The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1914-07-10
PROMINENT REPUBLICAN COM
MENDS PROSECUTOR BENHAM
Record Rcmarkable-Has Qualifica-
tions of Successful Prosecutor,
Says u Member of the st.
Francois County Bar

nam mas Hleue RoOu III lHc SupeTIu-
tive degree, and deserves reelection,
was the declaration emphatically
made by Attorney William +. Roop,
of Bonne Terre, in an interview with
Times reporter while in Pennington
recently.
"When Mr.. Benham announced for
the Office of Prosecuting Attorney two
years ago." said Mr.. Roop, "Some of
the "old timers" said it was not
schoolboys job, and while this may
be true when applied to most boys,
Mr.. Benham's record shows that as
to him the shaft missed its mark
long distance. When we consider that
when Mr.. Bcnham took charge Of the
Office he was practically without eX-
perience, the record he has made is
certainly one of the most remarkable
in the history of Southeast Missouri.
The Office is one as every lawyer
knows, that calls for the exercise Of
judgement of a high order, as well as
the best legal talent. One Of the
breakers, into which most young pros
ecutors run, is putting too mch con-
fidence in every complaint made to
them Of law violation, and instituting
prosecutions without first ascertain
ing whether the facts are strong en-
ough to sustain a charge. Much
fruitless litigation and criminal costs
is the result of this, whereby com
munities are often thrown into tur-
moil, witnesses and jurors are taken
from their avocations to no purpose,
and the burden of the taxpayers in
creased when no public good whatever
has been subservcd. This Mr.. ben
ham, by the exercise of sound judge
ment, has been wise enough to avoid,
and the surprising number Of convic-
tions and relative decrease in crimi-
nal costs is Of course the result.
what are the qualities that should
predominate in a Prosecuting Attor-
ney?" Mr.. Roop was asked.
First, high sense Of duty, second
good Judgement, third, the ability to
grasp and analyze facts readily, fourth
the faculty of getting witness to teh
what he knows without injuring the
States case, and fifth, the power to
present the case in its final analysis TO
the jury fully, logically, and convinc-
ingly. My observation of Mr.. Ben
hams tactics convinces me that he
possesses these qualities in an en-
inent degree. One who is a good
lawyer on the facts" is most success
full in criminal practice. One Of the
most promising characteristics | OBJ
served in Mr.. Benham upon his return
from the State University at the
threshold Of his practice, was the fac
ility with which he handled the facts
of cases in Justices courts, displaying
an ability in the way indicated, far
above the average, and ! was not
surprised to find him handling cases
with the sanfroid of an old timer
at the last term Of our circuit court.
"Self consciousness" is one of the
worst stumbling blocks in the way Of
the young lawyer, but MIR. Benham
seems to possess the happy faculty
of forgetting self in his zeal for the
cause he is representing"
"What about Benham's Labor Rec
ord?" the reporter asked.
"0ver at Bonne Terre, we who
know Mr.. Benhams past, and his in
terest in the cause of labor, do not
entertain any doubt of his sympathy
with the cause of labor or with any
thing that will ameloriate the condi-
tion of working men. Personally, |
know from intimate association with
him, that the workingman never had
a more staunch friend in the Prose-
cutting Attorneys office than the pres
ent incumbent. In considering the
phase of Mr.. Benham's record, the
difficulties in the way of the enforce
ment of labor laws should not be over
looked. Fortified by citadel of
wealth-strengthened by the principles
of personal liberty and vested inter-
ests-able to employ the best legal
talent and to exhaust every technical
ity of the law when attacked in court,
it has been demonstrated more than
once that some corporations are
stronger than the national govern
ment in some respects. It is the bust
ness of u Prosecuting Attorney to
prosecute cases to which his attention
is called, when supported by sufficient
evidence do not understand it to
be his duty to go out in the by-ways
and hunt up cases. In the welfare OF
the great industrial enterprises Of
our county all are interested--an Of
ficer who would needlessly harass
Il -. l..N