CHAPTER XIV
The evening following his interview with Mollie found Cobb in betterspirits and more cheerful. He had not seen her since the day before, asshe had complained of a slight indisposition and had remained in herroom.
Seated in the library of the President, and in his accustomedplace--for Cobb came nearly every evening to hear Mr. Craft discourseon the topics of the day, and to narrate, in his turn, the eventscontemporary with his former existence--he reminded his friend thathe had promised to explain the law system of the present day, and todiscuss its merits and defects.
"And right happy I am, my dear boy," returned the President, "to sitand chat with you on these subjects, which, in many cases and undermany phases, may strike you as being worthless, absurd, and detrimentalto a just definition of the principles of sound common law."
"You will hardly surprise me by any innovation upon the law of mytime," said Cobb; "knowing, as I do, that the age is progressing. Itcould not have taken a retrograde movement in common law--not the lawitself, but its definition and interpretation in the courts."
"The laws of the land have been greatly modified and simplified. Nolonger are the bickerings, snarlings, personal abuse and ungentlemanlyconduct of the opposing counsel permitted in the courts. Decorum isstrictly observed, and justice--pure, plain justice, as far as it ispossible for human minds to discern it--is meted out to the culprit atthe bar, the defendant or the appellant in the case."
"If such is now the condition of your courts and your law, you areworthy of man's sincere praise and thanks. The farce daily enactedin the courts of 1887 was a disgrace to an enlightened and civilizedcommunity."
"The root of the innovation was the substitution of a plain and simplecode of laws for the cumbrous shelves of State and national codesexisting during your time. There is now one universal code of laws forthe nation, whole or integral. Every crime known to man is laid downfully and plainly, and one, and only one, punishment ordained for theguilty."
"But does this not work more harshly against those of otherwise goodreputation than against the habitual criminal?"
"Possibly. But to avoid that greatest of evils--the giving ofdifferent sentences for exactly the same crimes, and committed underalmost similar conditions--the universal code was established. Nowevery man knows exactly the punishment fixed for those guilty of anyparticular crime. There is no such thing as irrelevant testimony. Thedesire of justice is to know every circumstance connected with thecommission of the crime. Yet limits to the continuance of testimonyin certain directions are fixed. The desire now is not to defeat thejust endeavors of man to obtain his rights--not to punish the accusedbecause he is accused, but to quickly dispense justice to all. Themost radical change in the dispensing of justice is the discontinuanceof the jury system in vogue up to 1926--a system faulty in theextreme; a system where twelve men of widely different characters,education, religious principles, and ideas of justice, were expectedto each and individually concur in one particular finding, and where asingle dissenting voice required the trial to be held again, before asimilar enlightened jury, or the accused discharged. In fact, duringthe jury system, it was the endeavor of counsel to impanel a juryof ignoramuses, a jury of men who had not read of the events of theday, or if they had read them, then of such infantile, idiotic mindsas to have reached no conclusion upon the case whatever. That systemis obsolete, thank God! Outside of the police courts, which have asingle judge who hears and determines the case, and whose powers arevery limited, we have the Dom Coeda, or house of justice, in which allcases are tried in which the punishment does not exceed a certain fixedstandard. This house is presided over by three judges, and to them isthe testimony given, by them heard, and by them is judgment rendered.They are lawyers, and understand the law. Next comes the Gledom Coeda,or superior court, presided over by five judges. Here are heard thehighest criminal cases. The Legledom Coeda, or supreme court, is thehighest in the State, and is presided over by nine judges. There areDoms Coeda and Gledoms Coeda for civil cases, likewise."
"But suppose one is dissatisfied with his trial; what then?"
"He appeals it, as formerly; but with this knowledge and understanding:If the higher court finds him guilty, the penalty fixed by the lowercourt is doubled, provided such a sentence is possible."
"Humph! I should think guilty people would hesitate about appealing."
"Indeed they do. It is not often that an appealed case is decidedagainst the appellant; and for the very reason you have advanced, thatif guilty, they stand by the finding given in the lower court."
"Does not this system give opportunities for bribery and jobbery?"
"The opportunities may exist, but the practice is one of the rarestcrimes known in the calendar. The punishment for conviction of briberyof, or corruption in, a judge, is life imprisonment in the governmentprisons; and to the person accomplishing it, a similar sentence; whileto attempt it is a twenty years' offense."
"Severe punishments, compared with those of former times," was Cobb'sremark.
"Yes, very severe. But a good government needs and demands a good andtrue corps of judges to settle, justly, the individual disputes of itspeople, and to protect them in their lives, liberty and property."
"I should imagine that the system is very expensive--the salary of somany judges?"
"Not nearly as expensive as the summoning of jurors, their per diempay, the delays in justice, and the many incidentals of cost in trialsin former years. One Dom and one Gledom Coeda serves for 15,000 people.The salary lists are $12,000 and $25,000, respectively; or threedollars per capita to insure justice. The judges serve until seventyyears of age, unless removed for incapacity or for commission of crime.The lease of office is thus, practically, for life, the salary high,the honor great, and self-interest makes the man honest."
"I think it a good innovation," exclaimed Cobb.
"No doubt you would like to hear of the prison system as it existsto-day; for it is directly connected, of course, with the law?"
"Certainly. I have wondered if there was any change."
"Each State has its own prison, wherein are incarcerated all convictswhose sentence is less than five years. All others are sent to thegovernment prisons. Of these latter prisons, there are ten, situatedin various parts of the country, but all on islands and isolated fromcommunication with the world except by government vessels. The islandof Anticosti, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is the main Eastern prison;then, there are those of Tiburon, in the Gulf of California; GreatAbicos, among the Bahamas; Charlotte's Island, in the Pacific Ocean,and others. These are prisons belonging to the government, and noconvicts are sent to them whose sentence is less than five years. Hereare manufactured every conceivable thing needed by the government,and for which it would have to pay cash, did it not make it itself.Great ship-yards, from which are turned out magnificent vessels ofwar; foundries, in which immense and powerful guns are fabricated;looms and workshops for the clothing of the army and navy; factoriesfor boots, shoes, furniture, ironware, and thousands of other articlesthat the various departments of the government require. In fact,the manufactured articles are few that the government has to buy bycontract. The raw material, however, is purchased and sent to theprisons, and there fabricated into the articles needed. As no convictcomes with less sentence than five years, ample time is available inwhich to teach him such a trade as will give to the government thegreatest benefit from his labor. The working system of the prisonsis admirable in the extreme. The convicts are well fed and clothed,and required to work a given number of hours, only, a day, dependingupon the fatigue of the labor. Good conduct remits four days in eachmonth, or fifty-two days in each year; extra work, when available, isfurnished to them, and credited at the rate of the number of hours ofthat particular service per day, as so many days of their sentenceserved. This system prevails in all of the State prisons, but, ofcourse, upon a minor scale. In them only such articles are manufacturedas are required and used by the State governments."
/> "How about pardons from these prisons?" inquired Cobb.
"The President alone has the power of pardoning from national prisons;the governors, from State prisons. At each prison is a Legledom Coeda,and a pardon is never issued except this court has examined the caseand recommended it. The Legledom Coeda of each prison also tries allcases of infraction of the laws of the prison, and fixes the punishmentfor the same. As a matter of fact, few, very few, pardons are given,and then only when it is apparent from subsequent evidence that aninjustice has been done a man."
"What are considered among the gravest crimes?"
"Murder, perjury, rape, receiving of bribes, or giving of same,corruption in office, arson, mayhem, premeditated and willful. Theseare all life imprisonment offenses, and there is no reduction ofsentence for any reason."
"But does not this convict labor compete with the labor of the masses?"asked Cobb.
"How can it? If the government needs a million dollars' worth ofmanufactured articles, one of two courses must be pursued to obtainthem: either to buy or manufacture. If they are bought, the peopleare taxed to pay for them; if they are manufactured by convict labor,the tax-payers save just that amount of money, while a punishment isinflicted upon the worthless class by causing it to labor withoutreward."
"True; but in my time the people howled and railed against convictcompetition. Now, turning from the subject, tell me if there are manylabor troubles at the present day."
"None worthy of the name. A great and just law was advocated, in 1920,by that eminent jurist, Attorney-General William Bean, of Pennsylvania,and passed the next year, that it should be unlawful for any firm orcorporation carrying on any manufacture, to accumulate in any onecalendar year a profit in excess of twenty per cent. on the actualmoney invested, and exclusive of that invested in the plant. Fullprovision was made in the bill for examination of accounts, books, etc.The bill further provided that each person, firm, etc., should regulatethe price of the labor employed by them. Then further laws were enactedagainst combined strikes, intimidation of the employed, etc. It was awise bill, and has worked advantageously ever since it was passed byCongress."
"But I fail to see its benefits to the laborer," dubiously returnedCobb.
"In this way, Junius. Twenty per cent. interest on the money investedis enough to satisfy any man, and cause him to advance capital andembark in manufactures. Now, if the wages of his laborers are fixedby him, he can increase them just as much as his income is greaterthan twenty per cent.; he must do it or cut down supply. He actuallydivides the surplus over twenty per cent. among his men. If competitionis great and the profits less, he must cut the wages or increase theoutput to save his percentage; but if he is willing to accept fifteenper cent., or ten per cent., then the wages remain the same as before.But if he desires to cut the wages, it is his right by the law;the laborer may work for it, or not. As a truth, though, wages arebetter now than ever, while the price of articles has fallen nearlytwenty-five per cent. below that of 1920."
"Are there any laws relating to the holding of real estate?" Cobbasked. "I remember quite an agitation on that subject during the '80s."
"Yes; one general law only: no individual not a citizen can hold landin the United States; and no one citizen can hold, in his own name,more than 640 acres, or one square mile."
"A good and wise law. In my time, vast tracts of land were held byindividuals and corporations, both domestic and foreign."
"It was so until the Bean bill of 1920. One year after the passage ofthat bill was given to foreigners to dispose of their real estate, andfive years given the citizen to bring his holdings within the limit ofthe law."
"I think I was informed by Mr. Rawolle that the government owns all ofthe railroads in the country?" inquiringly.
"Yes, all; and likewise the telegraph system. Furthermore, each cityowns its own water supply and electric-light plant. It will thus beseen that the people, and not the capitalist, own and govern thecountry."
"What is the rate of taxation--national and municipal?"
"There is no national taxation except on tobacco and liquors. Municipaltaxation is really the only burden, if it can be called a burden, whichthe people bear. That taxation is very low indeed, and is levied undercertain equitable laws. The revenue of the nation is derived fromcustoms, liquor, tobacco, and the excess of receipts over expendituresof the railroads, telegraph and postal service."
"And how about the rates of postage?"
"The rate per mile for railroad traveling is one cent, the rate fortelegraphic messages is one cent per word, and letter postage one centper ounce, throughout the United States."
"Is the nation in debt?"
"No; the nation owes not a dollar. The last of what we call the greatdebt was paid in 1979. It would have been paid long before that timehad it not been that an enormous outlay was required to gain possessionof the railway system of the country."
"What did you pay for the telegraph system? That must have takenanother immense sum."
"The rights of the sympathetic telegraph system were purchased in 1892,for five millions of dollars, and that system caused all of the surfacelines to be abandoned in a few years."
"The sympathetic system, did you say?" and Cobb showed more interestthan he had evinced in the President's dry recital of the law of thecountry.
"That is the name of it," Mr. Craft replied.
"Does it differ much from the Morse system?"
"Many would not understand your question, Junius. You must rememberthat the system has been in operation for over a hundred years; fewpersons know any other. Fortunately, I can answer your question, for Ihave studied the subject. There is practically no difference betweenthe two systems, save in one respect--"
"And that respect is--" interrupted Cobb.
"That there is no wire, metal, or tangible connection of any kindbetween the instruments."
"What! no wire! How, then, does the current pass?"
"We do not know!"
"Well! that is very strange! A telegraph system, and its principleunknown!"
"It is just as I tell you. We know how it works, but not why."
"And was the principle never divulged by the inventor?"
"Never."
"Surely, he taught you how to make the instruments?"
"Oh, yes; or the system would have been of little worth," and Mr. Craftsmiled at the utter amazement of his listener.
"But I can conceive of no instrument being made by human hands for aspecific purpose, unless the principle upon which it was constructedwas fully known," and Junius Cobb shook his head as if doubting thestatement of the other.
"The sympathetic telegraph is, however, a manifest success," continuedthe President. "It works over miles of country and in every direction,and at each station records the pulsations of the heart of its mate,wheresoever on the face of the earth that mate may be."
"By whom was this wonderful instrument invented? Surely, his name willlive forever!"
"Ah, Junius, you are right! The name of Jean Colchis will--why, Junius!what is the matter?"
Cobb had sprung from his chair as the old name, so dear to him, wasuttered. He moved anxiously toward the President, and seized him by thearm, while an expression of hope, of fond remembrance, came into hiseyes.
"O, tell me," he cried. "Tell me of this Jean Colchis! of his daughter!It was he, you have said! There never was but one Jean Colchis! It mustbe he--my master!"
"Calm yourself, Junius," hurriedly exclaimed Mr. Craft, as he gentlylaid his hand upon the young man's shoulder. "Did _you_ know JeanColchis?" in a wondering tone.
"Ah! did I? He was my master! It was he, Mr. Craft, who invented thepower that brought me to this new life!" Tears came into his manly eyesas he remembered his benefactor and his lovely daughter.
"I know nothing of him," sadly returned Mr. Craft. "He was, and haspassed out of life. He lives now but in history and the minds of theAmerican people." A dimness came into his eyes as he witnessed theemotion o
f the other.
"Where is the evidence of his skill, of his ingenuity? Where can Ibehold the work of his loved mind?"
"If you desire, Junius, you shall visit the great theatre of actionof hundreds upon hundreds of his wonderful instruments--the city ofAmerica, on the Central Sea."
Cobb had heard the announcement of his old master's wonderfulachievement in the sciences with astonishment not unmixed with joy.
He thought, now the good old man will have money, fame, anddistinction; his daughter, the dear little Marie, would be advanced toher rightful place among womankind, and no longer be hidden in Duke'sLane, unknown and unsought. Unsought! Then came a feeling of jealousyat his heart. Men would seek the heart and hand of his little fiance.Would they succeed? Would she quickly forget him, and receive withpleasure the advances of other suitors? Then, with a grim smile, hebade his heart have no fear; Marie Colchis was no more. It mattered notwhat she had done; she was dead to him forever. He would live in theremembrance of her childish yet womanlike love.
It was past midnight when Cobb and the President separated, each to hisbed; the latter to slumber, the former to lie in a mournful remembranceof former days and former friends.
The next few days were passed by Cobb as the others had been, in thegaining of a knowledge of the world as he now found it. Much of theexcitement caused by his advent had passed; much of the curiosity ofmankind in his appearance among them had vanished. He settled down to alife similar to the rest. To Mollie Craft he was kind and polite, butnot passionate. He still believed her the magnet toward which fate wasdrawing him; but he awaited the propitious moment to tell her of hisbelief, of his love. She was kind and sisterly to him; nothing more.
It was near the first of December that a new face, a sweet, girlishface of innocence and simplicity, came across the path of his life.
Marie Colchester had arrived at the executive mansion as the one dearfriend of Mollie Craft during her school-days at Weldon. As she waspresented to mamma and papa Craft, she blushed at the knowledge of thedeception she was practicing; but she had promised her brother and hisfiance to obey their wishes.
A tall girl, with blonde hair, majestic form, round and plump, witheyes melting in their expression of artlessness and innocence, MarieColchester was one who would easily conquer the heart of a susceptibleman. In the parlor they met for the first time, Junius Cobb and she.
"My brother, Marie. Junius, let me make you acquainted with my dear oldschoolmate, Marie Colchester. I want you to be the best of friends,"and she moved toward the piano, and listlessly tapped the ivory keys.
"Oh, I am sure we will, will we not, Mr. Cobb?" exclaimed MissColchester, with a winning smile. "You know everybody has heard of you,and I feel it a great honor to know one who has lived in two lives."
For a moment Cobb stood with a perplexed expression, and gazed intentlyat her; the name had startled him. She raised her face, and met hisgaze, then, blushing, dropped her eyes to the floor.
"You do not answer, Mr. Cobb?" she ventured. "Are you displeased atmeeting me?"
Recovering himself in a moment, he quickly returned:
"Pardon me. My thoughts were far away."
"Not very complimentary to me," with a merry laugh. "But, then, ifyou will tell me of whom you were thinking, and her name, for I knowit must be a woman, I will forgive your ungallantry," with bewitchingnaivete.
"Marie Colchis," he slowly answered, with his thoughts still far away.
"How funny! almost my own name. Now you have aroused my curiosity. Whois this divinity that can hold your thoughts so enthralled when _I_ amnear?" and again she laughed as she emphasized the pronoun.
"She was my affianced wife!"
The words came as if from the depths of his heart.
Marie Colchester saw she had touched a tender chord in his memory.Casting aside all semblance of levity, she approached him and laid herwhite, small hand upon his arm.
"Forgive me," she said; "I did not wish to bring sad memories to yourmind."
Mollie Craft slyly watched them both, as she stood at the piano,apparently deeply absorbed in the music copy on the stand.
"Good! They will be friends," she murmured. Such was the meeting ofJunius Cobb and Marie Colchester.