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RAT. AL OFF THE TOWN PAR1TH. AT,.BISINESS MANAGER AGENTS: re......New Orleans, La :do...... dan & Co...St. Louis, Mo EXANDRIA. LA.. QY,.....SEPT. 7, 1881 i some talk of remov ident to Long Branch. acknowlege the receipt of ogue for the Louisiana State ty., our s corres ery interesting letter in Sun cayune, in which she speaks plimentary torms0f our own sople -A SToar is going the rounds that in Arkansas has been discovered a spring /whose waters produce an in toxicerting effcct and taste like apple brandy. It is spoken of as the future sopqlar summer resort. .LA iE w song is out entitled, "Be tween the Green Corn and the Gold." Col. "Kim" of the Baton Rouge Ad rocate says he sings it in a husky voice, and even then it aint worth shucks. -HEALTH, the poor man's riches, - and the rich man's bliss, is main tained by the judicious use of Ayer's Sarsaparilla, which strengthens and invigorates the system by purifying the blood. It is so highly concen trated that it is the most economical medicine for this purpose that can be used. --Is it possible that a remedy ade of such common, simple plants Hops, Buchu, Mandrake. Dande n, ac., make so many and such marvelous and wonderful cures as fIop Bitters do? It must-be, for when old and young, rich and poar, Pastot and Doctor, Lawerand Editor, all testify io have cured by them, we must believe and doubt no longer. -[Post. -There is now a substance which is both profesionally and popularly indorsed and concerning which, Mr. J. B. Freshweiller, lButterville. Ore gon, writes:I have often read of many effected by St. Jacobs Oil and was persuaded to try the remedy my self Twas a sufferer from rheumatism and experienced great pains, my leg be iag so swollen that I could not move it. I procured St. Jacobs Oil, used it freely and was cured.-[Freeport; (Ill.) Bulletin.` Tei President's condition ii but steadily improving. HI neene~s to consume and rel nourishment, and sleep: ile the swelling of his parot d is rapidly subsiding. It is r certain, that his final recov 11 be delayed for many months e cabinet is seriously consid the necessity of requestinj r to' take the presidentia R. Jacob Levin, known far an, "Cheap John," and who it ody's opinion, is the most en sing and wide-awake merchan oasts of has moved int. re on Front e'treet. if coming on the Arad, full_ .worth of Fall an Wintei notions, etc., wh ch whet seives, .e will sell at price: before dreamed of. The gen ly and polite manager, Mr u, ably assisted by other cierk: e establishment, will take par ar pains in showing everyon all the prejty things there to bhi en. Snccess to Cheap John. · -Tug following is from the Amer Acan Journal 'ofEducation. Why no Stry the xperiment of paying our tea 'chers ., much to care for and trait ? '..echihdren into an intelligent, hon ible, productive citizenship as w the udges and sheriffs for look g after the criminals? Are not th no.enl children' as worthy ant -rth as much as the criminals? I herBs generally would devote ofe eh Friday afternoon to at ee. n which the pupils shounlh 'short account of what the en reading during the week help correct some of th ulting from reading trash 't implant a love for bettet -JIad you not better try it think.eo - E sincerely regret the retire ment our talented friend and con frere, dge Win. Seay, from the ed itorial dihction of the Shrevepor Standard. His paper had becom indeed the standard journal of Nortt Louisiana. Judge Seay has discov ered that writing up a daily paper o such editorial strength and brillian ey raas -characterized the Standard leaves but little time to devote to large law-practice and abandons the editorial tripod for the bar. The re tiring editor Is an accomplished and ripe scholar, a brilliant and forcible writer and possesses-talent and ami ability of dieslition that will bring honors and frieds around him in whatever paJihway of life he may \ pursue. L Vol. 1 orrison,,formerly associate \ltg,, has anaitied editorial man inpe to o tandard and will tun t saeptation of his paper les$s Jjurpl., -A.. THE CONSTITUTION OF 181,i A REVIDW OF ITS JUDICIARY SYSTEMI.' REPLY TO "NORTH LOUISIANA" IN THS SBREVEPORT STAN DASD. a writer in the Shreveport Standard of August 28th, who signs himself "North Louisiana," and who seems to have free access to its editorial columns, in a labored article of two columns, at tempts to reply to an article of ours criticising the present judiciary system of this State and accuses us of igno rance. As our article has been exten sively copied and approved by the pa pers of the different Parishes we pro pose to reaffirm what we at first said and to prove at whose door the charge of "ignorance" is properly to be laid. The chairman of the Judiciary Com mittee of the Convention of 1879 lives in Shreveport and whether the chair man and "North Louisiana" are or are not identical, is a matter of small con cern, except to afford us an opportunity of observing that it is in accordance with the "eternal fitness of things" that the defence of that expensive, use less, burdensome and experi lental con glomeration, called by cpurtesy only, a judiciary system, should come from that direction. We are not concerned in the writer but only in the writing, and without further introduction we will hasten in medias res. Our charge, to which he objects, was that the people were anxious to return to thh judiciary system as established by the Constitution of 1852, and that with that instrument before them the Convention of 1879 "must needs try ex periments." We were writing more particularly of the Courts of Appeal, but as he has chosen to put the argu ment upon broader grounds, after hav ing established our first proposition, that the establishment of that Court WAS AN EXPERIMENT and an extravagant one, wholly useless and powerless to afford the relief, the expectation of which is the only excuse for its exis tence, we will point out some other ob jections to the whole system. That was our charge, now let us hear his reply: "The above specified objection to the Constitution of 1879 is without any foun dation in fact, and was made in entire ig norance of the judiciary system establish ed under the Constitution of 1852 and of the preceding Constitution of 1845. We say the objection was made in ignorance because the judiciary system established under the Constitution of 1852, which was the same as that under the Constitution of 1845, is incorporated in the judiciary system of 1379, and is identical with it. Under the Constitution of 1852, as well as under the Constitution of 1845, the judi ciary power was vested in a Supreme Court, in District Courts and in Justices of the Peace." Let us see if he is borne out by the facts. In the Constitution of 1845 Art, ' 62 is as follows: "ART. 62. The judicial power shall be vested in a Supreme Court, in District Courts and in Justices of the Peace.' "ART. 75. " The number of Districts shall not be less than twelve nor more than twenty.' Constitution of 1852: "ART 61. The judiciary power shall be 'vested in a Supreme Court, in such infer. I ior courts 4s the Legislature may, fron time to time, order and establish, and in Justices of the Peace." "ART. 62. The Supreme Court, except in the cases hereinafter provided, shall have appellate jurisdiction only; which jurisdiction shall extend to all cases whel the matter in dispute shall exceed three hundred dollars.' Let us go back still further and see the Constitution of 1812: "AnT. 4.-Sec. 1. The judiciary powe shall be vested in a Supreme Court anm I, inferior courts." As the purpose and object of the Con Svention of 1879 was to correct abuses is Sthe Constitution of 1868, and while ma king the comparison or contrast let u see what that instrument has to say Constitution of 1868: "ART. 73. The judicial power shalf bi vested in a Supreme C"ourt, in Districl t Courts, in Parish Courts and in Justice a of the feace." S"AR.83. The number of Districts ii the State shall not be less than twelve no more than twenty." We will now see the Constitution o 1879: "ART. 80. The judicial power shall b= vested in a Supreme Court, in Courts o Appeal, in District Courts and in Justice of the Peace." "ART. 107. The State shall be divide, into not less than twenty nor more thai Sthirty judicial districts, the Parish ofor Sleans excepted." Under the Constitutions of 1812, 184 and 1852 the appellate jurisdiction a the Supreme Court in civil matters ex ttended to all sums over $300. Unde that of 1868 to sums over $500. Unde Sthat of 1879 to sums over $1000. Unde the Constitution of 1852 the Legielatur Sdivided the State into EIGOHTEEN district including New Orleans. SThere were originally under the Con stltution of 1868, THIRTEEN districts in c eluding the Parish and City of N1es SOrleans, which was subdivided Int seven districts of its own, but we be lieve that the number was finally in creased to SEvENTEEN. e Under the Constitution of 1870, whicl m, ade an entire "new departure" an itself organized ,the District Court 7without leaving it to the Legislature a the other Constitutions had done, thiler are TWENTY-SIX districts, the Parish o Orleans excepted, and perhaps it I worthy of remark in this connectior that Caddo heads the list, and for th t first tim rises to the dignity of beini aconstitut as a Judicial District all bj herself. From all this we draw the deduction, clearly es lished by the above cita. tlons, that is organization of Courts of Appeal n der the Constitution o 1879 was, as pplied to the judiciary system of this tate, AN EXPERIMENT. From 1812 ~ 1879, for sixty-seven ydars, Lonislaa a had got along and seemed to pro er without that new. fangled institutlu and itremained for the Judiciary Co mittee of the Conven tion of 1879 after /n incubation of seve. ral alonths to. hs'ch out that sickly bautid'g. 'Tia d. tbat every crow thinklit her at, n t- young orow ITs hebtiskest, -asTtti s Wll known tht uothwesigolis totetr arifc ted offspring..e The Unasse d or-1 'Courts of Appeal may fold away the swaddling clothes of that puling infant and bring out. its winding sheet. The people of this State have tried the ex periment anrf have found it to be too costly a luxury. We can't stop to repeat our entire ar ticle on that subject, to which "North Louisiana" attempts to reply, and he does not undertake to follow our state ment that it costs, in salaries alone, about $60 for every case they try-that they do not furnish the relief sought that the object desired could have been accomplished much more economically by adding to the number of Supreme Judges-or by establishing a temporary Supreme Court to decide all the untried cases on the Supreme Court docket that the manner of selecting the Jud ges of this Court of Appeals, by the Legislature, was an unjustifiable inno vation upon Democratic usage, and was itself an experiment upon an experi ment-that the pretext that it is a poor man's Court is unfounded, as it is bet ter for him to have a final judgment on his case by a jury in the District Court than to have a bob-tail appeal to a non descript Court of appellate jurisdiction, where if either of the two Judges agree with the lower Judge, the judgment against him stands affirmed, anld final ly that the poor man whose all is at stake and whose $400 or $500 is as much to him as his thousands is to the rich man, has a right to have his interests adjudicated upon by the Supreme sCourt, where the rich man carries his appeals and where it is presumed a Shigher wisdom will decide his law t questions. If the Convention of 1879 had been more practical and less theo retical, it would have lessened the e costs of appeal to the Supreme Court and reduced the appealable amount to $300 instead of increasing it to $1000. The experience of forty years from 1812 to 1852, had fixed the former as the ap t propriate limit and we never used to t hear of any trouble in the Supreme o Court, and the experience of the entire f profession of law in and out of New Orleans proves that litigation is dimin ishing both in the number of annt in the amount involved in law suits. But hear "North Louisiana" again. Having denied that any experiments e were tried and claiming an entire iden - tity between the judiciary system o01 1845, 1852 and 1879 he says: The Constitutional Convention of 1871 e not only incorporated the judiciary sye tern of 1852 in the present system, but d made such amendments to that system as I were demanded by an enlightened public policy, the wants and necessities of the people. It is just those "amendments" thai 5 we object to so seriously. We have had enough of one of them-the Courts of Appeal. Let see some of his others. He says that under the new system e District Court terms in each Parish t. have been increased to four and sil times a year instead of two terms as un a der that of 1852 and that ' "This amendment greatly reduced tax. ation in the Parishes and afforded sub. stantial relief to the people." Now let us see to the item of ex. penses. Under the Constitution of 1855 ,e there was One Chief Justice with a salary of $ 6,00( n and four Associate Judges with u a salary of $5000 ............... 20,00( Eighteen District Judges, salary ýt ~2500 each......... ........45.001 11 - - h Grand Total............ ..... 71,00( n Under the Constitution of 1879 there ii e One Chief J.ustice and four Asso ciate Judges who each receive a e salary of $5000................. $25,00( Twenty-six District Judges, salary r $3000 each ................ 78,00( d Ten Judges Courts of Appeal, sal ary 64000 each ................. 40,00( Grand Total .......................143,001 n The Judiciary system of 1879 cost ' only the small sum of $72,000 per yea Smore than that of 1852 and yet h, E claims that J'reduced taxation. Thi calculation is exclusive of New Orleani it will be remembered, In abollshtn · the Parish Courts because they were too expensive and having given ul n Courts of Appeal because they are eco rnomical (?) it looks very much as if we , had jumped from the frying pan int, the fire. But he says: ,e "The present Constitution vests in thi if Supreme Court power to try and remnove a from office inferior Judges found guilty o habitual drunkenness, nonfeasance, mis rd feasance, incompetency or corruption ii .n office." r- We don't so read Artirle 93 of thie Constitution of 1879, which is as fol 15 lows, viz: f "AnT. 93. The Judges of all Courts eehal c- be liable to impeachment ,or crimes ani r misdemeanors. For any reasonable cause the Governor shall remove any of them ot ' the address of two-thirds of the member r elected to each House of the General As , sembly. In every case the cause orcause for which enoh removal may be requirec shall be stated at length in the addres and insertedin the journal o£eaehHouse. i- This is almost identical with Sectioi t- 5, Article 4, of the Constitution of 1812 w Article 73 of the Constitution of 1845 to Article 73 of the Constitution of 1852 e- and with Article 81 of theConstltutiol - of 1868. Article 03 quoted above is found II sh the new Constitution under the head o id the Judiciary. Under the head of Im ta peachment and Removals from office I is is repeated in Article 199. But thea re the Convention of 1870 with its erasz of for NEw ideas must seekto' make the in is novalion so lauded by "North Louisi n ana." Article 200 provides for an orig is inal suit in the Supreme Couit by thi g Attorney General oi District Attoinre y on the written request of fifty citizen So far from admiring we condemn Ar , ticde 200 for the fllowing reason - among others that perhaps could be a urged, viz: f That it is an unwarranted innovatior y upon established precedent; that it ii - an attempt to give to the Judiciary de. a partment power that should only bs I given to the Legislative or; Executive r departments; that if the relief desired r was considerable, it would Increase the - burdens of4he 8Spreme Court, when A .is said theyr3dlouh'be lightened, and i1 lIneonslderable, there wat no iiecessity r for nor credit du: to thf cihaige of i'eo. edyi that such intaererence with lthe appel4te jurisadletiout of the SUprerme Court ind the coferlntruu tpotofsO(t .,.A. our sysgep of jurisprudene; thLtit is dangerous to trust such power in the hands of petty officers, or it would be if there was any danger of any such suit ever being brought; and finally, with the conflict. etween Arrtites 93, 199 Santd200ot it4uestionable if any remedy t' all is fut'jtished. Wlcan't "Stop nor. have we space to argue that questloln. But he thinks again that the present e instrument miakes another commenda ble change in giving the Supreme Court " supervisory control over Inferior i Courts as Article 90 does, in fact do, and we are compelled to take issue with him there also. That Article has al ready been subject to the interpretation I of the Supreme Court and has produced a great deal of confusion. The power - granted is very indefinite and violates the prime requisite in matters of a ju - dicial nature; i. e. certainty. We have a no reason to believe, nor do we think, - that the Supreme Court will abuse the r power conferred, but litigants them - selves are uncertain as to the extent of the relief given and, if the object was t to reoleve the Supreme Court of its bur - den by limiting itsjnrlscttction to $1000, it is illogical to extend its jurisdiction a to an indefinite extent in certain cases, t the number ot which cannot be ascer - tained. 'Tis better sometimes to have t a case settled wrong than to prolong i the litigation.''Tis safer to stick to I the old landmarks. This was another 8 experiment. e He goes on then tj excuse the sys s tem of Courts of Appeal upon the a ground of their necessity to relieve v the Supreme Court and to avoid vexa 9 tious delay in the trial of appeals to that Court. The country Parishes 9 have never suffered in that respect.- Their appeals are speedily heard and decided with all desirable dispatch. It is true that the Court is, or was be hind, with its City docket, but some o able lawyers think that the proper e remedy was in the increase of the e number. of Judges of the Supreme v Court, or better still, in the organiza I- tion of a temporary Court of Appeals, n composed of City Judges to try City: cases until the docket was cleared of . all the delayed appeals. It is not as s serted anywhere that if the Court was - pp with its docket, it would have any ýf trouble in keeping straight with it. On the contrary, as we have already 9 said, litigation is diminishing in both t the City and country. There was no s actual necessity for meddling with its appellate jurisdiction. The Circuit Courts, or more properly Courts of Lt Appeal, ate powerless to afford the d desired relief. There was no piece ýf dent for them that we know of in this -. country and if England has any such a n system we guarantee that their Courts h are differently constituted. Ten Jud ges to try appeals involving sums be tween $200 and $1000, at an expense of $40,000 per year, is a judicial farce - -perhaps it would be more courteous to say, an expensive luxury. The last point made by "North Lou i2 isiana" in favor of the Courts of Ap peal is the weakest of all. The fan 0 cied analogy between our Courts of o0 Appeal and appeals from the Circuit Courts of the United States to the - United States Supreme Court is imag 0 inary entirely. The Judiciary system is of the United States as established by the Judiciary Act of 1789 with some O amendments, consits of a Supreme Court, Circuit Courts and District )0 Courts They correspond to our old )0 system of a Supreme Court, District - Courts and Justices of the Peace, mtu Statis nmutandis. If the United States ts Supreme Court in trying appeals fronm ar the various Circult and District Courts, e ich are both Courts of originalju is rIsdiction in their spheres, had got be hind with its docket, and it does take three years to have an appeal decided g there, and Congress bad organized an 'e intermediate Court of Appeale, sa'y to is try all eases up to $5000, then Con o. gress would have done in.effect w bat re tile Constitutional Convention of 1879 did in giving ns an intermediate Court of Appeals, with appellate jurisdiction only. But Congress has done no such te thing anil there is no analogy what Sever. Perhaps "North Louisiana" was Spresuming upon our "ignorance" when n he sought to make nus believe that there was. He mnight as well have Stried to find a parallel between the Courts of Appeals and our District Courts which hear appeals from Mag istrates' Courts. To sueammarise as he 11 does:- Id 1. We object to his "amendments" as innovations, that they are visiona a ry, experimental, useless, expensive, . and violative of Democratic precedent as and usage. td 2. That the speedy administratiop ss ofjustlce under the "amendments" to *" the Constitution is chimerical only, n and that if it were real, the same re 1; sults could have been more economi c. eally obtained by a rigid adherence to ' the text of the Constitutionuof 1852. 3. That drunken Judges are no more in easily remr-P'.in or unlearned ones more readily restrained trw than no In der any of the other Constitutions. of 4. That there is neither precedent - nor analogy to justify the Courts of Appeal and that they should be abol* Sished as too expensive a luxury. tn 5. That there are many other oblice s tions to the judiciary system of 18790. niThe "bob-tail' jpry of less than twelve 1 is an absurd iuoovation. The costs of litigation are too high and the Consti " tution should have given relief as to i that. There are too many Districts y and too many Judges. Sheriffs should a. not be Tax Collectors. r- 6. That there are other things to be s corrected in other parts of thiepresent , instrunment, but this should be done by amendments submitted by the'Legis lataure. We have had quite enough of 'f Constitutional Cohltentons. Is Pinally, we take issue with him in I. his last statement and- we say he is a mistaken in supposii that, the , "amiendments made bythe Convention to the judiciary system of 1852, have dreceived the emphatio approval ylf * both the people and the bar." Neither t the people nor the bar. so tahr as iWe f have been able- to judgs of tht i enh phahtio xpretsion:of Pinimonlave spp proed o o'the: elaong made. thei al&linaubu~imarrd taril slid all salong the line thdre is'l a ;a a-. l. demand frOir a chit t.o old :ti~blP~~bdodsa·hs, !':·-·.' Dear D You si week, no: read or no enters the per all to m ble "Tobias' the North. extends only nearly all day you hear Alex think, what a t folks are? So "Mrs. G. is m tions to go to what Springs?" You say despo new springs are where are these? two miles from where is Mrs, Q. grand ourisl g Green Sulphur. ' is quite literary, an ling, you don't vent this is, but get a 1'e. all over the United S yourself foiled again. ous enquiry, you find are fully eight miles .f Yet they talk about " with such a travel worn since found out that e have Springs of their a suit the family taste; duly analyzed and warr everything except wha areasubjeet to. We paid Pineville a urday last, and every h we met I wondered if t lam," though how I wa unless be wore hris-nine f band, would be hard to tel that "Ullam" would be a man, for an ugly man won say such nice things of ladi latn" does. I like the Pineville ' that I have met-which we ' We went in search of butte' man had butter for sale; he Sesta looking, and assured us milk-maid finished shedding - the Spring; there was no s comb it; he said you could that butter oft for cheese; s sweet milk on .t and eat it f - as you could the generality o try butter. We didn't take a turned sadly away; but th ewas so honest we could not he insg him. 1 intended going on the Ra excursion yesterday, but as the Orleans mail failed to bring P shoes, I was like "Old Mo liher Glow-shoes, Who could'nt go to' meetii' e Cause she had no shoes. For to stick her feet in." ' A good many went, mostly yo Y people, and from all accounts B juyed themselves hugely. Wihe handsome beau came with his bug to transport us to the cars, we we ttransported and felt tempted to though one shoQ, was sufberiugfi Sa "breakiingout;" he was a docto " and if consulted might have heale .the rent wi:i a plaster. S With a party ot four, we enjoyed Sa most delightful ride. Among them a was the gallant Maj. W. who we were sorry 4o learn had been quite Ssick-made o by overwork and stur dy in his anxiety to get his story ready for publication. It will come Sout in the Chlirch GfUolde. His many friends will.'loolk,forward to it with great interest, as the Major assures us t the love passages werescraps of real e life, many of them his own experi t rience. It seemed a very short drive, but we went: far enough to have the e spot pointed cut where BaIley dam: e med the rcler. I never knew before -that there was a particular part of Sthe river dammed. I should have thought that the rarity would be to a point out a spot that had not been dammed. Such is the ignorance 'of Ia stranger. Now, I do wish that I knew somfe news to tell you, but unless .I draw * on my imagination there is a woeful 5want of items. The one topic, the President's t healthb is getting to be'a personal ,matter. To- be told at breakfast, "'The Presieldent is getti atter" to be startled at dinner ith "the SPresident ate oatmeal and beef tea g yesteday;"' to ~be. irritated -a. tse Swith "blee your soul, the PreeldenDt is getting better, eats oatmeal like a Shouse a-Ire and as to beef tea" and t'dbe astounded at night with S"Before I: say goddnight, did ysu ynotite-in-tb e papers how fast-the President' ii getting better"--ia to rush frantically off and dream all n nightfof the President floating round. Sand round in a river of beef-tea and oatmeal. 1 amn gting to regard the e President with favor, and as to Soatmeal and beefl a--bahr ' r.. One nevereven, hears any gossip s in Alexandria, thi losing half the - pleasure, of life. \Pepe eoopiaedays regard goesip with orrorconfoa ing it #is it ci an, sandi - slanderi ,h•e ;o .li tion of tismoat - i m0 so ma bes the thin just doi' get i Get try t lows,e y3ello togeth away, twenty the whi import powers trials, t majoriy one ans gar ao4o essence. istove with long, so t to get it h add one c teaspoonfulk spoonof eod four timese of musiin; .i small and make you than before. in; scold tle not sufcient beat again, right dow door, aft swerve, 6ver, tak wards o than re jY+3ý .