New-York tribune., 1905-07-09

The tremendous increase in crime in this
country has begun to alarm American jurists.
In the last forty years the number OF criminals
grew nearly three times faster than the popu-
lation In the last three years as many per-
sons were murdered as were lost by the British
In the Boer War. At the present time. accord
tng TO the government census, one American
out of every 7S6 is law breaker.
In the opinion OF many men who have studleo
criminal life closely, the chief cause or such
conditions is the lax administration Oh lhe law
Too often nowadays it is said maleiactors are
caught only to be let loose again Courts are
becoming more and more like sieVes IN WHICH
the guilty like many peas are roiieu aoou'
tiu they find neshes big enough 10 siip
through
And these meshes are growing larger. Ihere
were SOS murders in 1885, and in only loS
instances The guilty were executed Last year
< leo rersons rlet violent deaths and yet only
116 r,urderers paid the penalty with their lives
Thirty years ago murderer in ten was
executed: nowadays only one in eighty receives
such punishment. For these figures William
y Taft Secretary of War, is the authority,
and they are to be found in speech which
he delivered recently TO the graduates of the
Yale Law School.
For one. Mr.. Taft fully appreciates what such
said. in that the administration of the Grim
insl law in all the States of the Union there
may be one or two eXceptons) is disgrace
"a our civilization. We are reaching an
age when we cannot plead youth. sparse civili-
cation, or newness of country as a cause for
laxity in the enforcement of the law. This
startling increase in the number of murders
and homic;des tells the story. As murder is on
the increase, SO are al offences of the felony
class, and there can be no doubt that they
viii continue 10 increase unless the criminal
laws are enforced with more certainty, more
uniformity, more severity than they are now"
DEGENERACY OF JURIEs.
The degeneracy of the jury. in the opinion of
most iurists is the most vital weakness in the
criminal procedure Of this country. Once the
palladium of English liberty" as Blackstone
called IT, the jury is now Mr.. Taft charac-
terIzoa IT, a "fetch." Though each year drawn
from more ignorant class Of society. never
theless the jury is becoming constantly more
powerful and in comparison, Mr.. Taft
said the judge is about much of a figure
head as the moderator in a religious assem-
bly,"
Even a casual visit TO a New-York court
room is enough to convince one that the times
have changed since the days of Blackstone
Any one who has the slightest knowledge of
modern modes of justice knows that the twelve
men who ordinarily sit in the box" can hard
ly be called a palladium" of anything. AS a
rule most Of the intelligent men drawn on a
Jury panel are excused from serving because
OF sickness or some similar 1t is
estimated that more than one-third of the
men drawn from the well-to-do district just
west Of Central Park afflicted with jury
sickness" whereas on the East Side. only one
fifteenth are stricken. The rest who do serve
generally constitute a veritable hodge podge.
There is. for instance, the educated man, who
serves because he feels it to be his duty, though
such an Individual is becoming more and more
& rarity: and alongside Of him is the ne'er-do-
well who has made a failure of everything
he has undertaken in life, and who is only too
glad of chance to earn the paltry pay of a
.uryman.
Instances are of almost daily occurrence in
Wh5ch juries show their utter incapacity to
fulhl the trust imposed upon them, either be-
cause OF sheer Ignorance, or because of a will
ful disregard of their responsibility In New
Jersey about a month ago a jury handed in
such a surprising verdict in an assault and
battery case that investigation was threat
ened by the court Fearing this ordeal one Of
the jurymen made an astounding revelation.
He said that there had been a stubborn minor
fly which would not give in, and as the jury
had been locked up a long time and there ap-
peared no prospect Of an agreement one juror
made this suggestion:
Say, boys. what do you say to Tipping UP
penny TO decide the business? If it comes
tails, the defendant wins, and if it's heads. the
other side gets it,"
Without any more ado the proposition
accepted, and the penny was given a twirl.
II came tails