The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1885-01-14


[ ports and public documents te
: which they may be severally enti-
r tied. There is no reason why these
, books should not be shipped direct
: lv from the State Printer. If this
, system should be adopted, it will
, make a very considerable saving to
: the State in the handling of the
: books alone, and viii also leave
very little excuse for the further ex-
istence ofthe offices of Senate Libra
rian and Resident Clerk of the
. House. The office OF Senate Libra
rian is glaring instance of a pure
ly needless and costly office This
. Office and the Resident Clerk of the
House, which is equally unnecessary
and extravagant, ought to be at once
abolished.
I JUSTICE Is TOO SLOW.
4 | would suggest to the General
/ Assembly the possibility of some
legislative enactment to prevent in
capital cases, the great lapse of time
that so often inte,venes between the
commission of the offnse and the
punishment of the offender. 1t IS
seldom in these days that less than
a year elapses from the time homi-
eide Is committed and the penalty of
the law is enforced, and the ingenui-
ty of counsel often succeeds in pro-
tracing the delay TO greater period.
This tardiness in the administration
of criminal Justice is not a commend
able feature il our Jurisprudence.
W hile it is true that certainty of
punishment Is primarily to be
sought in the execution of criminal
laws rather than speed, yet delibera-
ton, when protracted to such an ex-
tent &s to become delay. is in reality
a mocker Of justice. Our laws are
sufficiently Jealous of the rights Of
defendants in capital cases to pre-
vent any indecant haste in their trial
and punishment, but it may be seri-
ously questioned whether the op-
portunities for delay offered by ex-I
listing statutes do not tend 10 defeat
the most salutary public purposes
OF our penal code. 1t Is now often
I the case that prisoners are executed
at time when the public mas ceas-
ed TO think of them or their crimes,
and so long after the commission of
the offense that the people have lost
all recollection of 1t, and need to
make inquiry anew to ascertain the
reason why one oftheir fellows is be-
ing hanged. When this occurs il is /
doubtful ifany other good is accom-
plished than merely iniicting the
vengeance of the law upon the body
OF the particular offender The pub |
lie lesson is lost, and the impression
intended to be made upon the
minds Of the vicious, and all Others,
Of the certain, prompt and inexor-
able majesty of retributive human
justice is, to a great extent. DESTROY
ed.
Provision should be made requir-
ing capital cases taken to the Su-
Prene Court to be perfected by the
defendants, and heard and decided
by that court within sixty days after
judgment on the verdict, and giving
such cases priority over all others
at any OF the sessions and in any
district of the court. After affirma-
ton by the Supreme Court the law /
should require the warrant of execu-
tion to issue Immediately, fixing the
day of execution not less than so nor
more than so days from its issue, |
and the Board of Pardons should be
required to hear and determine all
such cases before the day fixed for
execution of sentence.
SALARIES FOR STATE OFFICERS.
l recommend the fixing of a def
mite salary for the Secretary of the
Commonwealth and the ATTORNEY
General. In this connection occas-
ion is also taken to urge the passage
of a law fixing a specific salary for
members OF the General Assembly.
The existing law upon this subject,
while technical compliance with,
is in reality an evasion of, the con-
stitutional direction that the MEN,
bers shall be paid salary" to be
fixed by law There can be nc
doubt that the popular understand
ing Of that provision, and of the
meaning of the word salary" is
that the compensation of legislators
shall be by a certoin specific and
InvarIable sum, not regulated in its
amount by the action or non-action
of the legislators themselves. In the
popular mind, at least, the word
salary has obtained Specification
contradistinguished from the idea of
pay by the day. Moreover, the de-
bates IN the convention UPON this
clause of the constitution. and the
public discussion OF the question at
the time, leave no room Tor doubt
that per diem compensation OF the
Legislature was regarded as an evil, !
and that the section upon legislative
pay embodied in the fundamental
law was intended to abrogate that
method of official recompense. The
act of 1876, however, fails to carry
out the spirit and intent of the con-
and continues the per
diem idea,if not in all its provisions,
at least in that part OF it giving mem
bers $40 day for each day not ex-
eeeding 90 that the Legislature ex-
tends its session beyond 100 days.
The result has been to bring scandal
and reproach upon the Legislature
among the people, who have not
hesitated to suspect that the pro-
longation Of the sessions, by the
General Assembly, to the utmost
limit of time for which compensa-
ton could be claimed, has been for
the sole purpose Of increasingits pay
to the last dollar it NAV lawfully
take from the treasury. Such dis
trust by the people of the motives
of their representatives is thing to
be deplored, and urgently demands
correction. The Legislature, there
fore, for the preservation Of its own
dignity and the protection Of itself
from the imputation of selfish and
unpatriotic motives, as well as IN
IN n Dla;n n11hlic demand