REPORT.

OFFICE OF ATTORNEY GENERAL, STATE OF KANSAS,
TOPEKA, September 1, 1888.

To His Excellency JOHN A. MARTIN, Governor of Kansas:

I have the honor to submit herewith, in conformity with the requirements of law, the sixth biennial report of the Attorney General for the two years preceding the date hereof.

I took possession of the office of Attorney General the first time, January 12th, 1885. I was reëlected at the November election of 1886, and assumed the duties of the office as my own successor, January 13, 1887.

This, the sixth biennial report of the Attorney General, includes the business of the department to September 1st, 1888.

In the fifth biennial report, like my predecessors, I reported a large increase of business. The volume of business continued to increase during the first year of my second term, but during the last four to six months there has been a falling-off.

Several causes have conspired to increase the volume of business during the years 1885-6-7, and the first part of the year 1888, and there is a correspondingly potent reason for the decrease during the last part of 1888. New laws and new duties for the several departments are consequent upon each session of the Legislature, in addition to the immediate demands during the session. The immediate demands fall heaviest upon the Executive, the Secretary of State and the Attorney General, but all are materially affected.

The increased duties because of the new laws fall heaviest upon the Attorney General's department.

The author of every law that is passed, whether special or general, has some object in view, but the object is not always apparent upon the face of the bill.

After the adjournment of the Legislature, and the laws are published, a large percentage of the people are seized with a consuming desire to have the laws interpreted, and the consequence is that the Attorney General's office is besieged for a whole year with legal conundrums.

The Legislature has been in session three times since my incumbency of this office.

The Legislature of 1885, by an amendment to the prohibitory law, more

than doubled the duties of this office, a fact mentioned in my report for 1885-6. Some new duties were added in 1886, and some in 1887.

Although the duties of the office are prescribed by statute, it is useless for the head of a department to undertake to evade answering the many unofficial inquirers. They will be heard. Public officers should be civil, courteous, and exemplary.

DUTIES OF ATTORNEY GENERAL.

The statutory duties of the Attorney General, prescribed mainly upon the creation of the office, are as follows:

The Attorney General, before he enters upon the duties of his office, shall take and subscribe to the oath required by law, and shall execute to the State of Kansas a bond, with not less than two sureties, in the sum of five thousand dollars, to be approved by the Executive Council, conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties as Attorney General; which bond and oath shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of State.

The Attorney General shall appear for the State and prosecute and defend all actions and proceedings, civil and criminal, in the Supreme Court, in which the State shall be interested or a party, and also, when required by the Governor or either branch of the Legislature, appear for the State and prosecute or defend in any other court, or before any officer, in any cause or matter, civil or criminal, in which this State may be a party or interested.

The Attorney General shall, at the request of the Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, or Superintendent of Public Instruction, prosecute any official bond or any contract in which the State is interested, upon a breach thereof, and prosecute or defend for the State all actions, civil or criminal, relating to any matter connected with either of their departments.

The Attorney General shall consult with and advise county attorneys, when requested by them, in all matters pertaining to their official duties. He shall also, when required, give his opinion in writing, without fee, upon all questions of law submitted to him by the Legislature, or either branch thereof, or by the Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, or Superintendent of Insurance.

Whenever requested by the Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, or Superintendent of Public Instruction, he shall prepare proper drafts for contracts, forms, or other writings which may be wanted for the use of the State; and he shall report to the Legislature, or either branch thereof, whenever requested, upon any business pertaining to the duties of his office.

All moneys received by the Attorney General, belonging to this State, shall immediately, upon the receipt thereof, be paid by him into the State treasury.

The Attorney General shall keep in proper books, to be provided at the expense of the State for such purpose, a register of all actions and demands prosecuted or defended by him in behalf of the State, and all proceedings had in relation thereto, and shall deliver the same to his successor in office.

The Attorney General shall perform such other duties as may be required of him by law.

In the prohibitory liquor law of 1885 is contained the following section: "It shall be the duty of the county attorney to diligently prosecute any and all persons violating any of the provisions of this act in their respective counties, and

to bring suit upon all bonds and recognizances forfeited, immediately after the happening of such forfeiture, to recover the penalty, and pay all money so collected, less his fee for collecting the same, as herein provided, into the school fund of his county. If any county attorney shall fail, neglect or refuse to faithfully perform any duty imposed upon him by this act, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, and be imprisoned in the county jail not less than ten days nor more than ninety days; and such conviction shall operate as a forfeiture of his office, and the court before whom such conviction may be had shall order and adjudge such forfeiture of office in addition to the fine imposed as herein provided. And whenever the county attorney shall be unable, or shall neglect or refuse, to enforce the provisions of this act in his county, or for any reasons whatever the provisions of this act shall not be enforced in any county, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to enforce the same in such county; and for that purpose he may appoint as many assistants as he shall see fit, and he and his assistants shall be authorized to sign, verify, and file all such complaints, informations, petitions and papers as the county attorney is authorized to sign, verify, or file, and to do and perform any act that the county attorney might lawfully do and perform; and for such services he shall receive the same fees that the county attorney would be entitled to for like services, to be taxed and collected in the same manner."

The Attorney General is also made, by sec. 2 of art. 1 of the Constitution, a member of the Board of State Canvassers, and by sec. 9 of art. 6 of the Constitution he is constituted a member of the Board of Commissioners for the management and investment of the school funds. He is also, by statutory provision, a member of the "Executive Council," "Board of Railroad Assessors," and the "Price-Raid Auditing Commission." It is also his duty to examine and certify whether or not the charter and by-laws of mutual insurance companies proposing to organize within the State, are in compliance with the statute.

There are many other duties that come within the jurisdiction of this department, that legislative wisdom cannot well foresee. I have undertaken to do all that duty demanded, whether prescribed by statute or not.

I have herein before made the remark that the business of this office had increased largely over that of predecessors. The records of the office show that the volume of business has been increased more than four times that of any of my predecessors for the same length of time.

The changes in the prohibitory law doubled the business of the office. The increase in population of 100,000 per annum made new demands. An era of speculation has swept over the State within the last two years, and brought with it many legal complications.

The organization of new counties, consequent upon the passage of the county seat and county lines bill (as it was called) by the Legislature of 1887, has caused much trouble, legally and morally, and necessitated interference by this as well as other departments of the State Government.

The new counties are all organized. All the county-seat cases now com

menced and pending in the Supreme Court have been advanced, and will be heard at an early day in that court. I have hopes of having them all disposed of during my term of office. Since my term of office there have been fourteen county-seat cases commenced in which I have been connected in some form or another.

The decrease in the volume of business within the last five months is consequent upon the organization of new counties, and the final settlement of all new questions growing out of new laws made more than a year ago. It takes about one year for the courts to settle these new questions, and the public to become reconciled to the new laws.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF LAW.

The system of inquiry into the administration of the criminal laws inaugurated by me during my first term, and mentioned in my last biennial report, I have enlarged, and it has been very satisfactory. The information I obtained was for the purpose of satisfying myself of the sufficiency of the criminal laws to secure to the people security in their persons and property, and to see that they were properly administered. I have not confined myself to one particular class of criminal violations; I have obtained information from official and unofficial sources. Although the laws pointing out the duties of the Attorney General make no mention of it, and the Executive has not asked for it, I have considered it my duty to examine into the subject and to report thereon the result of such examination, that myself and the Executive might make such suggestions to the coming Legislature as we may see fit.

For the purpose of comparison, I caused the records to be examined as far back as the year 1874. The population of the State of Kansas was 530,367. During that year there were convicted and sent to the penitentiary 169 persons; 108 of that number were convicted of the crime of grand larceny. You will observe, therefore, that more than one-half of all the convictions for felonies were for grand larceny.

It is a well-known fact that closely-settled communities are conducive to crime, hence it would follow that with an increase in population in the State that crime would increase in proportion. The building-up of large cities and towns within the State would tend to increase the volume of crime.

The increase in the population of the State from 1874 to 1880 was not so rapid as since that time. We find that the increase of crime was proportionate to the increase in the population during that period. The United States census shows that the population of the State of Kansas in 1880 was 996,096. The records show that there were convicted and sent to the penitentiary that year 291 persons.

Periods of speculative excitement have a tendency to increase crime, and many other things tend to the same result, but the most potent factor is the inordinate use of intoxicating liquors.