The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-04-17

10 some no VINO
are imbued with the belief that all
they al get from the government is
honest graft, your conviction may x
cite indignation, astonishment and per-
haps not a little alarm. It seem in
deed that the public should awaken
TO the prevalence of this dangerous
inclination. In this case there has
been noted, / am sure without serious
reflection. an exception made by the
court TO the jury 10 the effect that the
people should have the same concern
for the security Of the money in the
ed by the congress as for the funds
collected by county taxation in a par
ticular state.
The sentiment seems distinctly
provincial. The magnificent contri-
buttons from the National Treasury
| made by congress for the welfare Of
of the people, for the erection Of public
buildings, for construction of a great
navy, for defensive WORKS at assailable
| points, for great reservoirs and canals
for the irrigation of arid lands, for
such projects as the improvement Of
the noble harbor here and our Otner
fine harbors.. the deepening Of the
channels of great rivers, making them
available for cheap transportation, the
| construction of the i~nter-oceanic canal,
and many similar projects, all impera-
lively call for a lesson in thunder
| tones to faithless c%onnlving unprin-
cipled representatives of the govern
ment and the INSCRIPTIONS contractors
| or other persons who would cOnspire to
plumber the public treasury. Most
unhappily for you but most happy for
! the country and our future as a law
respecting people, that lesson has come
in the verdict Of the honest men who
, gave three months of dutiful and ar
duOus labor to the mighty record
which has established your guilt.
Nor should the lesson of our gov
! ernment's conduct in this great case
! go unheeded. No necessary expense
has been spard, no necessarily exertion
avoided. To bring to the bar Of pub
! lie Justice those charged with the
/ spoilation of the treasury, the supreme
! court Of the United States and the
! privy council of England, the lOftlest
| tribunals of the English-speaking
| races have contributed their solemn
judgments.
ut is pardonable if l add that these
great tribunals have approved the first
and only declaration or opinion ex-
| pressed by the presiding judge Of this
| court anterior to this trial, namely,
that the accused must be brought to
trial at the bar Of the court having
| Jurisdiction Of their ofenses.
LET the evil disposed then learn
that no land, however, distant, no adj
ministration of obstructive technical.
| ties wherever found, will deter the
government of our country from ask.
ing the justice Of its courts against
those who have violated its laws. 1t
| will be we'll for our governmental au-
thorfties to reflect that unless the
obstructive construction placed upon
| our removal statutes, which relayed
this case so long, shall be avoided as
| recommended by the president and the
| attorney general, it will be wholly
impossible to have speedy trial OF
criminal cases and the greater the
crime and the more powerful and
richer the culprit, the greater will be
the difficulty of bringing him to trial.
Ours is a country already consisting Of
forty-fve distinct states, without TAX
ing account of the territories and in
| sular possessions. If then the govern
| ment must take it's witnesses to each
| district in which persons indicted
| Jointly for conspiracy or other joint
| crime, may seek refuge and be COM
| PEELED to ignore the efficacy Of the
Indictment ana 10 Make Out Tic CASE
| anew it will amount to a paralysis in
the administration Of criminal justice.
| Though lawless combinations in re-
| straint of trade may have reduced the
| people to beggary, though conspirators
| have designed the assassination of the
chief magistrate himself, how incom-
| parable is the advantage of a criminal
who can choose his own forum and
seek his own city Of refuge. Had the
| assassination of President Mckinley
been the result of conspiracy and many
conspirators had each taken refuge in
different states, how powerless in view
of that construction of the law would
have been the bench and bar of the
cOuntr to have won the honor and