Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-01-04
wnAI is the LAW?

\ If there is one thing more than an.
other which is having a serious eff.
feet upon the minds of the public ant
of young men especially. it is a com
mon custom of swearing out informa-
tions and issuing warrants in crimina
cases to be withdrawn and smotheret
| later for one reason and another. Il
| has become a common thing for mer
whose populations and criminality are
| plain and confessed, to escape the
| penalty of their crimes by the refusal
of tho prosecuting witness to carry
further the evidence to which he swore
when the information was laid and
the warrant issued. How the with
dra,val came about, whether some one
Settled or whether a tender heart
regretted that the man whom its owner
had trusted only to be betrayed was
| in danger of the penitentiary, the eff
feet Is the same Men feel and say that
had the criminal been without power
full friends and financial aid he would
hav, gone over the road. The impress
sion grows that there is favored
class who may steal and run away to
steal again some other day; that tnflu-
ence properly exerted. money expended
where 1t will do the most good, will
"get man out Of anything from
petty theft to highway robbery. And
when the numerous cases where all
kinds Of theft have been condoned and
the perpetrators gone scot free are re-
menlbered and checked up, the fellow
in the penitentiary serving three years
for stealing a horse has some reason
to complain that Justice is unequal
and that he is by comparison suffering
unjlstly.
If any person will take the time to
go over in his memory the cases Of
erin condoned and felony compounded
to his own knowledge and I'm his own
experience, he will see what is meant
and to what a great extent It fig re-
sponsble for a contempt Of law which
has grown almost into universally. He
will understand what the professional
criminal means by "fall money" and
by pull" He will also understand
why hundreds Of men go wrong with
the expectation that if discovered the
matter may be Squared one way or
another.
Mercy may be strained one way as
another. It is well to be merciful, It
lis best to lift up rather than cast
down Men make mistakes, commit
crimes that might send them to the
peni;entiary If those wronged desired
to push the case. Perhaps 1t Is within
every mans right to forgive a crime
against himself and against society.
when he alone Is the repository Of the
knowledge Of the crime and the prin-
cipal sufferer. However that may be.
it should be established as rule that
no man has right to check criminal
person who lays information OF q
criminal act should not be allowed to
withdraw from the stand he has taken.
More; when warrant has been issued
lit should be the duty of the official
under penalty to serve the warrant as
soon as possible, and bring the al
legged criminal before the authorities
for examination. 1t is inconceivable
that witness and an executive Off
Ger should assume to act as judge,
Jury and lawgiver, and to usurp the
hardening power by refusal to act ac-
cording to the statutes which govern
them.
Conformation Of plain felony Is the
worst foe to law enforcement. Let
us get that thoroughly established in
our minds. A criminal charge once
laid has gone beyond the man who
made it and the man whose simple duty
is to execute law, not make or inter
pref 1t. There is far too much as
sumption on the part of this class of
officers. There is too much condona-
ton Of crimes that should have the
fullest investigation, too many in
form ations laid that have no founda-
ton in strict Justice, and too many
informations and warrants suppressed
that should be served. The majesty Of
the law should be upheld from the
police to the supreme court. We shall
never have the proper general respect
for law and courts until the law and
courts are respected by the officials
whose duty Is to enforce and execute
as well as interpret the statutes made
for the government of all, without re-
spec to place, position, pull, and the
maullin sympathy which forgets the
general good.
ut might be whispered to Mr.. Taft"
suggests the Davenport Times, that
Iowa can furnish the whole cabinet if