The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-12-04
DELAYS IN
 CRIMINAL CASES
But One Man Hung for Ev- cry 100 Murders Com
 mitted
(By Clyde H Tavenner. Special Cor respondent of The Farner1

NyO
 respondent of The Farmer)
 Washington, Dec. That the ad- ministration of justice in the criminal courts of the United States has sbe- come scandal. and a faroe'', is the charge made in a remarkable series Of articles now running in Golfers magazine. The author is Carl Sny- der who has been Investigating the subject for several months.
 The statistics gathered by this writ CT are of particular interest just now. because various members of Congress are at work on bills designeds to pre- vent the long delays of justice in the Federal courts. Years are given in these courts to the consideration of actions which ought to be concluded in as many months, if not weeks The beef trust prosecution has been pend- ing nine years, and steel trust attor- neys say the suit recently filed by the government against that corporation will drag along for years and years before a decision is reached
 President Taft himself has many times pointed out the need of reforms in court procedure. Snyder quotes the president as saying on one occasion: Tt is not too much to say that the administration of criminal law in this country is a disgrace to civilization. and that the prevalence of crime and fraud which here is greatly in excess of that in European countries Is due largely to the failure of the law to bring criminals to justice.
 As a measure of the extent to which the laws delays and technicalities have operated to the benefit of crim- inals. Snyder points out that at the present time there are upwards of 100, 900 murderers at liberty in this country. One man is hanged, he points out, for each ninety murders committed. For each one hundred are reversed. In other words, he ex- plains. it is only necessary for de- feated attorney to make out a bill of exceptions, and the chances are ap> proximately even that the higher court will upset the verdict of the first trial court Contrasted with this record the author quotes a distin- guished judge as saying that in Eng land, where the population is almost half what it is in this country, there are only eleven or twelve Judgments reversed annually by the higher courts.
 Consider a few of the cases upon which appeals have been granted" Snyder, writes. ''In South Carolina an indictment was set aside because the word father was spelled farther In Alabama case was reversed because the letter 'i' was left out of the word malice Tn West Virginia horse thief gained new trial because at one place in the indictment the state was designated w Virginia instead of West Virginia In Missouri a man who had assaulted a young girl gain ed his freedom because the indictment read against the dignity of state in stead of the state Commenting on this decision Frederick w. Lehman, president, at the time. of the Ameri- can Bar association, said: Had a mob appeared to lynch the fiend in this case, and had I appeared to plead that the law be allowed to take it's course, they would have asked me why they should respect law which puts the article the in sanctity above the chastity of our wives and daugh- ferS' 7, u .a--.