The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-27

for verdicts, and for our boasted forms
 of law. These are the things that pro- ducc anarchy, lynchings, and invite a
 just contempt as well as lack of con- fidence in those tribunals called courts O: justice.
 "One Judge of long experience upon the bench writes me that, in his
 opinion, about one-half of all the evil
 dence received on behalf of the defense
 in criminal cases is false.
 "Another Judge of equally high repute
 writes that he believes 75 per cent. of ths evidence offered in divorce cases approaches deliberate perjury. Another writes that perjury is com-
 mitted in a majority of important law suits, and that the crime is rapidly in- creasing.
 Tn short, with reference to the pre-
 valence oi perjury, the time has come when, in the words of another, justice
 mus: wear veil, not that she may be
 imp artiai, but that she may hide her face for shame"
 As for the responsibility for this state of things the speaker intimated that 1t lay at the door or the bench and bar. and Grand Jury alike, and was also chargeable in some measure to the "di- latory, expensive and techSical diffi- culties" of proving the crime of per jury to the satisfaction of a trial jury
 beyond a reasonable doubt" He added:
 Some tells us that the crime is com
 mitted mostly in the police and petty courts, where, as a rule, the witnesses belong to the vicious classes. But the fact remains that it Is committed in other courts and by men protesting high standing in society, Church and Stats.
 Who can blame poor outcast of so-
 ciety for false swearing when presum- ably reputable citizens do the same
 thing? Why do we expend time and money In prosecuting some poor tramp for stealing an overcoat to keep him from freezing when the wrecker of a bank. the Nespoiler of a home. the ta-
 ker of human life or the embezzler of thousands goes unwhipped of justice?'' While knowledge of statistics might enable one to prove or disprove the es- | inmates given by MT. Mccarthy on the authority of the Judges. no resort to
 figures needs to be made to prove the
 well-known fact that witnesses of both
 sexes and all classes perjure them selves day after day in the court
 houses of this country. That jurors
 do the same thing. and for so many
 dollars and cents goes without saying.
 Nor does the false swearing stop with l these. Members of the bar, sworn in
 as officers of the court to deport and demean themselves in an honorable and | professional manner. stoop to the | meanest kind of blackmail. embezzle the funds of their clients, buy wit nesses and jurors. deceive and misuse
 the judges, slap justice in the face. and strut about it with the pompous pride of the turkey gobbler. Even judges, | who. like other public officers. have in | qualifying sworn, as provided by the | Constitution. that they have not, di-
 rectly nor indirectly. paid, offered or | promised to pay. contributed nor prom | ised to contribute. any money or val
 uable thing as a reward of votes, are
 known in some instances to have gone into office by an open court to perjury.
 Some of them have their favorites ot
 the bar. and in holding with these and
 against the enemy they perjure them
 selves again and again. In needless | delays and in very indolence the of fense is committed. even in instances
 in which a prosecution would be deem-
 ed ridiculous.
 l Still, while all this is going on in
 some places as daily round. one nev- | CT hears of the impeachment of a
 Judge, of the disbarment of an attor-
 ney or of even the conviction of a | juror or witness for perjury. The fre- Quent and open commission of this of | fense is alarming. The failure or re-
 fusal to punish anybody for it Is the
 more startling. The failure goes to the character of the citizenship, and to
 the very foundation of the kind of civ- l iliZation of which we boast.