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The Commoner.
VOLUME 8, NUMBER 32
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The Democratic party has declared for an income tax as a part of
the revenue system, and for a constitutional amendment as a means
of securing' this tax. Secretary Taft announces in his notification
speech that he is in favor of an income tax whenever the revenues
are, so low as to require it, and expresses his belief that it is possible
to secure such a. tax without a constitutional amendment. If it is
possible to frame a law which will avoid the objections raised to the
income tax law of 1894, well and good, but that is uncertain. If an
income tax is desirable, surely Secretary Taft cannot consistently
oppose the adoption of a constitutional amendment. If the principle
is right and the tax wisp, Congress ought to have authority to levy
and collect such a tax, and no supporter of Secretary Taft can op
pose our position without dissenting from the Republican candidate.
The whole aim of our party is to secure justice in taxation. We
believe that'each individual should contribute to the support of the
government in proportion to the benefits which he receives under
the protection of the government. We believe that a revenue tariff,
approached gradually, aqcording to the plan laid down in our plat
form, will equalize the burdens of taxation, and that the addition
of an income tax will make taxation still more equitable. If the Re
publican party is to have the support of those who find a pecuniary
profit in the exercise of the taxing power, as a private asset in their
business, we ought to have the support of that large majority of the
people who produce the nation's wealth in time of peace, protect
the nation's flag in time of war, and ask for nothing from the gov
ernment but even-handed justice.
Importance of the Right of Trial by Jury
"Law Notes," a lawyer's publication, prints
In its August number an interesting article writ
ten by Charles C. Moore,, and relating to the
importance of jury trial in cases of indirect con
tempt. The article follows:
As in other criminal cases, accusations for
contempt must be supported by evidence suffi
cient to convince the mind of the trier beyond
a reasonable doubt of the actual guilt of the
accused. U. S. v. Jose, (53 Fed. Rep. 954. Of
course the purpose of this rule is frustrated if
there is a reasonable doubt of the capacity of
the trier to estimate the convincing force of the
evidence; and, as we have seen, the judges
themselves declaro that, sitting as triers of facts,
their competency to weigh evidence accurately
is not equal to that of juries.
But the superiority of jurors as triors of
facts is not the only reason for the requirement
that criminal cases shall be tried by a jury.
The people, by a jury drawn from among them
selves, take part in every conviction of a person
accused of crime; and the general knowledge
that no man can be otherwise convicted in
creases the public confidence in the justice of
convictions, and is a strong bulwark of the ad
ministration of the criminal law. Sparf v. U.
S., 156 U. S. 51, 175, per Mr. Justice Gray.
"Wo can mot believe that it s wise or expedient
to place the life or liberty of any person accused
H)trtPa83Jfa -0JPc8nB?Sifc 8o ngdte
man is a fallible being," sale the supreme court
of Connecticut In State v: Warden, 4G Conn.
3,49, 367, per Carpenter, J.'.nd although the
majority of the court held that a statute author
izing the accused to elect to be tried by the court
was constitutional, .and that the wisdom of the
permission was 'for the legislature to determine,
Gkief Justice Park, dissented upon the ground
that -the law conflicted with the constitutional
provision that' "the right of trial by jury shall
remain inviolate." It is to be noted, by the way
that the federal cbnstitutibn contains the more
explicit -provision that the trial of all -crimes,
except in cases of impeachment, "shall be by
Jl"T,,SUB recsnizing the interests of the pub
lic in this mode of trial.
U. S. Rev. Stat. Sec. 800, 4 Fed. Stat
Annot, p 737, provides that the qualifications
ox jurors in the federal courts shall be the same
as those for jurors in the highest court of law
In the state where the federal court is sitting.
The citizens of West Virginia, for example, may
rest assured that no verdict of a jury in a federal
court in that state can affect life, liberty, or
property, if any of the jurors is more than sixty
years old, because the legislature of the state
has deemed it nmvlso to intrust such vital in
terests to the jndgmeitu of men in tho decline
of life. West Virginia Codo (4th cd.), p. 822.
But n federal judge seventy-eight years old has
sent men to jail in that state for violating his
own injunction, tho judgo alone deciding the
question of guilt on conflicting evidence, and no
tribunal on earth having power to reverse his
judgment except for error of law. U. S. v Iln.
- gerty, 110 Fed. Rep. 510. "b
It is arguable that the respect due to judges
will bo diminlsufed by suffering their purpose in
granting an injunction to be foiled by the ver
dict of a jury liberating alleged contemnors
But the conclusions of equity judges on ques
tions of fact as well as of law are often upset
by an appellate court, and no complaint is heard '
It is hard to see how the prestige of a iudtre
could suffer more grievously than by his con
viction And sentence of a person for a criminal
contempt in a case where overwhelming and
sincere public opinion pronounced tho defendant
. guiltless-and the evidence insufllcient to warrant
tho judge's finding. . Trial by jury might be
highly salutary by protecting the judge from
malicious criticism, and by relieving him from
apprehension of public indignation for a mis
taken conclusion of guilt. In a case in equity
tried by a New- Jersey vice-chancellor, the de
fendant, a clergyman, testified that he had paid
the complainant, an old woman parishioner,
$1,000 in bills for certain real estate. The
complainant absolutely denied the payment.
There was some other evidence bearing upon
that Issue of fact. The vice-chancellor consid
ered the testimony at great length and declared
the clergyman a liar. On the same testimony
the case was taken to the court of errors and
appeals, which' decided in short order, by a
unanimous bench of twelve jurors, that the
clergyman had not committed perjury, that his
story bore all the marks of truth, and that
the testimony of the complainant was glaringly
false, Subsequently, in a divorce case, the same
vice-chancellor wrote an opinion which covers
thirty-seven pages of the report, and upon an
exhaustive review of the testimony adjudged the
wife guilty of adultery and granted her husband
a divorce. On appeal to the court of errors
and appeals the same evidence was discussed
with consummate ability by Judge Vredenburgh,
the decree of the vice-chancellor was reversed,
and the wife's name saved from dishonor.
"Her reputation under .the proofs stands with-'
out a stain or blemish upon it.V was .the. unani
mous opinion or mo nrteen judges. The same
vice-chancellor, afterward tried,- convict 1, and
sentenced strikers for violations of his injunc
tions.' Now, .-suppose , that in ..these .contempt
cases he had xiommitted blunders in estimating
the -weight of evidence, as gross as those which
the reviewing judges found in the two cases
above mentioned. No tribunal could review his
finding and rectify his mistake on the facts.
Wouldn't there be an ugly clamor for trial by
jury? If a locomotive engineer's mistake caused
as grievous injuries to the persons of passengers
on his train as the vice-chancellor's uncorrected
errors would have inflicted on the reputations
of litigants in his court, what would become of
that engineer's job? A federal judge will hold
his job, despite mistakes, until resignation,
death, or removal by impeachment.
The Commoner will
be sent from now until
Election Day for Twenty-five
Cents.
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