Will Beat It

New York, 1895

Senator Childs Stands by the People.

The Vacheron-Youngs $10,000 Commissioner of Jurors Bill Will Not Pass the Senate.

SUPERVISORS OPPOSED TO IT

So Are Judge Garretson and the Lawyers.

SOME PRESS OPINIONS.

(Special to the Farmer.)

ALBANY, April 17

The people of Queens County will be gratified to learn that Senator Childs has taken off his coat and gone to work in dead earnest to defeat the Commissioner of Jurors bill which Assemblyman Vacheron sneaked through the lower branch of the Legislature so secretly that only those knew of it who were interested in the job. Many lawyers, and many more citizens, have written letters to Mr. Childs asking him to do everything in his power to defeat the bill. Supervisor Pople has communicated to the Senator the information that the board of Supervisors are unanimously opposed to the bill and desire to be heard in the opposition to it. The Senator will have a day set for the hearing. I think the people can rest in the confidence that Mr. Childs will kill the bill and bury it without much ceremony, Vacheron and Boss Youngs to the contrary. Senator Childs is aware that Judge Garretson does not favor the bill. Congressman McCormick has been here and the bill has not received his approval. In fact no one favors it but Vacheron and Boss Youngs, District Attorney Noble and Sheriff Doht. The latter two would control the appointment of the commissioner, a thing which in itself would warrant the defeat of the bill.

Credit should be given to Assemblyman Madden, representing the Long Island City district, for doing all that he could to defeat the bill on the floor of the House. He was kept in ignorance of the existence of the bill until it came up for passage, and was taken by surprise. Being a minority member, Mr. Madden could not defeat the bill, for the reason that before it came up for passage Vacheron and Boss Youngs had had it made a party measure. It was Youngs' lobbying that led the New York Sun to protest against his presence on the floor of the Assembly.

B. Frank Wood, of the Jamaica Standard, is here assisting Vacheron and Boss Youngs to pass the Commissioner of Jurors bill. Several of the bills sent here by the board of Supervisors will not pass. They are delayed in the Assembly. Mr. Wood represents himself to be the Secretary of the Queens County Republican committee, and the editor of the Republican organ in the county. He is very bitter against the board of Supervisors. He says they do not represent public sentiment, and that not one of them will ever be elected again. If the county does not get the legislation it requires, it will make the Supervisors unpopular, and that is the reason the bills are to be killed. Mr. Wood has resolutions with him, said to have been adopted by the Republican county committee since the secret passage of the Commissioner of Jurors bill in the Assembly, and he says that these resolutions represent popular sentiment in Queens County, and that the Commissioner of Jurors bill should be passed. The resolutions do not refer to the bill in terms, but are an indorsement of the course of Vacheron and Boss Youngs in legislative matters, and, therefore, according to Mr. Wood, are an indorsement of the Commissioner of Jurors bill. Senator Childs does not agree with this view.


The Robber Bill Denounced by the Press of the County.

It is a healthy sign that the newspapers of the county are opposed to the robber bill. Some conservative newspapers, that very rarely express opinions at all, have come out strong against this job. Even the Brooklyn newspapers have felt called upon to denounce it. The people almost to a man are down on it. The lawyers are down on it. Judge Garretson is down on it. The comments of some of the newspapers are appended.

(The New York World:)
WANTS TO CREATE A SINECURE.

The bill introduced by Assemblyman Eugene F. Vacheron to create the office of commissioner of jurors in Queens county is a political job. The measure, if it becomes a law, will add thousands of dollars to the tax rate of the county.

The commissioner is also given power to levy tribute upon citizens in excusing them from duty. When a person is exempt from jury duty the commissioner gets fifty cents for entering the name upon a list. Taken all together, the creation of the office would give unlimited chances to bone-hunting politicians.

(College Point Reporter, Republican:)
IS THE JOB FOR VACHERON'S BENEFIT.

Assemblyman Vacheron introduced a bill into the assembly providing for the appointment of a commissioner of jurors. The bill has passed the Assembly and if it passes the Senate, it is said that Assemblyman Vacheron is slated for the position.

(The Newtown Register:)
NO NECESSITY FOR THE OFFICE.

Mr. Vacheron has introduced a bill in the Assembly which provides for the appointment of a commissioner of jurors in the County of Queens. * * It strikes us that there is really no necessity for such an office, the creation of which will only involve a heavy expense that should not be incurred.

(The New York World:)
A RIVAL OF SENATOR OWENS.

If Assemblyman Vacheron keeps on he will rival Senator Owens as a place-grabber. He is now asking that a commissioner of jurors be appointed for his county, to hold office five years and draw a salary of $3,000 a year. Queens County taxpayers will have reason to remember the accident which gave the Republicans control of that county.

(From the Brooklyn Times:)
BOSS YOUNGS' HANDIWORK.

The man who conceived the brilliant scheme of creating the office of commissioner of jurors in Queens county is living twenty years ahead of the times. The office is well enough in its place, but the place is not Queens county, and the people are not ready for it. Every lawyer and every citizen is opposed to any change in the present system of drawing juries, especially when the change would mean the addition of thousands of dollars to the cost of maintaining the county government. The proposed measure is a good thing for the commissioner, but the taxpayers do not want it.

(From the Brooklyn Times:)
THE NEW OFFICE NOT NEEDED.

If the bill now before the Assembly committee on internal affairs, providing for the appointment of a commissioner of jurors for Queens county were submitted to the people at a special election there is no doubt that it would be rejected. * * The bill was introduced by Assemblyman Vacheron on April 3, and referred to the committee named. It will probably be opposed by the board of Supervisors in the interest of economy, for the reason that under the workings of such a law the cost of drawing jurors in the county would, it is estimated, be increased from less than $100 to $10,000 annually. * * A commissioner of jurors is all well enough in cities, but here it seems too much like spending the people's money for nothing. Under the present system jurors are honestly drawn, at a very small expense, so why should any change in the system be made.

(From the Brooklyn Eagle:)
A JOB TO PROVIDE A FAT OFFICE.

Something of a sensation has been created among the Queens county lawyers by a bill introduced in the legislature by Assemblyman Vacheron. The bill provides for the appointment of a commissioner of jurors for Queens county, at a salary of $3,000 per year. The term is five years. The bill gives the commissioner unlimited powers in the working up of an exempt list, the selection of jurors and the imposing and remitting of fines — in fact, under the provisions of the bill every man in Queens county is practically at the mercy of the commissioner. * * That the bill provides an office which is not necessary to the welfare of the county seems to be the general opinion. * * With the unlimited powers given the commissioner, should he be a man of dishonest tendencies, he could reap an income of $10,000, half of which would come in the way of contributions from persons wishing to be placed on the exempt list. The measure is viewed as a political dodge to provide a fat office for some faithful follower of the Republican party.

(The Hempstead Inquirer:)
A BAD BILL.

Assemblyman Vacheron has introduced a bill in the legislature to create the office of commissioner of jurors of Queens County. The officer to be appointed is to receive a salary of $3,000 a year, and his term of office is to be for five years. There is no necessity for a commissioner of jurors in a small county like Queens, and we doubt if the tax-payers of the county will approve of the expenditure of $3,000 for a commissioner of jurors.

The extravagance of the bill is not its only bad feature. It gives to the commissioner power to grant exemptions from jury duty for which a fee of twenty-five cents is to be charged for entering the name in a book to be kept for that purpose, and a charge of fifty cents for granting the certificate of exemption. It is safe to say that this new office, should the bill become a law, will be a very expensive affair for the people. Many bills creating new and useless offices, at great expense to the tax-payers, have been presented to the legislature during the present session. It is safe to say nothing more unnecessary and in its way extravagant has been introduced than the bill above described. The people of this county should make a vigorous protest at Albany against its passage.

(Long Island City Herald, Republican:)
THE BILL MUST BE KILLED.

Assemblyman Vacheron has introduced into the Assembly and has had passed by that body a bill which appoints a Commissioner of Jurors for Queens County, for a term of 5 years, at a salary of $3,000 a year, with contingent expenses in the form of assistants, etc., which would probably cost the taxpayers not less than $5,000 a year, and perhaps a much larger sum. The origin of the bill is a mystery, but we suppose the Hon. William J. Youngs is behind it.

The proposition to establish an office so expensive to the county should have been given the widest publicity before it was submitted to the legislature. The people have a right to decide whether or not they want such an office; but it has been kept a profound secret from them,and that alone stamps it with suspicion. It is a most dangerous bill as it gives the Commissioners of Jurors powers in some respects greater than that of the higher courts. The Commissioner of Jurors can exempt whoever he pleases from jury duty. Every man in the county qualified to act as a juror is at his mercy. His powers are in a manner as autocratic as those of the Czar of Russia.

The Republicans of Queens County know nothing of this bill, and they don't want it to become a law. The passage of such a bill, they believe, would kill their party in this county.

This is the kind of jockeying with legislation affecting Queens County that is sounding the death knell to the Republican party. Mr. Youngs, it must stop.

(From the Jamaica Democrat:)
A DANGEROUS AND SCANDALOUS BILL,

Last week a bill passed the Assembly affecting this county, and of very grave importance. It provides for the appointment of commissioner of jurors and does away with the present method of selecting the jurors. Its object is two-fold — to provide some politician with a fat office and to fortify certain Republicans in the power they have lately obtained in the county. Though the community is already sufficiently burdened with office-holders and taxed up to a point that incites considerable complaint we suppose another office-holder — a commissioner of jurors — drawing a salary of $3,000 per year might be endured, but an inspection of the bill shows that it is quite within the range of possibility that the office would cost the county at least $20,000 per year, and this is altogether too much for the people to stand without making emphatic protest. The present cost of selecting jurors is probably less than $100 — and is simpler, more effective and better than the one proposed at an expense of perhaps $20,000.

But the question of economy is not the only one. The bill is intensely mischievous from another point of view. It leaves the appointment of the commissioner to the county judge, the sheriff and the district attorney or any two of them. Under its provision Sheriff Doht and District Attorney Noble would practically control the jury system of the county for the period of five years. Such would be the inevitable result if the bill become a law. Mr. Vacheron, our representative, introduced this extraordinary bill, and has, no doubt, favored its passage. He has made no explanation of his course and it is doubtful if he will. The people must now look to Senator Childs to defeat this scandalous measure, and should he fail, then they must appeal to the Governor to veto it. Republicans are no less interested in its defeat than Democrats. It is the most dangerous bill that has gone up from this county within our memory.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 1.