Kansas City daily journal., 1897-01-06

ercise of clemeacy do not feel sufficiently
interested to appear and make their rea-
sons known. They very much prefer to
wait until the pardon is granted and then
censure the board of pardons and the gov
ernor.
The present board of pardons has been
very painstaking and thorough in its in
vestigations. They have written letters to
the Judges the county attorneys. ana 10
citizens who We're supposed to be familiar
with the circumstances of the case. Ihey
have invariably visited the penitentiary
and seen the prisoner and heard his side
They have taken into consideration all the
circumstances as they could ascertain
them. and have refused far more applica-
items than they have recommended. This
has relieved the governor of large
amount of work which in simple justice
to all parties ought TO be performed.
The inequality and injustice in many of
the sentences must be apparent to all who
have. been in the least familiar with Grim
inal prosecutions. There are thirty judges
of the district court in the state-men with
different temperaments and different views
in regard to different crimes. In many
cases. the prisoner brought before these
men is an entire stranger to the commun-
ity. They know nothing of his antecedentS,
nothing of his character. nothing of the in
fiuenceS which tempted him to commit the
crime. These judges. sentencing men for
for periods varying from Two TO ten years.
1t seems TO me it would be much better TO
adopt the indeterminate sentence plan.
which has been found TO work SO well in
some other states. | would have the law
fix the maximum sentence for which the
prisoner should be sent to the penitentiary
for any crime Then ] would simply have
the judge of the court trying the case send
the man TO the penitentiary. without fixing
any time. The board of directors. in con-
nection with the governor, should have
power, after the expiration of one or two
years, if they were satisfied that the man
was reformed and could be safely trusted
at large. TO parole him. upon condition that
he should obey all laws and conduct him
self as a good citizen; that on failure to
do so he might at any time be returned to
the penitentiary and required to serve out
his entire term of sentence. Exception
might be made to this in cases of those
convicted of murder in the first degree. and
the board of directors might not be allowed
TO have any control over them. law of
this kind would enable the board of direct
ors to treat each convict upon his individ-
uaI merits, and as they would have ample
opportunity to become thoroughly ac-
quainted with the temperament and char
acter of the men. the ends of justice would
be much better subserVed.
I'm considering the recommendations of
the board of pardons, have endeavored to
examine the papers in all cases as they
have been submitted to me, and to act only
upon the most striking and meritorious
ones. There are now lying on my desk
thirty-four favorable reports from the
board which will be turned over to my
successor for his consideration. In quite
a number of cases favorably recommended,
no action has been taken, and the term of
service has expired since the recommenda-
ton was fled