Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 April 1885 — An Offensive Breath [ARTICLE]

An Offensive Breath

Is most distressing, not only to the person afflicted, if he have any pride, but to those with whom he comes in contact. It is a delicate matter to speak of, but it has parted not only friends but lovers. Bad breath and catarrh are inseparable. Dr. Sage's Catarrh Remedy cures the worst cases, as thousands can testify. ■ A ■ - - ---- - -■ : - I Though a member of a brass band may be perfectly temperate, he takes his horn with great regularity.

State Senator Rufus Magee, of Logansport, has been appointed Minister to Sweden and Norway, at Stockholm. It is an unobjectionable appointment. The New Jersey Legislature has lately passed a law establishing the whippingpost for wife-beaters, and a proposition looking towards the same institution was introduced in the Indiana Legislattiro, not long since, and was received with considerable favor. All over the country a sentiment in favor of corporeal punishment, for offenses of that character, is growing up and constantly increasing. There is no county in the state more interested in the new ditching law than Jasper, and we believe we have done our readers a good service in preparing and publish mg an exhaustive abstract of the new law. although it necessarily excludes some other interesting matter from the prose nt issue

As in the days when lie was before Pe.teisburg, the “Old OomDiander” seems to be “Fighting it out on that line,” and his marvelous constitution and iron will still hold All-conquering Death at hay, but it is evident that his strength must soon be exhausted and the unconquered soldier must soon make his final surrender Glorious as his life has been, nothing in it has savored more of the true greatness of his nature than the heroic fortitude with which he endures the long-drawn agony of this last sickness.

One swallow does not make a summer, nor will a few.appointments like that of Pearson convince the country that Cleveland will ieally break loose from the dominating wing of his party and become, in fact, as well as in promise, a real civil service reformer. If Pearson’s appointment was in accordance with the letter and spirit of the reform, the removal of Kirkpatrick, and asking Miss Sweet’s resignation, are directly opposed to it. But it is becoming apparent, that the appointment of Pearson might well have been from some other motive than love for reform. It is surely worth something to conciliate the Mugwumps and they are contented with so very little; and besides all that' it reasserted pretty positively that Teatspn, in a quiet way, •Was of a good deal of service to Cleveland, during the campaign, and at any rate no one evsr even Hinted that lie was ever of any help to the Republicans. ■nnai'iHu j Tne new’ ditching law, of which we give an extended synopsis, will, we believe, be found to be a very great improvement over the former jaw. It seems to have been framed with great care, and in the spirit of justice and equity. The rights and needs of the farmers, especially, seems to have been kept in view. As will be seen from our abstract, the law abolishes the present Ditch Commissioners, so far as beginning any new work is ’< mcerred, although a fair conditruction of it would would seem to require them to complete any works already begun, and in their charge. The bill originated with the Committee on Dykes and Drains, in the Lower House, of which our Representative, Mr. Dunn, is a member. Mr. Dunn, living himself a,res z ident of a reri where drainage is„much needand having full knowledge of what is needed in the way of a good ditch law, has devoted the greater portion of his energies to the interests of the present bill, fiiid to him, perhaps, more than co any ocher person, is due the credit for the perfection and final passage

The trial and sentence of George Stitz, is a striking illustration of th© utter inadequacy of our present system of administering justice to criminals. This man, if we may assume that the verdict of guiltj in his case was just, in the utter selfishness and depravity of his heart, for the -sake of a few hundred dollars, committed a crime which society has always held in execration, and which, in several states in this country, is ranked with murder itself. A jury of his countrymen have convicted him of setting a fire, which, as he well knew, could not fail to lay in waste thousands of dollars worth of property, and put in the greatest danger the lives of one or more of his fellow men, and which, as he also well' knew, would destroy the the whole means of livhhood of his nearest business neighbor, and a .man who had been nothing but a friend: and what is the result? After long delays and vast expense to the public, he has received a sentence which would have been appropriate in punishment for stealing a sheep or robbing a hen roost, but which, in this case, is little more than a mockery of justice. ■■ ■, • ~ - But the failure of American courts to punish crime has become proverbial, and is largely responsible for the carnival of crime which has cursed this country for the last twenty-five years. It is responsible to, for the countless acts of rude justice, like the lynching of murderers and ravishers, that are of such frequent occurence in this country. But w’here is the remedy? For-one thing our courts should no longer be hampered by avast and complicated sys.« tern of rules and precedents which have long outlived their usefulness, and which have come down

to us from an age when the bar-; barous and indiscriminatiug severity of the law, which scarcely knew of a punishment lighter than death itself, made' it right and proper that the accused man I should have every advantage. But j the rules and practices of a time ! when. The dealer of sheep and the slayerof men, Were-liniig up together, again and again, are not applicable to the criminal . practice of this day, and ought to i be supplanted with a system more : in accordance with the rules of, common sense, and modern penalties for crime. The jury system needs reforming, too. Men' of good understanding apd of un-1 doubted integrity should be selected for jurors, and the fact that a man is possessed of sufficient intelligence and public spirit to read the newspapers and to know what is taking place in the community and the world at large, should no longer disqualify him for service as a juror. Above all the .custom of .requiring a unanimous jury should be abolished.

It is almost impossible to get ■ twelve men together without hav- j ing as least one. Judas among them ! who will sell out J ustice for mon- j ey, or else there will be one or • more well meaning, but dull and , obstinate men, who will become j entangled by the subtleties of ; the defense, and then feel it in-; cumbent upon their self-respect to 1 close their minds to everything! that would tend to convince them that their judgement was in error. Two thirds, qr at the most, three fourths of a jury should be sufficient to bring a verdict, in any* case. There is also great need of reform in that public sentiment which now justifies an attorney in resorting to almost any kind of trickery or feclinicality to obtain a verdict “Not justice, but a ver-: diet” is now the rule, but that should be reversed and the opposite principle should prevail. Cases should be tried upon their merits, and public opinion ehorfld no longer justify an attorney in seeking to defeat justice, in the interest of a client. Orth H. Stein, he of the Kansas City Shooting celebrity, last week began his duties as associate editor of the Lafayette Journal.