The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-07-22

can be no responsibility without author
 ty The authority and responsibility re- siding ultimately in the people must be delegated; and it must not be emasculated in the process of delegation" l shall now proceed to invite your attention briefly 10 some provisions of the present constitu- ton which seem to me to require revision or repeal.
 BILL OF RIGHTS
 A government which does not secure a speedy and impartial administration of justice has failed in it's chief purpose. Does the Alabama constitution stand in the way of the enforcement of our crim- inal laws? The bill of rights guarantees to every citizen trial by jury in the county or district in which the offense was committed. While this provision IS found in Magma Charta, it is neverthe- less an obstacle in many instances to the enforcement of our criminal laws It is generally recognized that the criminal laws are more impartally and vigorously enforced in the state of Virginia than in probably any southern state. Under the law of Virginia, upon the order of the trial judge, the jury can be brought from any part of the state on the trial of felony.
 We all recall he outrageous defiance of law in Virginia, when certain law
 less men who were on trial, with the aid of their friends and adherents, shot up the court" taking the life of the judge solicitor or prosecuting officer, and clerk, seriously wounding others and shocking the whole country by the most fragrant defiance of law that ever stained our criminal annals. The men who com mitted this crime were men of influence and wealth in their communities and II they had been tried by jury selected from among their friends and associates 1F A 1o11 1ar1oo n11f it. ragged justice would not have been vindl- cated An impartial jury was selected from another part of the state. free from local influence and passion and Justlce was vindicated and the guilty punished If Alabama Is to put an end 10 lynch law and punish the lynchers, the legls- lati1re should have the power to authorize tbe trial judge to exercise the same pow CT as can be exercised in Virginia by summoning a jury from any part ot the circuit or state. The present bill of rlshts is bar to this necessary reform m the administrat tion of our criminal laws All state officials guilty of embezzlement of the states money should be tr1able in the county of Montgomery. My own experience convinces me that it was use less to expect the conviction Of a popu- lar official charged with embezzlement however positive the proof of guilt, If he was triable in his home county.
 VENUE
 All the authorities on law reform unite in the opinion that the state should be entitled as matter of right to change of venue, where such change is de- manded in the interest of pubf1c justice The bill of rights, however, provides only for a change of venue at the instance the defendant. Blackstone says to sum mon jury laboring under local preJu- dices is laying snare for their con sciences" We would take a decided step in the enforcement of our criminal laws if a change of venue could be accorded both to the state and to the defendant ! as matter of right upon proper appli- cation.
 Un next Sundays issue of The Age Herald will appear that portion of the