The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-25
Governor O'Neal's Speech

l iabt anu 1DNtil O ANtdlo OPtCShs which was warmly received, is given here In part as follows:
 Governor O'Nears Speech
 "We all recognize that there are r,any reforms which are imperatively demanded in Alabama but in my judg- ment the most important Is the reform of our entire judicial system and our antiquated methods of criminal pro- | cedure.
 "I concede that this is a subject which furnishes little opportunity for flights of oratory or rhetorical display or for | excursions into the realms of fancy. 1t is grave and diaretic subject, and l | would not undertake to inflict it's dis cussion upon this meeting if I did not 1 believe that it is the one reform which now and in the near future will chal- 1 lenge the serious thought and consid- | eration of our people.
 Man is so constituted that he is a social being and his nature requires l that he shall associate with his fellow man. and in the absence of this in- l stinct there could be no society, and the race would not develop much above l the level of the brute creation. All his? tory teaches that no race of people has ever yet been discovered where some 1 form of organized society did not ex- l ist. Society then is mans natural state but society cannot exist without government If men were absolutely unseliSh. free from passion and greed and not inspired by malice or spirit of vengeance, government might be un- necessary However, as man is con | stituted these ideal conditions have | never existed. As long as we possess the frailties, passions and inclinations known 10 our race, government is es- sential in order that society may con tinue. f i
 l The American people, in inventive 1 sailL in scientific discovery and in all the arts of peace, have occupied pre- eminent position, and yet we must con fess that in the protection of life and in the administration of our civil and criminal laws we have not kept pace with the advanced nations of the world,
 Nine Thousand Murders Annually
 Tt has been estimated that 5000 mur- ders are annually committed in the 1 United States and that less than 2 per cent of that enormous number pay the penalties of the law.
 | The United States, according to re- liable estimates, has 115 homicides per 10000 of population, while France has 1e, and Great Britain and Ireland 27 | In Great Britain one in every four charged with homicides are promptly
 
 average is one out of every 56.
 We have the same civilization as Great Britain; the government of both coun- tries is democratic. From Great Britain we inherit our language, our customs and even the common law. Our people are as intelligent, as enterprisng and as moral as those of Great Britain or even our neighbors in Canada, and our 1 judges are as learned in the law, and yet in the United States one out of every 56 murderers are punished. while in Can ada and Great Britain the percentage is practically one out of every three
 According to the 1910 census there were 226,476 people living in Jefferson county l Alabama. In 1911 there were 14S mur- ders committed in that county, or .654 murders to the thousand of population
 In other words, out of about 150O inhab- itants of that county one was murdered | in 1911 New York city, with q popula- ton of i,76G,SS3 had 19S. or 041 to the thousand of population and Chicago. with a population of 21S5,2S3, had 229 mur- ders or 1.04. to the thousand.
 Interesting Statistics
 'The mortality statistics of the United States for 1908, embracing the reports from cities and registration districts which constitute about 45,OO00o0 of our population, or 5l per cent of the total pppuldllOn pi the l nlted states at that time. show that the total num- l Der of homicides in the United States was 6.7 per cent per 100000 of population; | or, in other words, that the number of homicides in the United States was SOo3: l and the census figures show there was a steady increase in the number from l 1901 to 1908. In fact, the number has l practically doubled from 1901 to 1908, and the number of homicides Tn Alabama being exceeded only, according to per- centage per 100000, by Texas and Florida Taking the 4S states and territories the actual number of homlcides in Alabama was exceeded by two states ony-Texas and New York-both of which have a very much larger population
 "The report recently issued by the census department shows that the total number of deaths from violence other than suicide in 1910 was S190 for homi- cides Of course this does not embrace the entire population of the United | States, but only those districts which make reports-practically about one half of the population of the United 1 States.
 1 Judge William II. Thomas. in a charge which he delivered to the grand l jury in the year 1908, showed that there were 461 homcides in Alabama, or Fl out of every 50000 of population, per 1 centage greater than the number oi homicides in England, Wales and Can ada combined. It is estimated that in 1900 there was in the entire United States s975 homicides, and nearly all 1 of which were murders. and that only one in SC of the criminals suffered cap ital punishment. This shows an in crease of nearly 900 homicides or crimes over 1909, when one criminal in "A was ! executed In London, a city of 1000, ,00O inhabitants, there were 19 homicides in