The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-21

and that although they perform this
additional hard labor for the county to
pay costs, the county has paid no part
or such costs and that It, too. finally
becomes a charge against the fine and
forfeiture fund of the county. There
Is q fee of 81 taxed for the county in
each case where conviction is obtained
ana or course the county gets the bene-
Mt of the convict's labor for this item;
thus you see that certain officers are
not the only fee grabbers,' but the
county itself not only collects It's own
lees thy the hard labor of its convicts)
but also the fees sof Its officers, and
the fees of witnesses, and keeps them.
We also find that about S5 or 90 per
cent OF the witness fees registered
against this fund have been certificates
issued to witnesses from the laboring
class of men, such as miners clerks,
machinists. railroad employees farmers,
carpenters, etc. These men are COM
PEELED, by process issued from your
honors court to attend before your
grand jury or court and lose their days
labor, pay railroad fare and other ex-
penses incident to their attendance, and
receive therefore piece of script for
which they can obtain only a very
small per cent of its face value, in many
instances not sufficient to pay their
transportation, and many witnesses at
tending before this grand jury have
called upon us for money sufficient to
pay their transpo ortation home. We con-
slder this a most deplorable condition
OF affairs and a very great injustice to
those loyal and law-abiding citizens
who produce most of the boasted
wealth of our great county.
THE attendance of a witness upon
your honors court is Just as essential
In the administration of justice as that
OF jurors or solicitor, or even the
presence of your honor, and yet de-
pendent as he Is upon his daily labor
for the necessaries of life, the main
tenance of his family,' and the educa-
tion of his children, he is denied even
his actual expenses, to say nothing of
the loss of his days labor, which he
can Ill afford to lose. And who can
censure him or blame him If he does
evade the service of process which will
compel his attendance-or else subject
him to punishment by fine or imprison-
ment. or both, If he fails to obey 1T?
I'VE further find that this evasion of
service of process and nonttendance
OF witnesses Is largely responsible for
the great number of cases upon your
honor's dockets, and the over crowded
condition of our county Jail, as well as
failure to procure convictions in many
cases where otherwise criminals would
be brought to justice. And who can
say that this does not in large meas
ure tend to promote or encourage crime
and suggest to the criminal class the
probability of an acquittal (even if ap-
prehended) because of such nonattend-
ance of witnesses?
What Is the remedy? After diligent
inquiry, careful investigation and seri-
Gus consideration of the whole PROPOSE
tfon, We most earnestly recommend
that the representatives from this coun-
ty together With the senator be re-
quested to have enacted such 1egisla-
ton as will be necessary to pay all of
the states witnesses who are hereafter
summoned to attend this court, in cash.
for such attendance.
This grand jury has labored long
and hard, and we believe faithfully
having served over a period of eight
and one-half weeks, and we feel that
| no grand jury summoned for duty in
| this court should be required to labor
| more than three weeks on account of
| the very heavy work and amount of
/ business that is brought before them.
We believe that special grand juries
should be organized between each and
| every regular grand jury term to re-
| lieve this work We further believe
that 1t is great injustice to require a
| citizen to leave his business for this
| length of time, as we have been re-
quired to do, for the small compensation
| of 81 per day, especially as the jury is
composed of men of all classes and
| trade, and it is financial loss to each
| of them of more than the per diem al
| lowed by the state for their services,
and yet each of these wage-earners is
compelled to give his services to the
county for this length of time at a
great expense to himself and his busi-
ness, and we recommend that our legis-
latorst be requested to have enacted
such a law as will, In a measure, COM
pensate Jurors for the ardous labors
they are called upon to perform.
/ I'VE desire also to express our deep
depreciation of the hearty, earnest and
/ efficient service and assistance rem
dered this grand jury by Mr.. Edward
| c. Winston, assistant solicitor; Mr..
John W. Lambert, official stenographer
to the grand jury, and to Mr.. Walter
Smith and Mr. A. II. Lathem. the official
bailiffs, who were assigned to duty with
this grand jury.
I'VE wish also to express our ap-
preciation of the prompt and. efficient
service rendered the grand jury by
Walter X McAdory, sheriff, and his
Ichief deputy, w. L. Metcalfe, who had
two of their deputies in constant at
tendance upon this grand jury.
! 1--WE desire especially to thank the
Hon. William e. Fort, Judge of the
criminal court, for his uniform courtesy
and kindness to us and for his very
able charge which has guided us in our
deliberations.
Respectfully submitted
u. T. WILEY, Foreman"