The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-22
IS THE GRAND JURY NECESSARY.

and benediction.
IS THE GRAND JURY NECESSARY
Owing to the suggestion Of a Philadel-
phia fudge, the question Of the useful
ness or otherwise of the grand jury is ro-
ceiving consideration in the press. The
trend Of general opinion seems to be that,
while not altogether without public value,
the grand jury is somewhat Of a curnber-
some and antiquated institution.
No doubt there are other judges besides
the one in Philadelphia, and many more
citizens, who believe that the grand jury
system could be dispensed with, and that
the functions Of the grand jury might
with advantage be discharged by the.
prosecuting attorney. This view, how
ever, is somewhat partial and will be
hardly borne out by the influence which
It has exercised in the administration Of
government
There is no duty devolving On grand
| jury which possesses anything like the
| value to society as that which demands
| tending on the administration of public
| affairs. It is trt1o that there is a good
| deal Of redundant and unnecessarily ex-
pensive detail involved in getting Grim
1nal indictments through grand juries
An investigation before an intelligent DO
lice magistrate would answer all pur-
poses in establishing proposition wheth-
er reasonable ground existed for the be-
lief that the defendant is guilty of the
crime charged against him. In such cases
the intervention of grand jury is but
rarely necessary, especially since In most
cases it Is the prosecuting attorneys view
Of guilt or innocence which prevails with
the grand jury in the last instance. But
while this may be at least measurably
true, the grand jury has become so COM
pletely interviewer with the judicial sys-
tenn of the common law as to involve a
serious and radical innovation to dispense
with it entirely.
In this city we have had for many years
an annual demonstration of the great
public utility of the grand jury system.
Whatever abuses pertain to the admins
trahon Of public Office, when they be-
come so great as to seriously affect the
public interest, they are not at all liable
to survive the Investigations of an intel
ligent and fearless grand jury. Party po-
litical hostility will naturally operate to
bring such abuses into public view. But
no declaration of partisan newspaper or
Of partisan speakers or writer's ever suf-
fee to carry the assurance of truth to
the report of thh grand jury. When that
body calls attention to existing abuses
they are usually in fair way as a con-
sequence to find remedy. We have had
every variety of grand jury In this city;
but, as rule, tho body with US has been
made up of men of public spirit and of
intimate knowledge Of the operations of
public affairs. And 1t is to their opera
lions in great measure that we owe 1t
that thers never has been any serious
scandal or official malversation made
known. With such body possessed Of
the fullest power and every known facil-
ity for securing evidence of official and
other wrong doing, it is usually impos-
sible for any such state of things to pre-
vail in any public office that might seri-
ously endanger the public welfare,
The grand jury. like the petit jury sys-
tenn, Is, Of course, not free from many
drawbacks. 1t does not always operate
as well as 1t is designed to operate. Yet
it is safe to say that the public machin-
cry would be injured rather more than
benefited by dispensing with 1t. And.
so far as the general sentiment Of the
people can be said to be known, there is
no danger that any such change will be
made in the machinery Of government
that the grand jury system viii disappear,
at least in this generation.