The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-08

| An inspection of the Jefferson county court house will answer the question. As | has been heretofore stated this building and it's adjuncts are nothing more nor | less than the Augean stables.
 Let man sit day in and day out for the week though. in any one of the cramped and crowded courtrooms; let l him breathe the foul air In this place of closed windows and hard-fastened ''ven- l tilators'; let him be locked in the prison- l like, expectorated-upo jury room hour after hour let him be marched to a fifth rate lodging house, called "hotel," be fed fried food leaden cakes, etc.; be given a tin basin for bath and for bed a straw pallet slept upon by a majority of the great unwashed'' for heaven knows how long; let him unto all this and then ask l him:
 Why don't you like it?" l To be subpoened for jury service in the Jefferson county court house is the next best thing to being locked up in the city jail.
 Golfers of the City Opened The munificent sum of g per day plus mileage, and board and lodging, when necessary, is allowed the prisoner of the judy. The average business man loses materially at this rate. l Not only is good health menaced by I confront, but one loses in time and loses l in money. It is as though in certain in- stances he personally donates a sum varying from $2 to s25 and more per day to the system.
 l That the salary. to jurors should be in creased by the county, and the condi- tions under which they serve should be made the subject of immediate inspec- | ton and correction, Is the opinion of the 1 ait nd huS of | Birmingham.
 To say that they are up in arms about l this thing is putting it mildly. The court house itself is like a mammoth inverted | spittoon Every sort and specie of spit, | for instance, that can be spit in all this slimy world is spit there with freedom absolute upon the broken-tiled floors of corridors and the dust-baked wooden floors of courtrooms upon the smoked and dngy tobacco o-stained walls, even upon the greasy windows and the greasy stars-wherever you turn fore and aft, to left, to right. you see--spit. And you See cigar stumps, cigarette ends. leav- ings of pipes, banana and orange peel ings, dirty bits of paper-all these clean ly and pleasant things strewn all about and rotting together, like last years leaves in deep dry run
 But no, never the sweet nutshell of
 
 step into thel plagued spot desire Is quickened to be off into the wild wet woods. And for one whiff of clean, fresh air-a kingdoml
 l A Litany of Woes
 "The main trouble of the court house after it's dirt and smells" said an attor- ney, "is it's over-crowded condition. The court house has simply outgrown itself. It's like a man trying to wear boy clothes"
 Said Judge Senn:
 why, there's not room enough to turn around In! The court rooms are too small. The seating capacity is inade- quate; the ventilation is impossible, the lighting bad and floors and windows never clean. There ought to be separate jury rooms adjacent to each courtroom. | so that the jury may not mingle with the crowds. There on the way to the e- evators the jurors are liable to hear all manner of things likely to prejudice the case Expression of public opinions! And organized often, who call tell?"
 The entire situation tends to defeat the very reason for the existence of a jury system Many an unjust verdict is given for the sole purpose of getting away from the unclean and uncomfortable quarters.
 And again, on the other side, 1t has frequently happened that juror will hold out against giving a decision, and keep his Il brothers up in wretched quar- ters all night simply because he himself has no place to stay saving that poor makeshift lodging provided by the county.
 The Great God Team l Dozens of things are wrong. Myself and again myself-ever before my state. Myself and mine forever!" | So.
 | Excellent.
 Under the law either side can demand | that jury be kept together to the finish, but the expense is so great this is sell dom done.
 Many jurors are ignorant-are chosen | sometimes for this very reason, One case not long since in which identfica- ton of handwriting was involved, called for experts in handwriting. It actually developed that there were two jurors in the box who could neither read nor writ 1. Yet their verdict on the signatures in | question was taken
 There ought to he referees" said an attorney, ''to whom questions of that sort should be submitted, and all complicated accounts, figures, etc, should be referred 1 to them."
 stupendous. Cost, in fact, of all the court business runs up to an immense figure.
 Facts and Figures T. O. Gllespy, the county auditor, has prepared for this series the following statement of interest to every citizen of l Jefferson county:
 Enclosed herewith is statement of the amounts expended by Jefferson coun- ty> for the maintenance of the different courts for the fiscal year beginning on | October 1, 1909, and ending on September 30 1910.
 Ut will be seen from this statement that the yearly expenditures of the coun- l ty- for maintaining the civil courts Is S4S, ,S5012, and for maintaining the crim- l inal courts $22,2l1.02.
 ''The average monthly expenditure of the county for maintaining the civil courts is $4,070.S4, and the average month fly expenditure for maintaining the crim | inal courts is $1,S5092.
 .'The total amount expended by Jeffer- son county for maintaining all the courts | for said fiscal year ending September 30. l 1910 is $71,O6114, and the average month l ly expenditure of the county for main taining all the courts is $5921.76. 1 October, 1909.
 Circuit court. ... .s2i0 % $1,657 55 ..... l Table of Statistics l Expense | Jurors Birding