The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-08


 Charging that too many officers are engaged in arrestinE petty and trivial offenders to give consecutive and sys- tematic attention to more serious the increased cost of foodstuffs and secret combinations in restraint of trade, were among the features of the charge given yesterday by Judge W. E. Fort to the grand jury for the Sep tember term impaneIed by him in the first division of the criminal court. l Judge Fort did not give a written charge to the grand jury, but was very explicit i'll his verbal charge. He called attention to the individual responsibility of each grand juror in the investiga- | ton of the cases that are brought be- fore the inauisitorial body and urged them to perform their duties without prejudice, favor or fear.
 Irresponsible Men Swear Out Warrants {, He scored the proniscous swearing 1 out of warrants by irresponsible per- | sons and stated that there were too 1 many ill-prepared. ill-digested and un- | substantial cases on the dockets of 1 the criminal courts and ascribed this | condition to the fact that there was | no check on the swearing out of war rants. He stated tAis was a matter | that the grand jury might investigate l with View of suggesting legislative l relief
 | He stated that the poor attendance of witnesses at important trials was due to the loss of time and wages of such wit l nesses, with no pay except the miser- able pittance offered by the scrip buy CTS. He also commented on the need of legislation to equip the county depart ment of justice with the proper facili- ties to properly conduct the duties of the official stenographer for the crim- inal and trial courts, no assistance to aid him in looking after witnesses and no fund at his disposal to hire detec- tives to secure evidence in cases of inn portance
 He was severe on the practice of off cers arresting petty offenders and con- lining them in the county jail for trivial offenses and stated that they were too much occupied in this regard to give sys- tematic attention to the more serious crimes.
 s to the fact that law agents and adjusters were allowed to nfest the jail and drum up clientage for individual lawyers and firms, notwithstanding there were stat utes in the code of Alabama against such practice.
 High Cost of Living In regard to the high cost of living Judge Fort "spread" himself. He cited sections 7570 and 75SO of the code In tn ~R ing by speculation and secret combina- tions. He said 1t had been suspected and charged that such combinations have been mnde in Birmingham and he informed the grand Jury that If they found on investigation that such was the case 1t would be their duty to re- turn an indictment. In this regard Judge Fort quoted . recent statement of President Wilson to the department of justice fOIlOwss
 "The rapid and unwarranted increase In the price of fOOdstuffs in this cOun- try upon the pretext of the conditions existing in Europe is 50 serious and vital matter that take the liberty of calling your attention to it.' He cited other authorities and quot
 ing from the Financial World, said:
 There Is no excuse for the war
 prices. We have an enormous ex-
 portable surplus of flour and could
 AicSt dii tHc OI8 UeHldnuS OI EHBldnO and France. even if they were able
 to take 1t freely. and still have enough
 and to spare for our people,
 The sugar crop of Cuba is said to
 be the greatest on record and yet
 sugar is up to cents a pound. or 50
 per cent increase. There Is an actual
 shortage of meat. but not such as to
 justify the big advances, but there is
 not the slightest basis for the claims
 that canned goods and many other
 foodstuffs have gone up because of
 the increased foreign demand
 ''If no other means are found to
 curb food spectators the American
 people will institute such economies,
 as indeed may already have been done,
 as will leave many speculators with
 unsold goods on their hands.'
 Urges Full Probe
 Judge Fort urged upon the grand jury that they make a full investigation of this highly important matter and instructed them to return indictments If the laws ct 10 Qtafo had boa17 vrlo1otod Ia q