Birmingham age-herald., 1895-03-10

You have only yourself to blame for the defeat of these bills. We come next to the editorial iu the AGE- HERALD of the 20th instant, which states: ssIf the jury com mission bill and the bill to regulate the court of county commissioners had not been pocketed in the senate by the gray haired senator from Jefferson county at least S5000 per annum would have been saved to the county.o will let Commis- sioners Thomas and Young answer this statement.
 BIRMINGHAM, Ala, Feb. 21, 1895. Senator John T. Miner
 DEAR SIR: Ia the AGE HERALD of the 18th instant we ind you severely critized n the following comment: "If the jury com mission bill and the bill to regulate the court of county commissioners had not been pocketed in the senate by the gray haired senator from Jefferson county at least S5000 per annum would have been saved to the county.' First, let us see if there IS a word of truth in this statement. Under the new assessment law for the state the commissioners court will not draw more than $4100. MT. O'Brien's county auditor bill and his bill regulating the commissioners court would entail an ex- pense of S452U Now, instead of saving S5000, he loses S220. We wish to say that our business in Montgomery was to defeat those bills. We have the satisfaction of knowing that our presentation of facts, backed up by numerous letters from the best citizens and largest tax payers Of Jef- Ierson county, were instrumental Tn de- featng those useless, burdensome and vicious bills, and we are not only ready and willing to assume all responsibility for their defeat, but feel that we would have been recreant to our duty as sworn officers of the county had we done less. In regard to the jury bill that never passed, we beg to state that In an interview With MT. J. H. Little today he acknowledges having stated 10 you in Montgomery that we con sumed POO days or more in drawing Juries: He says that ne made the statement in good faith, but upon investigation finds that he was mistaken, and that less than half of that time was consumed by us In 1854 h drawing juries. Respectfully,
 GEO. l.. YOUNG.
 GEO. l.. THOMAS.
 l will state that l sent for General Thomas and Commissioner Young to come to Montgomery and explain 10 me what would be the interest of the county in the jury law and the auditors law. The people mad elected these gentlemen as the custo- dians of their county matters. If they elected bad ard unworthy men it was their fault. l have always consulted them in reference to county iegislation. They came down Sunday night and went over, as 1 thought and still think, honestly and fairly these two bills. Not word was said about the bill reducing their time or pay, as this bill was not on the calendar. I had never seen it and did not know what
 
 stated the courts or Jefferson county re- quired about 5000 jurors 10 be drawn annu- ally; that after leaving out the negroes and exempt from over age disqualification and otherwise of the IA ,000 voters in-the county only between 7C00 and 5000 were qualified jurors, and that 10 prevent jurors serving once every year, thus 1t was their duty to put the name of every qualified man in the jury box. To do this properly they must know every man in the county and his Eaa t.io itxa. mense job, and for this and other reasons decided not to pass the jury law. la this was sustained by the following letters, and by every lawyer met in Montgomery. LETTERS FROM JAMES E. WEBB AND MA
 SON.
 BIRMINGHAM, Ala, Feb. 16, 1895. Hon. John T. Mlner, Senator, Montgomery. Ala.-
 My DEAR SIR; l see no good reason for a change in the law as applicable to Jeffer- son county, contained in ihe act of legisla- ture of February 2S. 1887, amended by act approved February 28, 1889, which creates the commissioners a board of jury com missioners to draw juries. Tbe law as it now stands has worked very well in this county.
 The members of our commissioners court are all honora ble men, and perfectly competent to discharge with impartiality the duty of selecting and drawing good jurors. That is purely ministerial duty, not judicial, and can see no good reason for a change which attaches it to the judi cia office. l am yours respectfully,
 JAMES E. WEBB.
 BIRMINGHAM, Ala.
 My objections to the jury bill l will stats as follows: This bill saddled on the judges of our courts the duty of selecting and drawing the juries in the several courts. This requires of the judges con- siderable amount of work not contem. plated in their election to their offices and that too when their time is fully occupied in the performance ot the duties properly belonging to their offices. When you stop to consider that 3700 jurors were drawn for service in our courts in Jefferson county (excusive of the probate court) in the year 1894 and that some 5000 or 6C00 names have to be selected each year from which to draw the juries, it will be seen that it is quite a considerable undertaking; add to this the fact that the judges are not as rule very thoroughly acquainted with the people especially in county like Jefferson, the undertaking will be quite a burden some one to men who are already busy. It would be manifestly y unjust and unfair to the judges to put upon them this new work and require them to do it without compensation. I believe the work in practice would be timed so burdensome as to seriously interfere with the proper discharge of their duties as judges. Furthermore, 1t will be found that when the judges begin the work of hunting over the county and making the necessary inquiries to enable them to select qualified and competent men for jury duty they will be subject to criti- cism and unfavorable comment which would tend to destroy that high regard the judicial officer has always held in the minds of the people. When judge goes out of open court to get evidence on any question he has to decide, whether that question is an issue in a lawsuit or the competency or incompetency of a iuryman, that moment he swaps away the best and surest safe. guard to judicial character and judicial in- vestigation. l would never send a judge out of court to get evidence on any subject he has to decide as part of his pu bile duties. As serious as these objections are there is