The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1921-12-29
would be just the thing. Watch it
develop.-LaMoure County Chronicle.

develop.-LaMoure county chronicle.
1t is inevitable that in any court Of
Justice an occasional man may be con-
victed of crime of which he is en-
tirely innocent. All circumstances of
the case known at the time may
point to his guilt and result in his con-
viction. Later on, after the convicted
man has begun serving the sentence
imposed by the court, facts may be
brought to light which would prove
beyond doubt that the convicted man
was innocent of the crime for which
he was confined. A board of pardons
was created to provide the legal ma
chinery whereby an innocent man, un-
der those circumstances: might be
legally released from finishing his
| sentence, and this is as it should be
However, Of late years, sympathy
seems to have entered into the dellb-
erations of the board TO large ex-
tent with the result that the sentence
imposed by Judge for any crime has
ceased to indicate how long that GRIM
inal will be in custody. A petition
presented to the board, asking that
the prisoner be released seems to be
the pass key to the outer gate OF the
penitentiary. This appears to hold
true whether the petition contains the
SIGNATURES of responsible men or is
composed of the signatures Of the RITZ
raft of the community from which the
convicted man came. This is condl-
ton which should not exist. There
is great deal of work in connection
with getting the necessary EVIDENCE to
anv crime to secure a conviction. ms
| work requires a great deal OF time Pc
I fore the prisoner comes before the
court for trial and it also takes con-
siderable time and expense to give the
man the trial. 1t is not the INTENTION
of any states attorney to CONVEX any
man of crime of which ne is no.
; guilty. He has sworn to uphold the
laws of the state and must see tnat
puiltv parties are brought to trial
| when any particular law is beng vlo-
! lated to any extent the most certain
wav to stop the violations is to secure
tho conviction of violator and I'M
nose a sentence which will be strong
enough to deter others from commit
mo the same crime. If, when a man
;s Convicted of a crime and sentenced
to a term of years in the penitentlary
that man knows that he will be oDllg
cd to serve the full term imposed, ne
and other law violators, will hesitate
before repeating the act, but II Ia"
violators know that sentence OF TWO
! ~ three wears means that they will be
released within five or six months they
will not be afraid of the penalty =, ana
will be willing to take chance. ms
state Of affairs is discouraglng to the
prosecuting attorney who handles the
case and tends to make him feel that
there is no use in trying to stop law
violations by securing convictions. we
think that the board Of pardons, when
considering any petition for pardon
should consult the attorney who prose
cuted the case and the judge who I'M
! nosed sentence. They are in posi-
{ tion to know all the circumstances
surrounding the case and would kn0"
whether the prisoner is entitled TO oe
| released or not.
We read with considerable interest
that the railroads of the country will
voluntarily reduce the rates on cotton
butter, poultry and other commodities
. ten per cent on January first. In ad-
dition to this reduction as ordered by
The interstate commerce commission
for western territory on grain and
grain products and hay, will also be
put into effect. The railroads should
put into effect reductions of freight
AID passenger rates all along the line
regardless of what it is. The farmers
have been hit along the line regard
less of what it is. The farmers have
been hit harder than any other class.
because they produce the most of our
necessities and the terrible freight
rates added to the enormous loss in
the price of what they raise has made
it hard Shedding for them. The rail
roads have been gradually reducing
the wages of the workers and have
been saying that they will reduce
freight and passenger rates when the
men take the reductions in the wage
scale that they have asked. Up to
this time the reduction has come from
the workers and the rest Of us have
been living on promises. The same is
true of other commodities. Take the
| telephone for instance. 1t costs 75c
to talk couple Of minutes to Fargo
where it ought to cost half that much.
The price. Of business phone is now
double what it used to be and while
perhaps, raise should be necessary,
the present price is too high. The re-
suit is much dissatisfaction with the
public, over these conditions, and
rightly too. The great trouble with
all these big concerns today is that
they are over stocked with high priced
men. There are heads to every mag
Unable job connected with the work.
Even the jantor is head of his depart
ment and his o. K. must, be secured
before his assistants can sweep out
the shop. What we need in these pub
lie utilities is less bosses and more
work at wages commensurate with the
work done. The public is the goat
right. The war has raised particular
hades with all these big institutions.
1t gave them a chance to boost things
| IN q hiph neak and it seems mighty