Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-09-23
Circulation Every 10AO0
Evening Saturday L G1OO
MONDAY. SEPTEMBER %, 1918
Increase in Court Business.

The grand jury of the September term
81 the Court of General Sessions and
Jail Delivery now in progress IN this
city, returned, during its session last
week, Isl criminal indictments, most
of them. OF course, for mlsdemeanors. but
a considerable number for felones. This
means an unusually large amount Of
business for the court to consider and
dispose of.
These figures also serve 10 reveal the
surprising increase Of our court business
in recent wears Up to about thirty-tIvc
wears ago two terms of court p year
vcrc sufficient for New Castle county
the Nav and November terms covering
ciyiI Is vel ~ criminal business. In
hose DAYS the Encouragement with the
nd Of one deputy was able @ attend 20 all
he prosecutions of cases
Now il taxes the time and capacitv of
the attorney general, aided by three
deputies ono in each county 10 handle
the criminal business and he Is 50 handl
capped that he Is hardly able to DO full
Justice to his official duties lie j. ham
percd by the necessity Of attending to So
MANY of the smaller details thar he tndS
II matter ot great difficulty 10 look after
the more important duty OF effectively
prosecuting the serious offences In
justice to the public interests he should
he provided with at least one more dep
uty for New Castle county, in order that
he may be relieved Of many OF The minor
details he is now compelled to give atten-
ton to. and be enabled TO give more time
to preparation for his most important
work
Also. the court terms have been IN
creased owing 10 the larger volume Of
business. civil and crmir al The first
increase was about 1881. when the I4cgiSla-
turr provided for two additional terms
of the Superior Court and the Court Of
(Seneral Sessions IN New Castle county 10
st in February and September Later
Two additional terms VcTe provided for
Kent and Sussex counties also With these
and other court ~Ittings. including The
sessions Of the state supreme Court. our
judges are kept engaged in court service
almost the entire year with only one
month without assigned court sittingS
And the duties they have 10 perform are
such that even this month can scarcely be
called period Of vacation and rest for
them
Il IS apparent, therefore. that the
nev Legislature Will be called upon to
give consideration TO this subject and
devise measures for meeting these pressing
court demands with more effectiveness
than is possible under prevailing condi- /.
tions. Possibly more courts and judges
are required Certainly, as We have
said, more assistance for the attorney /.
general Is essential. The entire subject +
may well command the serious coDsidera- /
ton of the Bar Associations of the State /
While the large increase IL criminal |
business in the courts of New Castle
to which we have alluded. NAV |
seem surprising, it is not really so, all .
'funHS cODSlQeftu. lie lilfTpdSp, OF tUe
major portion of 1t, comes from the city
Of Wilmington, and the population Of
,ur city has been largely enhanced in
recent years, especially since the coun-
-rys enormous war activities brought so
many worknen from other places TO
his citv OF considerable part OF this
increased population it may be SAID
With truth, coupled with regret, that il
: rot altogether desirable in character
ring IN morals. Too many of the
-.crs are inclined to turbulency,
'hcse undesirables, coupled with
We have always had among us
,flch element also keeps pace with the
,rowth of the c'ty-the amazing re-
ults revealed by the pending term Of
ourt may justly be attributed
At any rate, the situation has reached
stage that demands attention with
new to reform. Our judges are over
sorked, and so are the attorney-general
nd his deputies. Other arrangements,
imed towards better handling of the
arge volume of work, have become alb
olutely necessary.