The Wichita daily eagle., 1904-05-28

Il
To try him He or his friends hire some
astute lawyer and he files motion tor
continuance. His ingenious lawyer draws
up an affidavit: and the court must con-
slider the motion upon that. The state
is not allowed to file counter-afhdaNits
and let the court get at both sides OF
the matter. and after a hearing decide IL
ou know that an ingenious lawyer VINO
has client willing to do the usual amount
of swear ring can force a continuance Tor
several terms Suppose an amendment
were passed allowing a molten OF that
character TO be heard on afiidaVitS or
oral testimony furnished by both sides,
what would be the result? Not one mo-
tion filed than where there are nifty now
Less perjury committed. and less costs
for the litigants and the county, 1t
would expedite trials and we would have
the testimony given to the jury Wnile
fresh in the minds of tie witnesses Ihe
public is irritated by long delays and the
taxpayer is groaning under the burden OF
great court costs. While we are thoroush n
believers in the jury system, we want IL
changed so that the jury can legally be
empannelled without such great enoTt
! and costs This country is being grid
ironed by rural delivery routes. The en-
ergetic newspaper man follows up the
postoffice inspector and furnished a box
and daily paper TO the farmer. The swift
reporter publishes in full everything con-
cerning court matters. 1t follows al
most as regularly as the market anc
stock reports The county telephone syS-
TEN is being installed and soon every
farmer in p1pulous counties and neigh
borhoods VIII be reading The newspaper
about or talking over the telephone Nth
his fellow man concerning the events or
the day. and it will be almost an impos-
sibility to get a juror on important civil
or criminal cases that has not read or
heard something of the case. In fact
Juror that doesn't read or talk or events
is hardly competent to serve as such.
Now the rules that obtained nifty or a
hundred years ago. under altogether dlf-
ferent circumstances, are not htted Tor
the present order of things, ana cnanSe
ought to be made No one is better ahle
TO determine the COMPETENCY of juror
than a trial Judge, and the retention OF
rejection of a juror ought to he left solely
10 the discretion of such judge. He has
the Juror before him. and IN the exam
ination can better determine the htneSs
of that juror than an appellate court SIM
ply reading from the record. Busy men
frequently return answers to escape jury
service that seemingly disqualineS them.
when in fact they would make the neSt
and most competent of jurors in the very
case IN which they are being examined,
and it would. he very seldom that a juror
lad such an opinion from reading news
paper articles or talking with some one
not a witness in the case or TO the trans
action that ought TO disqualify him as a
Juror yet some loose expression or ms.
wormed out of him by some lawyer III
the examination causes the trial court
to excuse him for fear the supreme court
might grant a new trial on account on
the retention of that juror and thereby
cause another big bill of costs 10 ne taxed
up against the county nave run across
a Juror once in great while who has
such fixed and determined opinion from
reading newspapers that he IS absolutely
disqualified from service. so 1t Will not
do 10 pass a law declaring that juror
with an opinion simply formed from
reading newspaper articles is eligible Tor
Jury service. The remedy, as stated he
I fore is i'm letting the trial Judge be the
i 4 -sr,A t.fc sfa
Several improvements can be made IN
! other sections which Will expedite mat
ters and save costs. The court costs IN
) our very thickly settled counties Is one
! of the great burdens the taxpayer Is com
PEELED to meet and legislation should oe
I had tightening as much as possihle such
/ costs consistent with justice 70 the ilti-
I CANT This so-cailed parole or PARDON
/ business that is being worked so induS-
/ triously over the state by faddists' poll
/ ticians and grafterS should be stopped
II has gotten so now that the INK lsn |
dry on the journal entry OF convection ana
sentence before proceedings are com
! menced for parole or pardon Inc trldi
Judge is harrasseG continually oy letters
l from the penitentiary and oy Inp0I tuiil-
! ties of relatives and friends for letters
! recommending either q parole or pardon
and If the defendent has few dollars
some one is ready TO circulate petitiohs
among business men and busy people.
/ who usually sign everything Of that kind
on general principals to get rid OF the
partv The application is usually pub
lished In some newspaper OF limited CIR,
/ culation The prosecuting witness and
{ relatives OF the parties in Jured are fi'aI4t
worn out. and the first you learn Is that
another convicted party is turned loose
upon the community. The governor has
! been imposed upon or a politician has got
ton in his work and the public has been
! outraged again. This indiscrlmination par
I don and parole Of prisoners causes un-
rest among those not receiving those IA
{ ,-ors They see a party sentenced Tor a
I longer period than theirs. through some
} political pull or otherwise. getting oiii
long before they haye any expec l- lati"n -. 90
as good as the paroied ones Theii
! crime was Of less magnitude, but ip+y
haven't the pull nor the means 10 hire
{ some one 70 look after their Interests
+ Good men differ with me upon this sub
Z iect I believe in certainty Of punish
rnant NJ esteemed friend. Governor
I stanley looks upon the parole system
Z of his administration while ! believe 4
70 be one % the poorest. Ny warm
hearted friend. Ed Jsws't. now ~aTuer
OF the peniieniiary who read iaT n ne
ssrn~ o4ice in ottawa Uiinois that did
is faddlst upon the proposition EteH
my friend Governor Stanley, Tho has
f aIxavs had ny highest regard as cift-
zer iswTer and Official. ara Wo2 has AZ
-Fsvs fee-1 M warn friend. was frequent
{ " footed into parcliuE or parstpn.Elg so'r.e
E one that ought yet y ne " 'ne 80
, Tertiary: ] recall - ms ,rss % tns - -
through friends ard ps1iis fuaiiy NnTkf1
pTobsbiv a third n the tine for vhich
Z tkev vse-e sentenced The ls~ gives a
rriSouer cresii; for good reh2 yior. and ln
nv Judgment that - enough. E1t y
vro-sid take an entire evening % dtzrfls'
tfis question pTo3e1iT. ard ~, IL
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