Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-10-20
PROPOSED NEW
CONSTITUTION
REACTIONARY
CONTINUED from First Page)

City of Chicago in which d poor man
having a claim for unpaid wages may
be able TO secure an adjudication OF
that claim. A few years ago we had
Justices Of the Peace located at con-
Yenient points In the City of Chicago
to whom people with small claims
could 90. The proceedings we're very
informal and lawyers were not needed.
There could be a trial Of the case with
practically no expense. The method
of paying these Justices Of the Peace
brought abuses, but, instead of chang
ing the system of payment from fees
to a salary, the Justice courts were
abolished and the Municipal Court es-
tablished Now, that Municipal Court
is to be destroyed and nothing left
but a Circuit Court located in the
loop district, with a complicated sys-
tenn of practice and procedure which
the litigant cannot understand, where
no one is allowed to practice except
licensed lawyers, and where the ex-
pense of securing a trial is prohib-
tive except i'm cases involving large
sums of money. Before establishing
more convenient courts for the rich We
should provide forum where the poor
man can secure a hearing on any
small claim that he may have.
Outside of Chicago, in Cook County,
we still have Justices of the Peace.
They are elected by the people as they
should be-the democratic method.
II the new constitution is adopted,
those justices will not be elected but
they will be appointed by the Chief
Justice of the civil division of the
Circuit Court of Cook County.
We have in Illinois a system of
courts known as the Appellate Courts
to which appeals from Circuit Courts
are taken. These courts have power
to set aside verdiets of juries and sub
stitute their own opinion as to the
facts in place of the finding of the
Jury, and from their decision on the
facts there is no appeal nor oppor-
tunity for a re-trial. At the present
time the Appellate Court judges are
appointed by the Supreme Court from
among the Circuit judges, men who
have been elected by the people. If
the new constitution goes into effect,
the Appellate judges will not be men
who have been first elected to serve
in the Circuit Courts, but the Su-
preme Court will have power to select
whosoever it will to sit as Appellate
judges. We are moving away from
the democratic system to an auto
cracy.
Other Undemocratic Provisions.
The temper and spirit of the MEM
bers of the Convention is shown by
Section q of the proposed draft
u,biob xaaIs falInuc. afFhn ronnh-
lican form of government of this
State shall never be abandoned, modi-
fed or impaired" A republican form
OF government is, of course, all right
but why put a clause in the constitu-
ton which will compel us to keep
the present form of government with
out modification? Is it so certain
that we in Illinois have reached per-
lection in our form of government and
no change should ever be made? APP
parently the members of the conven-
ton were not only reactionaries but
convinced that wisdom would die with
them.
Some states have laws protecting
bank depositors. They compel the
bankers to contribute to state fund
and then the state guarantee deposit
tors in banks against loss. If a bank
fails the state makes good the loss of
the depositors from the fund it has
collected. These are wise laws. Small
depositors cannot afford to lose their
savings because of dishonesty or bad
judgment of bankers. But, the franz
ers of the proposed constitution were
opposed to that sort of thing and they
inserted a provision, Section 40, that
'Ao law should be passed to authorize
the state to incur any liability for any
banking business"
Heretofore the power of the COVER
nor to call out the militia has been
limited to cases where such action has
become necessary to execute the law
or suppress riot or invasion. That
provision is broadened in the new con-
stitution so that the governor is auth
orized to call out the militia for the
purpose of executing the law, sup
pressing instruction or to protect
| life or property, thus, in effect, max
ing the militia part of the police
sorce of the state and authorizing the
use of soldiers on any occasion when
an overeXcited governor may think
life or property needs protection.
Denial of Bail.
Gu rpeople, or at least the news
papers and our crime commissions
! have been quite stirred on the subject
of crime the past year or two. The
crime commissions are very certain
that they can stop all criminal con-
duct if they can just put enough peo-
pie in jail Their activities have beer
limited somewhat by the clause in the
Bill of Rights of our present consu.
tuition which provides that bail shall
not be denied except in capital cases
where the proof of evidence and the
presumption is great. The crime com
mission and its allies caused thai
clause to be stricken from the draft
of the new constitution, and if it i!
adopted, whether a person who II
accused shall be liberated upon bal
will be in the discretion of the judge
Thsre will be no right to bail. An.
person accused of any crime may b,
kept in Jail before trial if the Grim,
commission can find a complaisan
judge, and, as crime commissions ar
powerful bodies, they probably will b.
able to find judges of that character.
The Bible in the Schools.
Our present constitution has ;
clause guaranteeing religious free
dom. Under that provision our Su
preme Court has held that the Bib,
may not be read in the public schools
The new draft, while retaining tn,
provision concerning religious free.
dom, adds to it the following: 9TH
reading of selections from any version
of the Old and New Testaments in tn,