for additional legisla-
ton for the protection of civil officers in the dis
insment of United States prisoners, and to modify
the law so as to make plain the fees aud duties of
jury commissioners: An early revision OF the fee
mends . fixed salary for United States marshals,
many of whom have encouraged frivolous leeisla-
ton to swell their fees to the maximum of $4,000
per annum. The same reasons, in favor of salaried
offices, apply with even more force to the United
States attorney.
1t is desirable that the attention Of congress
uOliu W ulIoCl0u I tuo WallL Va pTOp6E l0BlSlhllOu
for criminal cases. in order that the ~pleadings may
be simplifed, a uniform system of challenges pro-
vided, and the trials shorn of the technical obiec-
tions and numberless dilatory motions that can now
be interposed to prevent a speedy trial upon the
merits. Regarding the yerbiage In indictments,
the attorney general says: 10 reduce p%leadings to
would serve equally to the advantage of the gov
ernment and the defendant. There is no reason
why an indictment ought not to be adjudged suf-
f1cient and good in law. which charges the crime
substantially in the language of the act prohibiting
the crime and prescribing the punishment, or so
plainly that the nature Of the offense charged may
various other reforms in cases of criminal
procedure. with forms submitted for adoption.
Regarding laws in force in the District of Column
bia, the attorney general says that they are mat
ters involved in such o%bscurity and doubt that it
remains a legal puzzle, upon the solution of which
no two lawyers can agree. and there seems to he an
imperative necessity for the prompt adoption of q
civil and criminal code for the District.
JuR1Es IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
The evils that surround the jury system in the
District of Columbia demand condemnation. After
giving q history Of the present system. and the
The list is drawn from citizens. of the District.
To become a citizen Of the District is to lose the
right TO vote in any other place, hence a large class
OF intelligent and desirable residents are exempt
from jury duty. In the District there is no official
list, or list of voters, or assessors list of taxable
inhabitants. such as is found elsewhere. and the
I jury commissioners are, therefore. compelled to
depend upon their own knowledge, or in whatever
other way they may find it to be possible to obtain
the necessary information. On the first day of the
term It is usually found that about two-thirds of
each set of jurors answer to their names, the mar
shall having been unable TO find the other one
third. The first business in order 10 for the court
o hear the various excuses offered by the Jurors
who have been summoned. and who desire to he
relieved from duty. At this point it is in order TO
direct attention to the extraordinary fact that serv-
ice as a juror in the District means an enforced at
tendance at court and almost total abandonment of
private business for one-fourth Of the whole year,
a hardship and injustice that lie not imposed upon
citizens in any other place in the United States,
aud would not be tolerated 10 any community
where the people have a voice in framing their own
lave. Continuous absence and neglect of business
rally injure the interests of any bushes man.
Added to those who are excused on the ground
that their health would suffer from this arduous
service. are always found among the jurors several
who. although their names were placed in the jury
box. and they have responded to the summons
| are in public employment and therefore exempt.
In selecting talesmen the marshal may summon a
man or men from among the bystanders in court,
persons passing along the public streets. or from
any Of the stores. banks. counting houses, offices,
hotels, or residences in the city. If the method
adopted for selecting and procuring a jury is primi.
tive, inefficient, and censurable. the result attained
by that method cannot be sufficiently condemned
JURY FIXING.
It is the subject Of belief and common report
that the business of Jury fixing" hourishes to ar
alarming extent in the District. 1t is asserted thai
men live. support their families, and even become
rich in the practice of this refarious profession. A.
the jury system now exists. that INSCRIPTIONS mer
should safely conduct 2 lucrative business in de.
surprise. With but twenty-six jurors such al
usually serve. an active jury fxer would become
acquainted with at least two or three Of them in
few hours, and that would give him a strong
beginning in his efforts to thwart justice
1t is recommended. in the interest Of justice and al
a matter of economy, that the number of juror,
should be increased to forty eight, that the time o
service should be reduced to one month. that wher
a deficiency exists in the jury, that dedctenc
should be supplied from the box. and that an i'm
proved system OF drawing, selecting and summon
ing iuries should be adopted without delay.
SECURING JUSTICE FOR THE GOVERNMENT.
District of Columbia, which are for ofenses affect
ing the citizens Of the District alone, there arr
others of q public character which are against the
whole people of the United States. In every cast
where a government official has committed q crime
against the government he has been prosecuted
with determined vigor. When the crime has beer
has been accorded the government: but when tn
crime has been committed and tried within tn
District. justice has too frequently been denied the
government. A person in the employ Of the gov
eminent who betr.ys his public trust commits
crime against the United States. When that crime
Is perpetrated within the District, past e1per
Jury other than that engaged in the trial Q
the loca; crimes committed in the District
Laws have been passed by congress broad enough
to make every fraud or attempted fraud upon the
one great difficulty now encountered is the want o
a proper jury system with which to enforce thes4
laws. All plans to defraud the government. or t
eteal from the public treasury, no matter wher
contrived. are mostly consummated in Washington
and when the guilty parties are arrested their tria
must Of necessity take place before a Jury draw
in the District. The arrest of one set of defendant
brings to them the sympathy and active aid Of al
others engaged in similar schemes. II the defend
ants are wealthy. as is often the case. by a Liberia
expenditure of money they secure the acquaintanc
aud friendship Of prominent men who are OF a so
cial disposition, and whose open and public asso
citation and companiopship with the defendants l