Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1905-06-28
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 1905.

Secretary Of War Taft has much
about him that is not unlike President
Roosevelt he is candid and gives his
opinion of evils which he believes
should be Iemedied, and he usual
ly says it in a manner that
leaves no misunderstanding. In the
course of an address to the Yale law
school recently he said:
The administration of criminal law
in all the states of the union (there
may be one or two exceptions) is a
disgrace to our civilization.
The institution of trial by jury has
come to be regarded as fetch to such
an extent that state legislatures have
exalted the power of the jury and di-
minished the power of the court in the
hearing of criminal cases.
The function Of the judge is limited
to that of the moderator in relig-
ious assembly.
The counsel for the defense, relying
on the diminished power of the court,
creates by dramatic art and by harp
ing on the Importance of unimportant
details, a false atmosphere in the
cour troom, which the judge is power
less to dispel, and under the hypnotic
influence of which the council is able
to lead the jurors to vote as jurors for
verdict which after all the excite
ment of tie trial has passed away,
they are unable to support as men.
And what has been the result? Since
1885, in the United States, there have
been 131 95I murders and homicides,
and there have been 2,2S6 executions.
In 1885 the number of murders was
1908. In 1904 it had increased to
8,492. The number of executions in
1885 was 108. In 1904 the number
was 116. This startling increase in
the number of murders and homicides
as compared with the number of exc
cutions tells the story.
The cure for this cancer in the body
polite may be found in statutory
amendments. If laws could be passed
either abolishing the right of criminal
appeal and leaving to the pardoning
power, as it is in England, the correc-
ton of judicial wrong. or instead of
that, if appeals must be allowed, then
If a provision of law could be enacted
by which no Judgment of the court
below should be reversed EXCEPT for
an error which the court, after reading
the entire evidence, can affirmatively
say would have led to different YER
dict SO reversals out of 100 under the
present system would be avoided
Second. if the power of the court by
statute to advise the jury. to comment
and explain it's opinion to the jury upon
the facts i'll every criminal case, could
be restored, and if the state and defen-
dant were both deprived of peremtory
challenges in the selection of jury,
25 per cent of those trials which are
now miscarriages of justice would re
suit in the conviction of the guilty
defendant.
Our country is disguised by the
number of lynchings that occur both
in the north aud in the south, and
excuses are sought for the horrid and
fendish cruelties perpetrated by mobs
in such cases in some other cause than
the delays of justice.
Every man of affairs who has studied
the subject at all knows that if men
who commit crime were promptly ar
rested and convicted there would be no
mob for the purpose of lynching. No.
thing but radical Improvement in our
administration of criminal law will pre-
vent the growth in the number of
lynchings in the United States that
bring the blush of shame to every lover
of his country.
WASHINGTON ETTER