The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-14
The Board of Pardons Bill.


uuon the belief that such board is I'M
necessary. The fact is pointed uut that tee
/ governor takes 20 d many pleasure trips,
and that if he were as busy as tie advo-
| Gates Of this bill assert he would not be able
| 10 be away from his Office SO much.
/ AS a matter Of fact. the governor doesn't
| often 60 outside Of the state, aCd when lie
| does it is generally in connection with some
matter in which the state is interested, and
which requires his personal attention. The
/ governor may not be in his Office all the
! time during business hours, but it is prob
ably true that he can lie found there
| generally.
But if the governor should spend about
oil his time in his flee would he able to
act intelligently upon all the applications
fer pardon which are presented to himt
The probability is that he would not. If
we are not misInformed there are now hun
| dreds of applications waiting for his action.
1t would require several da IS to get a thor
ough acquaintance with the papers filed
with some OF the appl cations. In these
papers are petitions. alleged Low evidence,
long explanatory statements. ard, very
ottel, all the testimony that was taken at
the trials. Those who file applications do
not take into Consideration the fact that tae
time Of the governor is pretty fully occu-
pied. II he were to devote to these apnlica-
tions for p1rdors all the time required for
their co siderstion he would not be able to
d. anything else.
The governor HIS besn quito severely
criticised on several occasions for granting
pardons. He has been asked whetl err he
thought that be was dong right when he
has granted pardOls to convicts who have
cost the cou ties in which they were tried
hundreds and perhaps thousands Of dollars
10 secure their conviction. There is no
doubt that he acted conscieniiously, bat it
doesn't follow on that account hat h.
acted justly. The convicts he pardoned
may not have deserved pardons He may
not have had time, however, to make a
careful and close investigation of the cases
of the pardoned men. All he could do in
the limited time at his command was to
notice the names recommending the
pardons, and perhaps to glance at the main
facts # the cases.
1t Is impossible n him TO act with th e
delibcration and care which the imp lrtance
of pardons lmperatively demands. He does
not want to do injustice TO coavIcts apply
ing for pardons, and he does not wa It to
iujure society By releasing from confine-
ment those who will improve the first OBJ
portunity that presents itself to prey upon
it.
II 1t be true that there are hundreds of an
ilIcatlons for pardons pending in the govern
ors office, that fact is a strong argument in
I yor of a board of pardons. If the gov
ernor had the time to consider them he
would not permit them TO remain unno-
ticed month after month. He would dis
pose of them as they were presented That
they accumulate IS pretty strong evidence
that he hasn't time to a tend to them.
1t will not DO denied that applications
for pardon should be acted upon as quickly
as possible. In hundred applications there
may not be more than one that should be
granted. That one, however, should be
granted promptly, and to reach that one
the hundred others must be studied closely.
An innocent man should not be Kept in the
penitentiary day longer than is absolutely
necessary. In order to determine whether
there innocent men among the convIc S
all applications for pardon should be at
tended to without unnecessary delay.
The pending bill may not be just what is
needed If it isn't it should be so amended
as to remedy the evil which is sought to be
corrected. There is no need for creating
offices with big salaries attached to them.
The board should be composed # men who
do not reside far from the state capital and
who would, for reasonable compensation.
meet once week or month to pass upon
the applications that may be on file. They
| should be paid by the day, and for each day
they serve the state
OF course there is a general feeling against,
creating any more offices or imposing any
more burdens upon the taxpayers, but this
feeling ought not to stand in the way of
legislation that seems to be absolutely nee
eSSary.