Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1885 — THE FEDERAL COURTS. [ARTICLE]

THE FEDERAL COURTS.

Beport of Attorney General Garland for the Last Fiscal Year. The annual report of the Attorney General says that during the year 1,658 civil suits and 11,977 criminal prosecutions were terminated in the various United States courts, leaving 2,146 of the former class and 3,838 of the latter class pending at the close of the yetyf. The aggregate nmouht of judgments rendered in favor of the United States in civil suits during the year was 5Cf7,383, and the . amount actually collected on these judgments was 8170,457, while £37,028 was obtained during the year on judgments rendered in former years for the United States, and 8143.452 was otherwise realized in civil suits. The aggregate amount of fines, forfeitures, and penalties imposed during the year in criminal prosecutions was £481,856, and’ the amount of these fines, forfeitures and penalties collected during the year was 862, 124,while 46,187 on fines, forfeitures and penalties imposed in former years. The aggregate amount of court expenses naid during the year was 82,874,733. The Attorney General suggests the advisability of building jails at each place in the country wherd United States Courts are held; the necessity of building a Government penitentiary, where all Jjersons convicted of United States dtfenses could be confined, and the propriety of erecting on the grounds adjoining the Department of Justice a proper building for the accommodation of the Supreme Court and other proper courts and commissions of the United States. ’ The Attorney General makes a number of other recommendations, among, which are the following: That the fees of marshals in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming he doubled; that the salaries ot marshals be revised ; that the comjljnsation of United States attorneys for New Mexico and Arizona be increased, and that the compensation of clerks of United States courts in California be reduced; that attorneys and marshals bo required to make returns by fiscal instead of calendar years; that the accounts of chief supervisors of elections be taxed in open court under the inspection of the district attorney; that the penalty for the punishment of persons resisting officers be made more severe; that increased provisions be made for the j>rotection of United States witnesses; and that a suitable United States jail be built st Fort Smith, Ark. The report closes with a brief statement of the Union Pacific Railway litigation, and says that a motion will be filed by the Government in the Supreme Court, in a few days; to advance the appeals on the docket so as to have a speedy determination of them- 4 ■