Omaha daily bee., 1911-01-11

prcme court to set aside a verdict and to
render a judgment then verdict once
given cannot be re-exanned by any court;
however unjust or unfair. It must stand.
! For centuries the jury has been a check
/ on the tyranny and corruption OF judges.
while, at the same time, upright Judges
have corrected the verdicts of ignorant,
prejudiced and venal juries. To do away
with this balance Of power is to set aside
the best safeguards for justice which the
wit Of man. guided by the experience Of
centuries. has been able TO devise.
AT first sight, the first sentence Of
this section III would make it appear that
| this section 90 applied to civil cases only.
[ But that is not the fact. The rest of the
section applies to criminal cases also. The
punctuation is bad. The word provided
which is preceded by a period, should be
| preceded by a colon What follows after
the word provided Is a part OF the SEN
tence. There Is no limitation on the APP
| peal of any case to the supreme court
but the Limitation is Provided, that moth
/ ing in this section shall be construed to
I authorize the supreme court to find the
defendant in a criminal case guilty OF an
offense for which a greater penalty is
provided than that OF which the accused
was convicted in the lower court
Mark the words, the offense of which
the accused was convicted in the lower
court hot the offense nor crime for which
he, was indicted nor for which he was
tried II the accused. In lower court, Is
convicted of a crime for which he was
not indicted nor tried, Of course an appeal
will lie But the supreme court may find
him guilty of an offense, without indict-
ment the only limitation being that the
supreme court cannot find the defendant
guilty of an offense for which a
greater penalty is provided than that of
which the accused was convicted in the
lower court This is made palmer, and
is accentuated by the following provision
OF section OF the amendment. viz: NO
person shall be charged I'm any circuit
court with the commission of any crime or
misdemeanor defined or made punishable
by any of the laws Of this state. except
upon Indictment found by a grand jury
By a necessary implication, this provision
does not apply to the supreme court, which
on appeal may find the accused guilty OF
another crime or offense, but not one for
which a greater penalty Is provided than
that of which the accused was convicted
in the lower court The accused may be
indicted In a circuit court for murder, and
convicted Of rape or arson by the supreme
court; indicted for burglary, and convicted
on appeal of mayhem; indicted for forgery,
and found guilty Of obtaining money on
false pretenses! And may thus be con-
victed of a crime for which he was not
given a right TO make a defense II cir
cult courts are abolished by law. can per-
sons be tried for criminal offenses without
indictments? Indictments are only neces-
sary in circuit courts.
Certainly the proposers of this amend
ment knew little of, or cared nothing for
the history OF the English people. They
ignored the examples OF history OF how,
for centuries, the English people struggled
against oppression and tyranny, and for
the right of a fair and legal trial by a
trial jury in civil and criminal cases, and
in all felones upon an indictment found
by grand jury; of how they were trium-
plant in the so-caled revolution OF 1888;
of the establishment of the bill Of rights,
which, in it's essential features, is a part
Of the original constitution of the state
of Oregon; OF the causes which led to the
American revolution; of the revolution it.
SELF OF the Declaration of Independence.
They ignored the debates in the convention
when the constitution Of the United states
was formed; the fifth and sixth amend
ments to the constitution OF the United
States; what was published in The Federal
list; personal liberty as opposed TO tyranny;
and human rights as against the tyranny
Of courts. Take this amendment, with
its contradictory provisions and determine,
II you can, what was in the minds Of its
trainers and what was their intent.
THE people and the legal voters Of Ore
gon are certainly of as high average in
telligence as those OF any other state in
the union. It's earliest pioneers were people
Of high courage and intelligence, who first
saved Oregon and then made IT, Oregon
has ever since attracted conservative peo-
pie. It has been no place for the adven-
turer or the idler, Up to 1900, It's growth
was not fast Its population, as shown
by the census of that year, was 1885,
Its population, as shown by the census Of
1870 is 672,765, an increase Of 226,261 in ten
years. But only a part of Oregon's voters
have taken the initiative amendments
seriously. Very few OF them have read the
proposed amendments, fewer still have
taken the trouble to give any serious
thought as to what most Of the initiative
amendments meant. Many do not vote on
initiative measures, hoping that what is
right and proper will prevail. Many who
voted for this amendment Of Article VII
OF the constitution were mlsled by the
LhSl Clhu5e u It's Dhtiol ute 4lls care
less, not to say diettant, way of voters
considering or not considering serious
amendments OF the constitution by the
initiative Is one OF the strongest reasons
against its use II the voters will not
seriously, carefully, inteligently and con-
scientiously act then It must continue TO
be failure and. at the same time, q mem
ace to the stability of government as II
has heretofore prevailed in the United
States.
Consider the vote by which this amend
ment was adopted Initiative amendments
do not require a majority of all the voters,
merely a majority Of the votes cast for
or against the amendment The total num-
Der Of votes cast for governor, which was
less than the number Of registered voters,
at the election November g. 1910. when
this amendment was adopted, was 1850.
The vote In favor of the adoption OF this
amendment was ASS, and against its
adoption 39.3O7. The affirmative votes
were 14,9O1 less than the majority, a pro-
portion OF votes cast for the amendment
as compared with the total votes for gov
ernor Of less than IS per cent There were
90 7ss votes for governor who did not vote