Meanwhile--who are braver, girls or boys?
JEFFERSON CITY, Jan. 21--Opposition of Democratic politicians in St. Louis to a reform of the Justice of the Peace system in the city developed in the House yesterday over a bill modeled along the lines of the Municipal Courts bill, which has three times been killed through the influence of politicians who sought to perpetuate the present system in the minor courts of St. Louis.
William R. Handy, Democratic member from the Third District in St. Louis, yesterday succeeded in keeping the Justice of the Peace bill in the Committee on Municipal Corporations after the House had voted to request that committee to return the bill that it might be referred to the Committee on Justices of the Peace, to which it properly belongs.
Handy is a member of the Municipal Corporations Committee, and with the bill in that committee, it is always under his eye, and he is in a position to have a voice in determining whether it shall ever be reported. Through many sessions Handy has fought to kill the municipal courts bill.
The Justices of the Peace bill was introduced by John C. Harrison of St. Louis. Harrison is a lawyer and a former Justice of the Peace.
His bill provides that Justices of the Peace shall be elected at large in St. Louis and that each shall have jurisdiction throughout the city. It places each Justice on a salary of $3000 a year and provides for a reduction in the number of Justices from 11 to 7. Each Justice, the bill provides, must be a licensed attorney.
One clerk is provided for, to be elected by the Justices. There are to be such deputy clerks as are required. One Constable is provided for in the bill, his salary to be $2500 a year. Deputy clerks and Constables shall be paid $1800 a year each. In addition to his salary, the Constable is allowed 2½ per cent of all amounts collected by him on execution.
The bill does not require that all the justice courts shall be in one building, but provides that the Board of Aldermen shall provide suitable rooms and offices, which shall be centrally located.
The bill is opposed by ward politicians, as was the Municipal Courts bill in previous sessions, for the reason that it would abolish many jobs of Constables and would break up the political organizations in the Justice of the Peace districts in St. Louis.