The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-02-24
MORE COURTS ARE
NOT FAVORED BY
THOMAS MARSHALL
Governor Is Seeking to Forti-
ty Himself With Facts and
Figures for Argu m e t S
Against Plan.
THISTLETHWAITE IS
GATHERING THE DATA
He Is Requesting the County
Clerks to Inform Him on the
Amount of Work That the
Judges Must Do.
palladium Specially

Indianapolis, Feb. 24-Evidently,
Governor Marshall is seeking to fOrti-
fly himself with facts and figures
that he may use as arguments against
the establishments of any more new
courts in Indiana by the legislature
next winter. Although the governor
is in Arizona and will not return until
about March 5, during his absence the
work of gathering the information for
his use is going on with great care.
Col. Thistlethwaite, his private sec
retary, acting under orders of the gov
ernOr is sending requests to the clerks
of the various counties, asking them
for definite information as to just
how much work is done by the judges
Of the different courts.
What He is Seeking.
The governor wants to know just
how many days in the year the judge
works; how many days he holds
court; how many cases are filed in
the year; how many cases are diSpOS
ed of; how much it costs to run the
courts, and everything else that he
can get in the way of information that
courts.
No statement has been made at the
Governors office as to the purpose in
seeking this information, but it is be-
lieved that the governor will use it
for the purpose mentioned above. 1t
will be remembered that he went on
record last winter in the most en-
phatic manner against the creation of
any new courts at the expense of the
state, and that he vetoed every court
bill that came to him. His position
was that the additional courts were
not needed, and that if the present
courts would work little harder they
could take care of all of the business.
Were Numerous Bills.
Numerous bills were presented to
the legislature last winter for the
creation of new courts. The most no
table of these were the Gary superior
court bill and the Linton superior
court bill. These two bills called forth
more animosity and caused bigger
fights and more hard feeling than any
other bills that came before the legis-
lature at that session. The Linton
bill passed and the governor vetoed
it. The Gary bill passed and the gov
ernOr also put quietus on it, thus
earning for himself the undying en-
nifty of the boosters for the bills In
the case of Linton the bill was oppos-
ed by Bloomfield, the county seat of
Greene county, where the circuit court
is located. The Bloomfield people
feared that if new court were estab-
lished at Linton, in the same county,
all of the court business from the
west part of the county would be talk
en- to Linton and this would keep
many people and much business away
from Bloomfield. They came to the
legislature with figures showing that
the Greene circuit court was crowd
ed with business, but they insisted
that the best way to remedy the
trouble would be to separate Greene
county from Sullivan county and give
each a circuit court instead of Great
ing superior court that would sit
part of the time at Linton and a part
of the time at Sullivan.
And Linton Won Out.
The result was that Linton won out,
thanks to the effective work of Sena.
but the governor vetoed it, Not only
that. but scandal was created which
resulted in an investigation being held
at the office of the governor but which
did not bring forth any fruit.
Then there was the case of Gary
Gary wanted superior court and
sent lobby down here which for size
and energy has seldom been equaled
in the legislative history of Indiana.
Hammond also sent delegation, but
not to favor the bill Hammond did
not want new court established at
Gary. because there is a circuit court
at Crown Point and a superior court
at Hammond, in Lake county. There
fore. it was pointed out by Hammond
there should not be a multiplicity of
courts scattered all over the county.
but it was insisted that there ought
to be another superior judge at Ham,
mond to relieve the congestion of the
Hammond superior court. The Gary
bill passed, but the governor vetoed
1t.
Would Increase Expense.
An effort was made to separate
several other circuits and give several
counties Independent courts. One bill
sought to divide Decatur and Shelby
counties. giving each county a court.
This would have meant the appoint
ment of new Judge and the expense
of maintaining another court. and the
idea did not take hold worth a cent
Continued On Page Seyen.)