Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1893-04-10

ED. JouHrALi--f have received re.
pested enquiries of citizens living 10 81.
most siI parts of Marion county In ref.
efence 10 the provisions Of house bill
No. ~. presented by Mr.. Ofmsby, and
its history from lie inception until lie
defeat Ia the senate. II reads rs fol.
lows.
House bill No. e4, introduced by Mr.
Orm'by, by request and read flrt time
January II, 1893.
A bill 10 Increase the per diem Of
jurors In certain cases, be II enacted by
the legislative assembly Of the State Of
Oregon.
Section I. That all jurors summoned
10 appear before justice Of the peace,
q city recorder when acting as ex -ofIiclo
justice OF the peace, a coroner on bold
ing IN inquest over dead body, or be
fore any other court, shall be entitled
10 an allowance of two dollars per day,
for each day in actual service. and To
the further sum Of ten cents per mile
In going 10 the place Of holding court,
and returning thsrefrom to the place Of
residence.
Section II. In al cases where q ju-
ryman 10 summoned to appear before
any Of the courts above enumerated.
II rejected for cause or otherwise, he
shall be entitled to an allowance Of one
days service and mileage as above speci
fed.
Section iii. All acts or part Of acts
inconsistent with this act are hereby
repealed.
Section Nv. This act shall be 10
force from and after Its approval by the
governor.
The history of the above bill Is as fol.
lows:it was presented by Captain Orms-
by on the llth day Of January, 1893 and
read first and second time in Its regular
order and was then referred to the judi
ciary committee wher 1t remained for
two or three weeks unreported, and In
the mean time was called before said
committee to explain the necessity of
such measure; this did as l thought
to the satisfaction Of every member of
said committee except one, and that one
was member from our own county,
who declared himself openly against
said measure, 80 this matter stood for
considerable time longer, but was final
ly reported to the house with recon-
mendation that 1t do not pass. The
house Immediately took the bill up aud
after . heated discussion on the merits
and demerits Of the bill it was passed;
yeas 3s, nays II. 1t was Immediately
sent 10 the senate, where 1t took Its reg
ular order aud was read first and second
time and referred to the Judiciary COM
mittee, where Ii was kept until near the
end Of the session and reported with a
recommendation that 1t do not pass, and
was then indefinitely postponed, thus
the little bill received Its death blow by
the attorneys constituting the
judiciary committee. Why any attor
ney should oppose this measure is moi e
than l can see, is ceI eItainly no le-
gal questions are connected with II or at
tached to 1t, but II 1t had been passed II
would have been q matter of justice to
those Of our fellow citizens who will be
called on to serve as jurors In the said
courts above referred to.
There is 10 fact no reason why any
''attorn ey" should oppose the payment
OF this reasonable fee TO our jurors who
pay their taxes regularly as any other
class and are obedient to all the laws of
our country. If there In any reason
why jurors should be- made to serve
their country without pay, while other
persons who are no better than they re-
ceive full pay for oil their work, 1 |
would like for some Of those talented
gentlemen to step forward aud give us
q clear solution OF the case. fear, how
ever, that the only reason for this oppo-
sition was that those gentlemen" fear
their clients will be little like our
old friend Joseph l.. Meek was, who
was the first m arshal Of the territory
Of Oregon. i think the incident am
going to relate happened at Oregon
City In lsis or %. Judge O. q. Pratt
was holding court, and when the court
was about over the jury aud witnesses,
Ill appeared before the marshal and be-
yan TO demand their pay. but Uncle Joe
Meek was equal to the emergency aud
to them all that there was no
money for them, for said he "there Is
'ah-ly enough for the officers" II it
had been true that the opposition to
his bill was on account Of increasing
'ur taxes, A. some OF the opponents
tatsd, l could have passed Il by. but as
am lead to believe this was not the
Auss. from the way that appropria.
Ions were made for almost every pur.
zoe that human imaginAtions could