The Savannah morning news., 1902-07-27
EXTRACTION BY COURTESY.
E Suggested Substitute for the Present
Treaty System.

United States. where individual rights
are held in so high respect. Even in
making requests for eXtradition from
governments with which there is no
treaty. and. therefore, nothing to curb
or connne the range of demand it has
become the well-settled rule with
Great Britain and the United States
10 lay stress on the fact that no recip-
rocal favor must be looked for. So, for
more than one reason, the idea of re-
questing the surrender of Gaynor and
Greene regardless of treaty obliga-
lions may be dismissed as impractical
BILE.
Confusion in Treaties.
All this quibbling over fine shades of
definition of offenses mentioned in a
treaty leads UP to the fact that our
extradition relations with our sister ma
tons are most ragged piece of patch
work. Some thirty three broad offenses
are named IN our three dozen treaties
now in force yet the conscientious in
dexer would find it a painful task to
try to group them briefly under their
specific heads. Take for instance at
tempt to murder" is this necessarily
the same as assault with intent to
kill?" Would secret poisoning-com-
mitted, perhaps, from a considerable
distance-be an ASSAULT" 1t would
certainly be an attempt to murder"
Or, take the counterfeiting schedule:
In nearly twenty countries a scamp
who merely counterfeited one of our
national banknotes. or a government
bond, or a postage stamp, could go
free; while his pal who counterfeited
a greenback would have to return TO
the United States to stand trial. The
professional burglar who broke
into your counting-room, blew
open your safe, and was fright
ened away before he could empty its
contents into his bag, would so I'M
scathed in several countries where he
could be hustled back to America If
he had kept his clutch on a certificate
for two shares of railroad stock. In
a score of countries the thief or en-
bezzler who makes off with two or
three hundred dollars of his ill-gotten
gains will be turned over to American
officers for deportation, while a big
ger rascal who has blackmailed him
out of as many thousands can sit by
and watch his misfortunes in perfect
security.
This sort of confusion, coupled as it
is with a custom of amending and
strengthening treaties so quietly as not
to attract public notice, has only one
redeeming feature: it leaves the ordi-
nary vulgar criminal in a state of ner-
vousness, after he has committed his
crime, as to where on earth he can be
sure of an asylum The story used
to be told of William NJ. Evarts that
he was once visited by a stranger who
offered him a big fee for answering
confidentially a single question. 1t
proved to be this Il am about to roN
bank, and want to learn in advance
where had better go after l have
done So" Nothing easier" answered
Mr.. Evarts; Ego to the grand jury"
With the network which Is now in pro-
cess of weaving around wrongdoers as
a class, this is where most of them
will have to go, first or last; but there
is no reason why the United States
government should have so hard
time dragging each one in turn to the
desired destination. The treaty provi-
,sions are in so muddled a state that 1t
often takes the nations lawyers
dogs age to find out whether a fugi-
tive can be reached by extradition in
the place where ne has taken refuge;
and there is fair chance that by the
time that question has been settled, he
will have moved to some other spot,
necessitating a fresh search through
the texts.
Way to Uniformity.
1t would probably be hopeless to at
tempt the revision of the entire mass
of treaties so as to bring them into
any sort of unison. 1t has been sug
gested, however, that we might adopt
a practice similar to that employed in
the case of commercial reciprocity
resort to legislation and proclamation
as a substitute for treaties. The jul
dietary committees of Congress could
undoubtedly draft a law reciting the
list-a good comprehensive one-of Of
fences for which we were ready to de-
liver UP fugitiVes to foreign govern
ments in exchange for similar court
esy to us. All the outlying safeguards
thrown around such a surrender by
the terms of the ordinary treaty could
be set UP quite as we'll in the statute.
Then the President might be author
lied, whenever a foreign government
should adopt a similar extraditlon
code with relation to the United
States, to proclaim the exchange. of
privileges, just as has been done more
than once IN the case of reciprocity In
customs, duties, tonnage taxes, etc.,
and in the system of International
COPYRIGHT This would at least procure
uniformity. The criminal class might
find it easier for a while to select their
places of refuge, but it is questiona-
bic whether these would retain such a
character very long; for there are few
mmunites-except possibly our
neighbors to the North-who like the
idea of making and keeping in their
territory a criminal settlement, and
extradition by comfy would prevail
soon with countries not yet ready for
legal formalities on the subject.