The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-02

lenses of violation of the prohibition laws, burglary and gaming, a material de- crease being shown in the offenses Of concealed weapons, abusive language, the different forms of assault and public drunkenness.
 This" adds the attorney general, "should be a matter of congratulation to the people of Alabama
 Dismissed Cases
 Sharp criticism is indulged in by Colo nel Garber as a result of the tendency in the state to institute frivolous prose- cutions in misdemeanor cases. The re- port shows that of 20,066 cases reported during the two years, 1882 of them were not tried, being either dismissed, abated or withdrawn. Adding to this number the 2S91 acquittals, 1t Is seen that 10573 prosecution were instituted and for some reason the testimony was not sufficient to convict. :f
 Respecting it, paragraph in the re- port says: 'When the people of Ala bama realize that in the administration of the states criminal laws, during pe- riod of two years, four cases out Of every ten are dismissed without trial, all in teligent and thoughtful citizens should unite in combined effort to find some
 
 Liquors and Homicides
 Intoxicating liquor caused or contrbu- ted to the killing of 25s men in Alabama during the recent two years, according to reports of various solicitors of the state, which have been submitted to the attorney general. In the remaining 372 cases there were no evidences of intoxi- eating liquors. The annual liquor homi-
 cides. as a consequence, during the past two years have been 129. as opposed to an annual liquor homcides of the preced- ing two years of 14
 Reasons assigned for this record are given by Colonel Garber as CD "A gen. eral prolific source of crime among the negro population; @ the natural conflict of friction growing out of business and other necessary relations between two
 races essentially dissimilar In character | istics and widely separated in social life, and (3) the racial characteristic of the southern man to resent quickly an in- suit and to act upon slight provocation, especially in matters involving personal honor.''
 | Colonel Garber thereupon deplores pres | ent "unlawful conditions which exist in | the state as a result of alleged prohibi- | tion laws. He says: "Whether this con- dition is due to a. stolid and indifferent public sentiment, to the inactivity of DuDlC OHlCldlS UT lO OtiicI lcdooHSs co | a sequence the spirit of law enforcement | has suffered and the spirit of law de- | fance has grown. It would appear, at | least, that in such localities the effect l of an acquiescence and permissiveness of a very large majority of law-abidng citizens has been to give small minority of law-breakers almost unbridled license. with no effort to solve the problem
 here, I may, nevertheless. truly assert | af finn
 and enlightenment continue to fight il-
 literacy, the forces of prohibition and
 temperance will wage war upon the ad-
 mitted evil of the liquor traffic. If it be | true as has been stated in the public
 prints, that prohibition is failure in this
 state, or in any part of 1t, 1t is due, in
 my judgment, not so much to depreci- ated or limited conception of civic obli- | ga tions on the part of our people as to
 the existence of great differences of opin-
 ion on the subject of prohibition among
 many of our best citizens, and to some
 extent to political influences
 | ReversaIs in Criminal Cases
 subdivision of Colonel Garber's report | devoted to reversals in criminal cases Is
 as follows:
 Tn all the reports of the attorney gen. eral in recent years there has been a
 paragraph devoted to this subject. most
 of them containing a recommendation | that reversals should not be granted on purely technical points.
 | Since 1894 the doctrine of error without | injury has been somewhat relaxed by our
 court under the influence of section 4333 l of the code of 1806-now section 6264 of | the code of 1907--but the statute is yet so
 strictly construed by the court that it
 does not meet the purpose for which it
 was designed. The last clause of this sec l tion of the code (626Q, should be amended | so as to read (new matter in italics): The
 judgment of conviction must not be re- versed because of error in the record un-
 less the court is satisfied that injury re-
 suited therefrom to the defendant This
 change would require the court to say af-
 frmatively that injury resulted to the de- | fendant, whereas, under the present | statute the court must be satisfied that | no injury resulted therefrom to the de-
 fendant'-a conclusion difficult to reach. T call attention again to the practice | of giving special charges to the jury at | the instance of the defendant. Where the proposition embodied in the special charge | is covered by the general charge, the 1 former if correct, must also be given under the present practice. otherwise the case will be reversed. In the average criminal case such charges have but lit tie influence with the jury, and I am con- vinced that this practice as to special charges should be abolished entirely, or at least modified to this extent:
 "The judgment should not be reversed for the refusal of special charge re- uuested by appellant if the proposition embodied In such charge is substantially covered by the rola charge of the court. and that no case be reversed unless it affirmatively appears from the record that the trial court failed or refused to charge the jury upon the proposition em- bodied in the refusal charge"