The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1904-10-29
ANSWERS
DAUL TON
JUDGE GEORGE SHOWS Why
CRITICISM rs uNwARRANrEo

Judge George. q the municipal
court, takes issue with Councilman
naulton IN his criticism 81 the
methods In which the pollce court
l. conducted. In letter o. The star
Judge Ge0rge makes the following
statement.
In your issue - "Wednesday.
the 2tth ult. notice an ar
tiele quoting Councilman naulton
- severely crltieis.ug the and mY
administration Of the municipal
court The reading public OF Seattle
know that ! am not in the habit Of
defending myself against the at
taeks OF irresponsible critics whose
utteranccs are usually inspired b
personal OF political enmIfy. Hut
when au official Of the city teteu
though he be opposed 20 me In poiit-
feal faith. as At uauiiou 10 sees TT
O. call into question the offielal acts
Ct another city officer, the matter
may fairly b. said Co caii for some
notice FROM the one 80 assaulted Mr.
uauiton asserts. largely on hts own
authority. that I have not properly
supported the police officers On their
efforts az suppressinE law breaking
that they have been unable Go Sc
cure Convictions = hen entitled 10
them--thal they have ben repeated
II turned Gown" and discouraged.
etc.
That such statements are utterly
ralse and unWarranted will be
shown BY the reeafds 90 cases tried
A brief inspection % my Journal
made today BY my clerk shows that
during the present month from the
LIST 10 the 18th there have been see
city cases instituted IN ms court
OF these only ~ resulted In acuuit-
tals and six were dismissed without
trial either on the request 81 the
arfesfinE officer nr the motion Of
the city prosecuting attorney. l.
vii thus be seeu huw Insignificant
i the number Of aeauittaia in pro-
portion te convictions In some Of
the eases where guilt has been
proven generally eases Of Juveniles
or first offendcrsl when the cor
Fscsive powers % the court are re-
quired 20 be exercised rather than
the imposition % punitive measures.
senfence has been suspended pend
Ina the good behavior % the defend
ant and from the small proportion o.
such offenders that are returned
for sentence. q Wauid appear that
my course il Justified
In the matter % the imposition Of
fines. what does the record show
In the paiuy days - the Klondike
excitement. just before my term 81
office. when the gamblers and slot
machine men paid fines. the total
eeiiections % the court were fas
1sss t30.7sk 10. for 1888. s17.sT2az.
Those fines subsequently increased
under my administration 90 more
than ts.oao per month. and even
now. with those prolific sources Of
income eliminated. ! have been for
months turning into the city treaa-
ury sums averaging ta.21219 per
month. or approximately tto.00o per
auuuni
4 do not care 70 discuss the mat
Ter OF "a get IN a controversy over
u. said Mr. Daulton this noruine.
When I mentioned II incidentally
At the meeting Of the license aud
revenue committee I had no idea
that u would be taken up. I did not
mean 10 east asperslons upon Police
Judge George. The point wished q
make was that Il VAS often difficult
70 secure convictions iu ease % ar
rests and that for that reason the
license committee should turn down