The herald., 1893-06-04
THE POOR HAVE NO RIGHTS.

what the Governor of Illinois Says of tho
Wrongs Put Upon the Moneyless Man.
Practically there is at present neither
magma charta nor bill of rights for the
poor of our great cities. They have to
submit to insult, assault and false i'm
prisonment and have no remedy except
suit at law, which takes from three to
five years and requires time and money
to prosecute, SO they are practically
without any remedy. Any man, rich or
poor, taken into our higher courts, no
matter on what charge, can have jury
trial and full, fair hearing before SEN
tence can be pronounced against him,
but in the magistrates court they de-
prive him of jury trial by requiring
him to advance the jury fee, which,
when poor, he cannot do, SO that he
is compelled to submit to anything the
magistrate may do, which frequently
means anything that police officer may
wish to have done.
In the city of Chicago, where there are
number of magistrates sitting at the
same time, there are from 80 to 80 men
from one to two hours every day. The
proceedings are not under the criminal
laws, as q rule, but fines are imposed, and
when these are not promptly paid i'm
prisonment follows, just as it would in
q case of conviction for crime in the
higher court. While judge of higher
court could not imprison man for an
hour without jury trial, a simple mag
istrate actually does imprison scores
every day without jury trial. During
the year 1901 the police of Chicago alone
arrested and carried to prison 70, $50 peo-
pie, including men, women and children.
OF these 82, 800 were discharged by the
magistrates, because in most cases no Of
Tense of any kind was proved, yet these
people had been arrested, sometimes
dubbed, taken through the streets in
charge of officers, and sometimes kept in
prison several days, just as if they were
charged with murder, and all this not on
any charge Of crime, but generally at the
mere discretion of some man wearing the
uniform of the law. When they finally
got out, they were practically without a
remedy for the reason stated. OF the re-
manning 38,050 little over 5000 were
sent to prison for various terms by the
magistrates because Of their inability to
pay the fines which had been imposed,
and nearly all, except about 80 Of these,
we're charged with trivial offenses-gen-
orally simply disorderly conduct-yet
their treatment was the same as il they
had committed highway robbery, except
in the latter case they would have had
something like fair trial.
The practice has long prevailed in Chi
cago and other cities Of raids being
made by the police in the nighttime, and
asmany as 100 or more men and women
sometimes only women-have been ar
rested and carried to prison in one night
on no specific charge Of crime, but simply
at the caprice of O. policeman. These ceases
haveto be continued till the next morn
ing. A bond is generally given, signed
by a professional bailof. The justice
charges 81 for taking each bond, and
the bailor all he can get for signing it
so that it is an exceedingly profitable
business for those connected with the sc
called police court. While the law a.
present provides that nearly all othel
officers shall pay what fees they collec
into the public treasury and shall re
ceive a salary for the services they ren
der, this does not seem to apply to th'
magistrates.
The law should be more strict an(
prohibit every officer, whether Judlc1a
or executive, who is in any way connect
ed with the administration of justice
from keeping any fees under any pre-
text, for SO long as he profits by tn
amount of business that is run In ther
is standing bribe to do injustice. In
law should secure to all persons a fai
jury trial before Judgment can be pre-
nounced by which they can be throw
into prison. These so called raids neithe
prevent nor punish crime, but are sim
ply irritants, and it is a notorious fac
that real criminals frequently ply thei
yocations with great boldness at til
verv time that these raids are made, an
they go uncaught and unpunished.-Ir
augural Address of Governor John T
Altgeld- --
All PERSONS whose occupations ar
sadan+av.x, shor,1d make il a matter O