Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1905-03-04
AN UNDRESSING TOPIC
Mr.. .RandalIs Speech Before
Anne Arundel County
Taxpayers As
sociation.
sociation.

ruarv was the following by Mr.. Dan
iel r Randall, which is Published III
response to requests of several gentle
men who heard il.
Gentlemen of tire Taxpayers Ass0-
citation 1T having been suggested TO
me by your president to give lO-mln-
ute talk unon some live topic TO the
association, / became convinced that
there was but one subject upon which
| could, with certainty. speak. 1t
having been my honor to have recent
ly served this county in the capacity
Of States Attorney. believed | could
sneak upon the subject of Criminal
Prosecutions, the present practice and
the needed reforms, with some small
pretense at authority gained from ex-
perience.
my four years in Office convinced
me of the certain need of wide re-
forms. Some l introduced, minor
ones / admit; others tried TO intro
duce and couldn't, and others, again
land by far the larger number) never
even tried. as presidents, hoary and
moss grown with antiquity, were
against me, and, single-handed, the
fight was unequal. No conscientious
man can serve the county in that ca
pacity without soon reaching the mel
ancholy conclusion that more criminals
escape the tolls than are convicted,
and that those that are finally punish
ed have cost the county, in one way
or another, more than the effort and
results are worth. The phase of this
work, however, which particularly
would appeal to a taxpayers associa-
tion is that of expense.
"Statistics upon the comparative
cost of criminal prosecutions in any
two given localities are very difficult
to obtain and exceedingly dry If
found, but l feel well within the
limits when / say that in any given
case Anne Arundel county pays more
money for the arrest, conviction and
punishment of a criminal than any
county in the state. Compared, in
deed, with the cost of procedure In
the United States District Court, with
which / am familiar, we pay double
at least, and this though the pay Of
officials is generally higher. A great
advance in economy was made in plac-
ing the States Attorney and the
Sheriff upon fixed salaries, but those
laws are nullified and brought into
contempt if we pay for help to one
and give extra compensation TO the
other. But the work of reform and
economy along these lines should not
cease here, and an earnest body OF
men like this association boasts Of
can have other laws passed to con-
time the good work so well begun.
lyon will naturally ask where will
we find the leakage Ny answer is
that il occurs all along the line from
the swearing out of a warrant by
soms overzealous official, through all
the official strata to the undertaken,
who, with mournful face, but heart
gIeeful at the recompense willing
people offer him, packs away the NOR
tai remains of the victim of the law
into his last abiding place. My time
will be consumed, gentlemen, in de-
scribing the d. sease with no time re-
naming to tell of the remedy. The
causes for our lavishness arc many.
Some are founded upon the ancient
precedents of the court of old Eng
land, too old and revered 10 be changed !;
some may be found in the natural
perversity of officials not to do things
whereby the time and money of the
public are economical, and some, alas,
can be traced alone to the system of
graft, as it is now commonly called
the use of public office for private
greed.
Magistrates abound, though we all
know there are notable examples Of
the other kind, who think it fair to
their oaths and to TIE state to CONF
pound many offenses from one. that
their fees of office may grow proper
tionately They send cases TO court and
for grand jury Investigation that COM
mon sense and liberal laws would ex-
pect to be tried before them, and in
doing this they heap up costs to an
unnecessary extent by their long list
of witnesses. These cases reach the
court, The States Attorney, Sin ignor.
auce as to the facts of the case, is
bound to add to the outlay by sending
many unnecessary persons to the
grand jury, whereby the time and
money of the county and the court is
wasted.
MEN of the highest personal in
tegrity are summoned to serve upon
our grand and petit juries and yet
how rare thing it is to see either
body actuated with desire to shorten
their official labors. The grand jury
with us usually sits for four weeks
and sometimes for six, while in six
counties of this state that l can name,
that body rises from its finished labors
in ten days. They waste their time
in the examination of every witness
sent before them, not regarding the
old adage, so applicable to their work,
that enough is as good as a feast.
Petit juries feel content to sit in de-
Liberation for hours over petty cases
in order to avoid further duty that
day, and the court adjourns with
little accomplished and many cases
piled up for the next day.
MEN work in business and on the
farm from sun rise TO sun set, while
they have earned the liberal allowance
paid them as Jurymen in five hours.
Lawyers wrangle over matters of the
law and thereby waste the valuable
time of the jury when such things
might be done at more convenient
hours and the routine of trials not be
interfered with. Jury cases, too.
should be distinguished from those to
be tried by the court in order that a
greater economy of time may be reach
ed and the present estimated cost of
$50 per hour be not spent in vain. i
suppose too that in the line of econ
omy we might readily dispense with
the services of q few of our many
bailiffs, seeing that our highest state
court is satisfied with one and the Su-
preme Court maintains order and de-
corum within its precincts with two.
"In q thousand ways, gentlemen.
the taxDayer is contributing his hard.