The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-12-13
DAUGHERTY FILES
ANNUAL REPORT
Attorney General Recon-.
mends New Judicial Organ
ization For Federal Gov
ernment to Clean Up
Crime Cases

Washington. Dec. "a new basic
judicial organization, to meet the
augmented work which has result
ed from the eyer-increasing COM
plexity of government, was sug-
gestcd by Attorney General Daugh-
erty in his annual report, made
public here today, on the opera
tions Of the Department of Justice.
Noting that e0,722 criminal cases
were begun in the last fiscal year.
the report declared the point was
being approached where a re-
vamping Of the machinery used in
this work is inevitable
Adoption of some method by
which the government could re-
tain attorneys who haves special
knowledge of government matters
in addition to legal training was
one of the several suggestions ad-
vanced by Mr.. Daugherty. The
recently enacted legislation provid-
ing additional judges should help
the situation, he said. but probably
will not entirely remedy it.
eNThe failure Of local self-govern-
ment in parts Of the country the
report said, results IN the in
sistence of the citizens Of those
communities that the Federal gov
ernment perform that function in
which the local government has
failed. and frequently in matters
where there is concurrent jurisdic-
ton between the State and Federal
government it is difficult to estab-
lish a policy as to the extent to
which the Federal government
should take jurisdiction. This is
peculiarly true of offenses arising
under the Federal reserve act, the
narcotic act the Volstead Act. and
the postal frauds act. There has
been an effort on the part of this
division during, this fiscal year to
have the United States attorneys
and the state prosecuting attorneys
meet from time to time for the pur-
pose of cooperation. Evidence of
the benefits Of these meetings is
Overwhelming.
.'The existing procedure for the
removal of defendant to the juris-
diction where the crime was COM
mitted, is unduly cumbersome and
| results in unjustified delay and
injustice. Under such procedure
the trial is frequently delayed from
one to two years.
Announcement was made in the
report of the desire Of the De-
partment to return. or to recon-
mend for return" all property seiz-
ed under the Trading with the
Enemy Act in, cases where the
owners come within the enabling
section Paragraph 81" of the Act
"The question in almost all OF
these cases." Mr.. Daugherty re-
i. ported. .fis either Of title of or cit
izenship. For instance, the Alien
Property Custodian has seized and
now holds the property Of estates
which are quite complicated. by
reason ofS the rights of United
States citizens, alleged to have been
acquired subsequent to the war
Oftentimes the question becomes
one of the validity CT an assign
ment or the acquisition of title
prior to the war. and in this con-
nection it is exceedingly difficult at
times to distinguish between the
pre-war ownership of claimant
, and simple claim Of indebtedness
and it is then necessary to have the
:, question submitted to the courts.
'It has also been necessary te
send representatives Of the de-
partment to Europe ~ secure evil
dence from those familiar with GER
tain cases. This es:5ence was mate
rial in TIL. consideration and trial
of these cases and in tie determi-
nation. nj cef:ain clans, so that q
| fair and impartial hearing could be
given to litigants and claimants
In fact, it was usually at the re-
quest of litigants and claimants
that these representatives were
sent abroad. and while such In
vestigations and the taking of such
evidence served to aceommodate
claimants, it likewise protected the
| government in the administration
! of the tusts created over these prop
critics.
1T may be expected that the
/; future will see any number of in
! terpretations by the courts of the
! provisions of section 9 and OF the
question as to whether the litigan1
is a proper party claimant under
! this section The questions OF
!! law arising are many, and while
in general. it may be said that the
/ provisions Of section 9 do not con
flict. it must be recognized that
there exist some exceedingly close
questions as to which of the provi-
sions of section control in certain
cases. The greater majority of the
precedents established by the courts
during the past year have been fa'
vorable to the government.
The report made no comment or
the railroad injunction case ano
merely noted the legal situation
arising out of enforcement Of the
! ..f, outside tho