Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-12-08

were tried; 81 death sentences-one
in %. About all the hangings, of
course, were Of negroes.
For the whole country S,975 muir
ders in 1910; in 1909, S,103. Hanged
for murder in 1910, "a. Say one
in go.
Is there any need to say that
these are conditions which obtain in
no other civilized nation in the
world? That they are the result of
conditions for which we, in the Unit
ed States, are alone to blame is pain
! fully evident from a simple consid-
Grafton.
If we step across the line into
Canada we find that the number of
murders per million of population
has there dropped six-sevenths.
There the average is but little higher
than in England, which in turn is
only one-tenth that of the United
States.
! The suggestion, therefore, that the
atrocious conditions prevailing in this
country are those of a newly settled
country with large influx of foreign
population, and 50 forth, is simply a
miserable pretense. Canada has a
large foreign population; it is much
newer than the United States; and
for the rest, as l pointed out in the
article in the last issue of Golfers, our
foreign-born population is far more
} orderly and less murderous than the
) r,ative-born population.
What then, is the trouble?
Bench and bar, the ablest judges
and jurists of the country, are prac.
tically unanimous in ascribing our fail
, ure to the conduct of the courts and
our antiquated and imbecile methods OF
} procedure. These have been denounc
ed by judges and jurists alike in terms
} that from the pen of 1ayman would
be decried as incendiary. / may quote
} few:
cit is not too much to say that the
administration of criminal law in this
country is a disgrace to our civiliza
} ton and that the prevalence of crime
and fraud which here is greatly in ex
, cess Of that of European countries Ii
due largely to the failure of the Law
, and it's administration to bring Grim
inals TO Justice"
This is from the president Of tn,
United States. 1t is from one of
, long list Of admirable addresses AM
messages in which he has endeavore,
to awaken the country to the frightfu
perversion of justice which here e0
lists.
. Before the Minnesota Bar associs
ton Justice Charles F. Amidon said:
! Our administration of the crimins
law has broken down. 1t is a fai
/ statement Of the administration of tn
: criminal law In America that If a ma
1 has the means to employ counsel so a
= to make fight as we say, In the ma
\ iority OF cases he can escape punisl
= ment for crime"
h Dean Lawson Of the University {
Missouri:
l. Crime is triumphant for the reaso
= that it has become a rule of action wit
our appellate courts that the penaltis
= consequent upon the commission of
\ great crime can be escaped by a erin
inal because of an unintentional cor
initial by the prosecuting attorney {
an error of procedure"
y Hon. Everett P. Wheeler of the Ne
York bar. in a report to the America
Bar association:
The system under which the law
administered IN most parts of Il
country is a hundred years behind Il
age"
Curtis H Lindley, president of Il
Z Bar association of San Francisco al
OF the California State Bar associ
, ton:
The law is an archaic ard petrifi,
2 system of general law framed on II
4 century IDEAS"
= Federal Justice Emory Speer
4 Georgia:
% To-day it is almost impossible f