Morning journal and courier., 1885-12-30
Wednesday, December go, 1883
| BILL THAT OUGHT TO PASS

A BILL THAT OUGHT TO PASS
 In his message the President called atten- ti0n to 8 matter which has long needed at tention, namely, the payment of United States marshals and district attorneys by fees. He said concerning the practice: It is a direct inducement to them to make their fees in criminal cases as large ss possible in effort to reach the maximum sum per mitted. As an entirely natural consequence, interruptions marshals are found encourag- ing frivolous prosecutions, arresting people on petty charges of crime and transporting them to distant places for examination and trial for the purpose of earning mileage and other fees. And district attorneys uselessly attend criminal examinations far from their places of residence for the express purpose of swelling their accounts against the govern ment
 Concerning the suggestion that more cases might be tried by United States commission CTS, the President said in his message: Such trials might be made to depend upon the op- tion of the accused The multiplication of small and technical offences, especially under the provisions of our internal revenue law, render some change in our present system very desirable in the interests of humanity as well as of economy. The district courts are now crowded with petty prosecutions in- volving punishment in eases of conviction of only slight fine, while the parties accused are harassed by an enforced attendance upon courts held hundred of miles from their homes. If poor and friendless they are obliged to remain in jail for months perhaps before session of the court is held and are finally brought to trial surrounded by stran- gers and with but little opportunity for de- fence. In the meantime frequently the mar shal has charged against the government his fees for an arrest, the transportation of the accused and the expense of the same, and for summoning witnesses before commis- sioner grand jury and court. The wit nesses have been paid from the public funds large fees and travelling expenses, and the commissioner and district attorney have also made their charges against the government.
 It is pleasing to see that there is disposi- tion to remedy the evils thus plainly and for cibly set forth and also to make other needed changes in the judiciary system. A bill is being prepared at the department of justice for the purpose. Its main features will be the transfer of all the original jurisdiction of the circuit courts to the district courts and an increase in the number and salary of judges for the latter; an addition of judges to the circuit courts and constituting them exclusively courts of appeal, reasonably lim- iting appeals thereto; further restriction of the right to remove causes from the State to federal courts; permitting appeals to the Supreme court from the courts of the Dis trlct of Columbia and the territories only in the same cases as they are allowed from State courts, and guarding against an unnec- essary number of appeals from the circuit courts There will also be provision fixing the compensation of United States marshals and district attorneys by salaries instead of by fees, and probably provision investing United States commissioners with the power to try and determine certain violations of law within the grade of misdemeanors.
 This bill, which will be offered after the holiday recess, ought to pass. The changes which it provides for are much needed.