448 



IOWA. 



dollars or imprisonment for thirty days, shall be 

 tried summarily before a justice of the peace or other 

 officer authorized by law, ou information under oath, 

 savins to the defendant the right of appeal ; and no 

 person shall be held to answer for any higher crimi- 

 nal offense, unless held to answer by a magistrate or 

 court authorized by law after an investigation accord- 

 ing to law, except in cases arising in the army or 

 navv, or in the militia when in actual service in time 

 of war or public danger; and all criminal prosecu- 

 tions may be conducted without presentment, indict- 

 ment, or the intervention of a grand jury. 



In the discussion that followed, Senator Teale 

 said that the amendment did not require the 

 abolition of the grand jury, but simply left the 

 matter in the control of the Legislature. After 

 this resolution is adopted it will be perfectly 

 competent for the Legislature to change the 

 present system by reducing the number of grand 

 jurors, or by providing for the finding of in- 

 formations by a prosecuting attorney, or by a 

 bench of magistrates. This can not be done 

 at present, because the word grand jury as used 

 in the Constitution means twelve men, and the 

 word indictment includes the idea of an accu- 

 sation made by twelve men, legally drawn, 

 summoned and sworn in due form and strict 

 compliance with all the requirements of law. 

 The question of the power of the State to 

 adopt any other system had been decided forty 

 years ago, and no discredit has yet been thrown 

 on that decision, but it has in every instance 

 been reaffirmed. The speaker then cited the 

 decisions of the Supreme Court of the United 

 States, and called attention to the fact that 

 three States had already adopted the reformed 

 system. Mr. Ham said the system had been 

 abolished in Michigan and Wisconsin, and al- 

 most entirely in Kansas ; and he thought the 

 universal testimony was that the people of 

 those States were well satisfied with the work- 

 ings of the laws providing for trial upon infor- 

 mation. He denounced the grand jury as a 

 machine by which some men are enabled to. 

 vent their spite upon others, and that this 

 dangerous power should be removed by the 

 abolition of the entire system. The subject 

 was still further discussed by the Senate, but 

 the amendment can not proceed without the 

 action of the next Legislature. A report of 

 the expense of the system from all the coun- 

 ties of the State except nineteen had been made 

 to the Secretary of State, and compiled by him. 

 It showed the annual expense in these counties 

 to be $92,219 ; and he estimated the total for 

 the State at $110,663. 



The subject of temperance was extensively 

 discussed, but no addition was made to the 

 present law, except the passage of a bill pro- 

 hibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors, ale, 

 wine, or beer, within a distance of two miles 

 of any town or city where such sale is prohib- 

 ited, or while an election is held. At the Con- 

 vention of Supervisors already mentioned the 

 following statistics, taken from official reports 

 for 1877, were presented as showing the public 

 expense of the use of intoxicating liquors in 



From criminal expenses $332,285 10 



From insane asylums 129,943 41 



From penitentiaries 85,t>S6 IS 



From pauperism 175,179 00 



Total $723,098 69 



The proceedings of the Convention of Su- 

 pervisors contained some important sugges- 

 tions. A memorial was addressed to both 

 Houses of the Legislature requesting the adop- 

 tion of several recommendations, among which 

 were the following: 



Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Convention 

 that the Constitution of Iowa should be so amended 

 ns to procure legislative reform tending to decrease 

 our expenses and reduce the burden of taxation, and 

 that the time has come when the people desire the 

 abolition of the grand jury, or the proper limitation 

 of their powers. 



That the office of district attorney should be done 

 away with, and provide for a less number of jurors 

 also. 



That the bill now before the General Assembly 

 for reducing the number of the grand jurors to seven 

 is earnestly recommended. 



That the vagrant laws be so amended as to allow 

 vagrants to be summarily dealt with before a justice 

 of the peace, instead of being committed to the dis- 

 trict court for trial. 



That the court require the parties in each case to 

 state whether they wish a jury trial or trial by a 

 court on the first day of the term when the docket is 

 called, and that the court make the entry on the 

 docket accordingly ; and if any party do not call for 

 a jury trial on the first day of the term, it shall be a 

 trial by the court, and all jury cases shall be tried 

 first, and the jury dismissed. 



That all the jury fees in civil cases be taxed to the 

 losing party in the suit. 



That some restraint should be put upon justices of 

 the peace, so that they shall not entertain so many 

 petty cases merely to make a bill of costs against the 

 county. 



That all counties having a bonded indebtedness 

 shall be allowed to issue new bonds where the same 

 can be placed at a lower rate of interest than the old 

 ones, for the purpose of taking up the old bonds. 



That all counties having a floating indebtedness 

 prior to March 1, 1878, shall be allowed to bond the 

 same in accordance with the conditions of the laws 

 enacted by the Sixteenth Assembly, chapter 125. 



The amount of public land that has been ap- 

 proved and certified to the State of Iowa under 

 the several grants of Congress is 8,000,000 acres, 

 or nearly one fourth of the entire State. Of 

 this amount about 4,400,000 acres were appro- 

 priated to the State to aid in the construction 

 of railroads and the improvement of the Des 

 Moines River ; 1,550,000 acres for the support 

 of public schools ; 204,000 acres for the Agri- 

 cultural College ; 46,000 acres of saline lands, 

 the unsold portion of which was transferred 

 to the State University by an act of the Gen- 

 eral Assembly, approved March 25, 1864; and 

 1,570,000 acres of swamp lands, including those 

 lands for which cash and land indemnity has 

 been allowed. The State has conveyed to 

 companies, counties, and individuals entitled 

 thereto, about 6,000,000 acres, leaving some 

 2,000,000 acres to be conveyed in the future. 



The following table, prepared by the Audi- 

 tor of the State, shows the live stock assessed in 

 the State for eleven years : 



