Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-01-25
MORE new Bills today
Many Important Bills Introduc.
ed in the House Today--
More Appropriations.
One for Reducing the Width Of
Roads..Another Retiring Dis.
trict Judges.
Frank Cummings Believes That
All Judges Should Have
Better Pay.
sneoial TO Times-Republican.

Special to Tines Republican.
Des Moines, Jan. 25.-In the house to-
Gay the Kendall resolution in regard TO
shutting off petitions until the subject
matter to which they relate is before
the house, was reconsidered and Ken
dali withdrew it for the reason that it
had been taken to mean an abridge-
ment of the right of petition. Among
okee hospital giving 100000 for COM
pletion, s260O0 for land and $4,000 for
contingent expenses. A bill for the or
phans home appropriates $4,000, of
which one third is for land. A bill for
the Benedict home in Des Moines gives
$4,000
Representative Lister introduced a
bill to require that no divorce should be
granted in Iowa save for a reason good
in a state from which the parties have
recently come. Bills were also intro
duced as follows: To strike out party
circle on official ballots; raising the age
limit at the girls reform school TO 21;
for Torrens land title system, to re-
quire wife's consent to the sale of per-
sonal property by the husband; forbid
ding cutting of rates on publication of
legal rotices; to retire district judges
after sixteen years of service If over IS
years old; to reduce the width of roads
to fifty feet and providing for farmers
mutual insurance companies.
Representative Dowell introduced a
bill for $4,000 annually for four years
to complete the historical building. An
appropriation for the girls Industrial
school is asked amounting to $4,000 and
for boys school at Eldora $4,000.
Both houses adjourned until o'clock
Monday.
Special to mes-Republican.
Des Moines, Jan. 25.-One Of the mat
ters earliest to be considered by the ieg-
is!ature and of most interest to a large
nLmberso of the people of the state is that
relating to reorganizing the judiciary on
Il basis Commensurate with the high
standing Of the state 1t is not COM
plained that the judges are deficient or
fail to perform their duty, but lawyers,
at least, declare that the judiciary is in
need of substantial betterment. Next
legislature on this subject They will
receive early consideration. Practically
every lawyer in the legislature and they
are more numerous than any other class,
is in favor of increasing the salaries of
the judges. A great many of them are
in favor of doing something to relieve
the supreme court
II am most earnestly in favor of in
creasing the pay of the supreme judges
and the district judges" said Represent
ative b. f. Cummings, of Marshall
county, to the T.-R. correspondent. "It
is time that Iowa takes some step to
place our Judiciary on plane with
that of other states. Our supreme judges
get $4,000 a year, while in other great
states they get from $500 to $4,000. 1t
Is wrong to ask good men, such men as
we want on our supreme bench and
ought to have, to take the place with
salaries which are small compared with
what such men can and do earn in the
practice of law. Then our district judges
are not paid enough. They can not save
anything on their salaries. 1t is not
what good lawyers earn in the practice.
Good lawyers, we'll established in busi-
ness, do not care to give up their prac-
tice to spend their lives on the bench for
the salaries paid in Iowa. / have intro
duced a bill to pay the shorthand re-
porters salaries of s1,50O year instead
of the Sc day now allowed. In places
diem pay is best but in the average dis
trict the compensation is not such as to
attract the best reporters. They ought
lor lov
they Will remain in the work.
''As for the necessity for relief of the
supreme court" continued Mr. Cum
nings, every lawyer realizes that some
thing ought to be done. AT the last term
os court more than 800 cases were SUBJ
mitted to the supreme court. OF neces-
sity the work must be done in an unsat-
isfactory manner. Here is court with
700 or 500 cases coming before it every |
year 1t results practically in one man
decisions. 1t is not the fault of the
judges. They do the best they can, but !
it is physically impossible that they |
should give consideration to every case.
But am opposed to the appellate court |
pan which has been proposed. The peo-
pie generally do not take kindly to the |
idea of another court. Such court. |
aside from the salaries of the judges |
would be expensive and would be far |
from satisfactory. My idea would be
that we should provide assistance to the I
supreme judges. At present they must |
do their work all alone. They can not
even employ stenographers or have no
funds with which to do So Now would |
propose that these judges be empowered |
to employ an assistant for each one at |
say s1.S00 year. They could secure the
Of some active young lawyer,
glad enough for that training, who could |
and would do the drudgery of the office,
leaving the judges more time for con-
sideration of important questions and
An assistant could gather
all the facts, arrange the citations of au-
thority and carry on the investigation
necessary, and this would relieve the
supreme judges of a. vast amount of the
hard work which makes the position so
difficult. But at any rate we must do
to relieve the supreme court
and to compensate the judiciary conf
mensurate with the states greatness.
believe, also, that there should be an
Increase in the maximum for appeal OF