New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-05-14
TAFT OPPOSED TO !.
RECALL OF JUDGES
BIames Them in Part, However,
for Need of Reform in Grim =
inaI Procedure.
PRIME CAUSE THE PUBLIC
President Says Unfavorable Com.
parison with English Admin.
istration of Justice Is Due
to Lighter View Of
Law Here.

The administration OF criminal justice
in this country was severely criticised
last night by President Taft in A speech
before the Academy Of Political Sci
ence at their dinner az the Hotel Astor.
The members Of the academy had
| listened 10 a large amount Of theory.
but when the President came he brought
them back to facts with an abruptness
that was startling. and he ended his
speech with a plain statement of his
views on the proposition for the recall
Of judges that left no crumb OF comfort
for those who favor that plan.
And now" he said not content with
reducing the position OF the Judge 10 one
something like that Of tho moderator in
religious assembly or the presiding
officer Of a political convention. the
! Judge is to be made still less important
end TO be put still more on trial and 10
assume still more the character Of a &C.
/ fendant by provision ~ law under
which. II his rulings and conduct IN
court do not suit small percentage OF
/ tho electors of his district he may be
compelled TO submit the question Of his
! continuance on the bench during the
term for which he was elected TO an
election for recall. in which the reason
for his recall is to he included IN two
hundred words and his defence thereto
is to be equally brief"
The speech came az the end of what
| Mr.. Taft said he hoped was 10 be his
last DAY for this season ~ continuous
performanc'. He had already made
speech to ST Johns Lodge OF Masons
in Newark on its 150th anniversary
and had = short informal talk with
Henry T. Stinnson. his new Secretary
Of War To-day he goes to Harrisburg
and on Wednesday he is 70 return here
for the peace dinner az the Astor.
Slap at Congress from, WINS.
The dinner at the Astor last night was
the elimination Of q two-day's session
OF the Academy Of Political Science and
the conference on criminal law and
procedure Before Mr. Taft arrived
William NJ Wins. who presided hsd
talked at considerable length on the
good 70 be done by such bodies as the
academy. as distinguished from the
wrangle and tangle and jang!e which we
call Congress and the Legislature"
Dean Kirchvey of the Columbia Uni
versity Law School also had elaborated
his views on the reform Of the country.
1t was his opinion that the place 70
start the reform of the criminal law
was in the home and with the child.
The way TO effect good" he said. is
bv dealing with childhood at home.
rather than with the accomplished Grim
inal through the medium of the police
man and the judge"
Francis J. Heney. ex-District Attor-
ney Of san Francisco, introduced some
what. Of a discord in the theme OF the
evening when he told of his social ex-
periences after prosecuting the San
Francisco grafters, but it was President
Taft who made the men and women az
the small tables start with his plain tax
about the administration OF criminai
iustice in this country.
Says Majority Escape Punishment.
President Taft said
Fellow Members Of the Bar; am sure
YOU do not expect me az TINS iate hou.
engage in a comprehensive cohsiue, a,ion 'sn
~ the changes needed in the law ana ruies
OF criminal procedure to make NOR Nes
tain and expeditions the punishment ~
crime I'm this country. Ihe stausESSS
which show the crimes that 20 urplnlshe1
I'm this country compared Win tnose y, ~
England are startling and nuntiie'nS .io ~ 80 "a
anv son OF America who has pride IN nis
fellow co,lntrymen as law-abiding ana Jaw
enforcing people \ study - the Enslst,
system win show mat tneir pro'TndIiie, adi',us, S,
as T. Indictment. trial and cohElS' zen
and their provision for the security ot ,@ts @
liberty OF tie ndNiduaid ARE are eoaT oays rom ,r
them our bills OF rights. both IN teuere
and state institutions. are simple copies 81
limitations found in the Magna SmaF'a ,l,t a,
the Petition OF Rights and the Bill OK
Rights which are part OF the brl'is" No-'
WY Why is /, then that. speaking generally,
every person who commits a crime N
England is tried and rarely escapes pun
ishrnent while in this country II ls not 700
much to say that a majority escape ,e
iav5 certainly II the statistics of the
whole country are taken and the crlmes
considered are those OF violence the pro-
portion ot those who are never trie1i or
. who being tried, escape punishment, ~
good deal more than 80 per cent Of these
Committing such crimes.
What are the changes that nave taken
nisre in the transplanting OF the English
system 10 this country that have weaktnet
. lis effectiveness and that now call loudly
,or reforu? We cannot find the explains
ton II course IN Jeremy Benthams i'm
! neachment OF criminal law procedure be-
cause what he said was said OF the tnsLsh
. system HIS comparison Of the trial Of
murderer TO a game or a fox hunt. IN
which tile criminal was given certain
start and had the benefit OF nunloef ot
rules a. prevent his conviction that really
irterfered with proof ~ his guilt TO the
: satisfaction 81 every common sense mind.
would apply as We'll to the English system
as our own.
liohter Regard for Law Here.
! Wherein is the great difference. thcn ne
tween the effectiveness OF the two systems
| believe ID to exist in the character. eNpe-
rianrn nnA LEARNING OF The tndgeS IN tie