Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-17
RAP HUMANE SOCIETY
Horse Owners Protest Against
Objectionable Methods.
DEMAND CHANGE IN LAW
Protest Against Payment to Organi-
cation of Fines Collected.
QUICK TRIAL OF CRUELTY CASE
Appointment of Properly Qualified
Agents Asked-Abuses Through
Forfeiture of Collateral.
QUICK TRIAL OF CRUELTY CASE

The Humane Society is criticised in a
letter sent 10 Commissioner West Yester-
day by the Horse Owners Mutual Pro-
tective Association.
The communication asserts the following
needs:
Appointment of humane agents who
have proper qualifications.
Repeal of the law giving fines collected
by the Humane Society agents TO the
society.
Provision for prompt and speedy trials
of cruelty to animal cases in the Police
Court.
Commissioner West is asked to use his
Of these things.
That the Commissioners, through the
police department, have an indirect power
to regulate the appointment of agents of
the Humane Society is the first suggestion
of the letter. At a public hearing, it is
stated. the secretary of the society said
1t would employ no agents whose char
acter and reputation would not allow them
to secure police commissions.
Methods of Society Scored.
You are aware, of course" continues
the letter, "that the Humane Society IS
acting under special act of Congress with
out regulation; SO owners of horses have
no recourse for relief from abuses except
through our organization. The number
of prosecutions since our organization
have been reduced from 1.72O for the year
1907 to 64o cases during the year 1908, as
shown from their report which was pub
lished in a recent issue of The Star.
This proves conclusively that there has
been and still is great need for counter
organization to protect owners of horses
from abuses and from allowing agents.
without proper qualifications, to run with
out legally defined limitations, in the mad
scramble for fines, to enrich their own
treasury, receiving, as the Humane So
ciety does. the entire fine when prosecuted
by Them
Remedies at police court are next sug-
gested.
I'VE have accomplished much toward
eliminating the past apparent prosecutions
and abuse connected with the admnistra-
ton of this society (Which the falling off
IN convictions shows). and 1t is our duty
the purpose for which we organized) to
suggest TO the proper authority method
of relieving the oppression. yet protect
ing the animal says the letter.
Conditions Objectionable.
We believe that the practice of allow
ing set of individuals to make arrests
dictate the amount of the fine and to
pocket the entire proceeds is un-American
and unwise, and while we have not as
yet eliminated from our statute books this
onerous condition. we are endeavorng to
reduce this injustice to a minimum
Your personal attention has been
called to the delays occasioned by the Of
ficers of the Police Court in securing
speedy trials for accused defendants. This
fact aggravates the conditions COM
planned Of
THE one serious condition that we are
trying to remedy is the forfeiture of col
lateral. leaving the judicial settlement of
the cases absolutely in the hands of the
accuser, and the accuser not controlled or
governed by any legal or other regulation
thus leaving the accused absolutely at his
mercy.
Trial Should Be Demanded.
This condition can only be remedied
by your police department requiring a
trial and not allowing the forfeiture
or compromise of a sum of money to
condone the same. If the party is really
guilty of cruelty to animals he should
he punished by court of law. If he
is innocent and the accusation is false.
he should not be subjected to long de-
lays before trial and loss of time and
the stigma of police court record or
expense of attorney to prove him inho-
cent.
The Gao cases which the Humane So
ciety terms convictions would not be one
tenth that number If really tried and
given speedy. fair and impartial trial
before a court of competent jurisdic-
ton. without compromise of forfeited COL
lateral.
The Humane Society stands unique
and alone as the one and only special
set of individuals who can, without let
or hindrance, impose Inconvenience and
Objectionable issues on the citizens of
the District. Its agents can levy a cash
toll and mulct the untried, under pen
atty of long court delays, viz.-by having
the power mot authority to reduce the
fine to such an amount that an arrested
person, rather than submit to combined
annoyances. will usually, at the sugges-
ton (and often solicitation of the agent
himself, pay a compromise fine, without
judicial determination. Seventy-five per
cent of the published convictions, we
believe, are of this nature alone"
The situation has become so acute
says the writer that the association has
framed a bill to remedy the matters
complained Of and proposes to introduce
this in Congress in the near future.