prosecutor cannot let him off. If, for example, a poor man who is
undoubtedly insane, commits a murder he is not tried, but is sent to
an asylum for the insane. If, after several years, he recovers and is
released, nothing is said about it; the public does not know. But let
it be a rich lunatic and the public prosecutor is bound to bring him
to trial. Public attention demands it. He may know him to be insane,
but he must still prosecute him. The jury declare him insane. After
years he is released from the asylum, the public thinks it a
miscarriage of justice, forgetting in the meanwhile the inconspicuous
poor man who unnoticed has gone through the same experience, and been
released years ago.

The delays of the law are partly due to the system of courts and
partly to the dullness of court procedure. The inefficiency of the
system of courts and judicial procedure is shown in the practical
workings of the civil courts of New York City. The antiquated
organization of all the courts is like a patchwork quilt where each
additional one has been added or increased as New York has grown from
a village below the Indian stockade at Wall Street to its present
size. So that there exist within the city limits now seven different
kinds of civil courts and five kinds of criminal courts, in nearly
each of which there is a separate set of rules, different customs,
and distinct methods of procedure, and of them all the most technical
and the most complicated are often those where they should be the most
simple and easy of understanding.

Wherever the court may be the surroundings are substantially the same.
The scene is laid and the carpenters have left. The spectators have
found their places. The stage is empty however, there is a sudden
bustle and shifting of feet, a rumor has gone abroad that something is