City in Sound; State's Attorney

This is Jack Angel with City in Sound, Stories out of Chicago, City of the Greatest Movement on Earth, City of All Things, one among them, State's Attorney. This is State's Attorney's Office. Hello. Mr. Adamowski, one moment please. This will be the story of the largest big city law firm in the world. It is known by no polished nameplate of venerable partners, and its offices are not plush. They are spread to the public places of the city and bear the simple title of State's Attorney of Cook County. The State's Attorney is one man to be sure, Benjamin Adamowski, and yet to the function of his office, he is more. 120 to be exact. Assistant State's Attorney's assigned to every phase of county legal action.

I am Benjamin Adamowski, the State's Attorney of Cook County, charged with responsibility of the prosecution of crime, and also on the civil side of the cases, as the Attorney for and the advisor to the county board and all public officials in the county of Cook. Surprisingly enough, we have a staff of lawyers of approximately 124, in addition to which, we have the clerks, stenographers, bookkeepers, auditors, accountants and others, needed to run an office as large as this with the number of cases that go through the office. The office is divided into probably four or five main divisions. This one being the largest, the criminal division. By this one, I mean the one in the criminal court building of 26th and California, housing about 55 or 60 of the lawyers. Then we have a civil division at the county building, which contains about 25 lawyers, who handle all

of the civil proceedings in the county of Cook and the advice to and the opinions for the county board and the various public officials. At 11th and State, which is known to many of the people as the police court building, we have a police court division and a stolen auto division, headed up by one of the assistants. We have a similar division in the traffic building, which is probably more familiar to some people. I hope not too familiar at the river and the south street. Then we have the section known as the family court, carrying for the juveniles in the county of Cook at the juvenile court building at Ogden and Roosevelt Road. How do you get an assistant state's attorney, Mr. Adam Asking? Well, we've gotten them in two ways. One, of course, as a member of and a party to the political organization or a member of the political organization, the Republican organization. In addition,

we have retained and kept some of the, I like to call them career men, because while they may or may not have been members of the same political party, they are familiar with and they have been trained in either the civil branch or the criminal division. And because of their background, their experience, and I think unquestioned loyalty, so far as the taxpayers of Cook County are concerned, we have retained them as part of the staff. Mr. Adam Asking, the state's attorney's job is known as the biggest job in the county. Why is that? Is that a patronage aspect to it? Or is that from a standpoint of sheer work done or importance, or how would you rate it? Well, Jack, I think the real reason for saying that, and I've heard that comment made, is probably the tremendous and almost unbelievable amount of power that the state's attorney of a county such as this has. Actually, when you stop to analyze it, we literally have the

power of life and death over people. And that kind of power carries with it, in addition to great responsibility, it also carries with it the possibility of doing considerable harm. I mean by that, that if it were used improperly, it could destroy people for political reasons or otherwise. It could be used as an arm to threaten people, and used in that fashion, of course, it would be improper. Under those qualifications do you hold a job as a kind of a duty or responsibility, or do you like it? I was a little dubious about it, Jack. Actually, I've never practiced criminal law in my own private practice. I've been more or less of a business and corporate lawyer, prior to coming in here. And yet I find that the challenge in the criminal division is probably the most gratifying one I've ever had across my path, because there is an opportunity. And as I get to know more about the operation of the office

itself, I see the great opportunity for doing good in the community. We can, of course, in devious ways, and I don't mean by that improper ways, make known our presence and make known our checking various governmental agencies and persons within the county. And I think that has a very healthy influence. If they know that there is an agency of government such as this, trying as I think we're trying to do it, and as I hope we will prove time will help us prove what we are doing. Letting the community know that they do have someone they can come to if they have problems and questions to be looked at. From that standpoint, I think it's been a most gratifying experience, and I'm not the least bit sorry that I came in here. All right, sure, let's move along the line and talk to some of your assistants. Thank you very much. I'm Frank Furlake, I'm the first assistant of the criminal division of the State's Attorney's Office of Cocani, Illinois. My job

generally is to administer the duties of the assistant state's attorneys of the criminal division. Our criminal division is divided into several categories. We have the trial court proper in which men are tried after indictments have been returned. We have our courts in which there are hearings prior to indictments such as our felony court. We have our narcotics court to which we have two assistants that are assigned whose duties are to make certain that proper cases are held over the grand jury and some 12 ,000 cases annually are processed through the narcotics court. In the criminal court itself, so far, since last September, there have been some 2 ,370

cases that have actually been tried after indictment, which is 800 more indictments than last year. We also was under my supervision and direction, the fraud and complaint department. The fraud and complaint department is what we call John Cue Public's department. It gives the average citizen an opportunity to come into that department. He's got a complaint that he might have had with some business outfit which he was defrauded. We have 11 people assigned to that particular department who can process the complaint and determine whether or not an offense has been committed. Mr. Ferlich, you told me that there was an incident in your boyhood out in Wyoming that had a profound effect on your career as a prosecutor. What was that? I was 16 years old at the time and my father had a grocery store and a meat market out in this little Wyoming town. And this particular day was the 16th of February, 1924.

And I went of our employees that had just come from one of the small coal mining towns after having made some collections. And it was at 9 o 'clock at night and while I was helping this employee of ours check the proceeds for the day, my father happened to be standing about 4 or 5 feet away from me at a scale. When suddenly I heard the back door open and two masked men came in there and said it was a stick up. My father turned around and I turned around and immediately both men fired shots. As a result of the shooting, my father ran out the door and two days later he died in a hospital as a result of gunshot wound. The two masked men after the shooting ran away, they were subsequently apprehended. And coupled with the tragedy that was so close to me and my family, it definitely

impressed upon me that there's more than one side of this long -forcing business. It isn't a question of just a defendant but that the people of a community are entitled to the same consideration. My name is Elroy C. Sanquist Jr. I'm the assistant state's attorney in charge of the Civil Division of the State's Attorney's Office. Our office is located in the county building downtown in room 507. We have on our staff there 32 lawyers who are all assistant state's attorneys. We handle primarily all of the jobs and all of the duties for the county in which the county is involved of a civil nature. I am the acting as a county attorney. The attorney for the county board must sit in all of the county board meetings and advise them as anything of a legal nature which comes up. The county is a $68 million corporation

in this respect. The other duties which the Civil Division must take care of, we must sue the people on their delinquent personal property taxes and to collect those taxes. We must also handle all of the tax for closure cases concerning the delinquent real estate. We handle all of the problems of a zoning nature in the unincorporated areas of the county where the county zoning ordinance applies. We also give legal opinions to all of the county officials when requested to do so and also to the justice of the peace and police magistrates when they request a legal opinion. This is a statutory duty of our office. We also handle all of the condemnation work of the county which has been quite heavy in recent years with the building of the Congress Street Super Highway and the Southwest Expressway and the Southwest Expressway.

These are the various duties which come under our office downtown. I may also add that we handle all of the cases involving civil service of county employees of the property which is sheets to the county, all of the probate matters in which there is no errors and represent the unknown errors or the county in such matters. Your work is never done then sir. Well we don't lack for work, I'll say that Jack. All right sir, thank you. I'm Lucia T. Thomas and assistant states attorney assigned to the family court. What are your duties there? Well as an assistant my duties are to advise with the probation officers, a complaint department and the various departments of the court and in court to act as a prosecutor for the judge and as his legal assistant. Mr. Thomas is a prosecutor. You're not actually primarily concerned with

necessarily sending these people to jail. Don't you try to work out some kind of an equitable solution between the teenagers and the people who appear in family court with deep problems so that they can continue as a part of society? Well as a prosecutor in the family court we handle the case once the complaint is filed and the petition is filed and the case gets into court. But our primary duty there is first of all to protect the public and second to try to protect rehabilitate and to see what we can do to save the juvenile as a member of society. How many assistants do you have there? We have four. Four that's kind of a load isn't it to pull? Well it's quite a load there's one lady and there's three gentlemen and we worked with four different types of cases that is we work with the delinquents, the dependents, the mental defectives and with the trunch and with the related family problems that come with handling the cases of children. This seems to be the season to kind of throw up our hands

about teenage problems and the troubles of our young people. Is there a rare hope in all this do you see some progress being made in the community? Well there is agencies are deeply concerned with the family problems and with the community problems and I think our juvenile delinquency isn't just a matter of the children involved but the community in which they live. The community problems affect their behavior and vice versa. Were you an attorney in private practice before you came here? Yes I was I've been an attorney for 17 years and I spent a few years with the federal government and legal work and quite a bit in private practice. And you like this kind of work? I like it very much. Followed along to the end? Yes I'd like some day to be a judge of a juvenile court. My name is Harry D. Ann Hire. I'm the chief investigator for the state's attorney's office in Cook County. Our duties

are well there's various duties involved that is we have a few duties that we locate and bring back to this county for trial. We make investigations, we fortify these cases that are brought in here by the police. As a rule the police make the original investigation in most of your murder cases and robber cases. But they may be some thing that the attorneys want or the assistant states attorneys want to fortify the prosecution. We go out and make those investigations get that information. In other words your investigation is concerned that cases you don't have a police department that you can just send out at random in the county. No we don't try to police the county that would be impossible. No we're not equipped to do that we don't have that. That's up to the sheriff and the local police officer. Mr. Ann Hire there has been quite a switch in your case. You were a federal man for many years and retired from the federal service did you not as head of the narcotics division here? No I was head of the secret service here. Then you came to the state's attorney and

now working on the county level. How do you like the switch? Well of course going back to the secret service that's a specialized field of investigations and protection for the president. And then the other is protecting the currency of the United States and the obligations of the United States. Of course you have more variety here that is there's so many different things to do here than what I had before where we specialize. I made quite a bit of difference. Do you ever have any political pressures or some of the political elements were here or trouble you? No that hasn't bothered me here because if I guess such calls I refer them to the front office. I'm not a politician so they have to answer those questions I can answer. We know that sir. All right thank you very much. I'm Andrew Schaenberger the assistant states attorney assigned to the police

courts building located at 11th and state street Chicago Illinois. That card is the card that hears the little man's problems every day and adjudicates it. It is very important that what we do there is given the same treatment as it would be given into the higher courts of the state or of the nation. At 11th and state we have four courtrooms. One card room is the woman's card in which a woman prosecutor prosecutes cases concerning women involved in shoplifting cases and solicitation cases and other aligned cases. Then we have the rackets card also in the same building in which we mainly prosecute the gambling cases carrying concealed weapons matters. And the smaller false pretenses and bad check cases. In addition to those two cards we also have the domestic relations card and that is concerned with many family problems and mainly cases

where husbands refused to take care of their children to support them properly. And also we have cases where paternity matters are brought to our attention and the state's attorney does look after the welfare of the child involved. And the last card that we have in that building is known as the boy's card and the auto card. And that is a very important card because it does not only hear misdemeanor cases which the other cards do it does do here. But we do have the major cases such as robberies and auto thefts that are hurting that court. How many courts do you have in all, Mr. Shaneberger? How many police courts? We have in all 12 courts. And would you know how many assistant states attorneys you have total in your division? We have 12 assistant states attorneys altogether. Eight of these assistant states attorneys man the court and

I man the stolen auto division in the office. And we have a narcotics and sex bureau which is manned by another assistant state's attorney. I'm William Schwind and I'm the assistant state's attorney in charge of the traffic card at 321 North La Salle Street. What in the world is a state's attorney doing over there, Mr. Schwind? Well Jack, many of these traffic charges are state charges and the state's attorney's office prosecutes all state charges concerning traffic violations. There was a few examples of cases that would fall within your jurisdiction over there. We know of course about the city violations, the police and the corporation council and the traffic system and whatnot. But how about your office? Well the state's attorney's office, we handle the prosecution on the more serious type traffic violations included in those. Of course, are you driving under the influence of intoxicating lickers,

leaving the scene of an accident involving personal injury, reckless homicide, in which a death is involved. The evidence would seem to indicate that the other driver was negligible to the extent that he was criminally negligent and cases involving driving after a driver's license has been suspended or revoked by the secretary of state. Well actually liquor is the chief offender in it. Those are most of our cases. Many people drink and drive. The state law does set out that if you drink intoxicants are intoxicating beverages including medicines with an alcohol base. If you take enough of those to where your driving ability is impaired, you

can be convicted of driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor. And this involves quite a full week. While there are four assistants over in the three courtrooms and we put in a full day and very interesting to come over and watch the courtrooms work, it doesn't have the full glamour of the criminal courts 26th and California. But it is due to the heavy volume of work. It's a part of our governmental system and our democracy in action. It's very interesting. These are a few of the functions of the state's attorney and the legal officers who direct them. There are assistant state's attorneys for every legal action within the purview of the county courts. There are assistant state's attorneys assigned to the highway commission,

the county board, to narcotics court, to frauds and complaints, to the prosecution of the major criminal cases and the hundreds of others that slip by without fanfare. The great distinguishing factor about this vast law firm is that it is yours. You elect a state's attorney who designates his own assistance. There was a time when the office was a great refuge for patronage and political placement. In recent years, the trend has been much away from that. And there is now a strong cadre of career attorneys in the crucial places. This is the vital direction to go. State's attorney Adamoski put it this way a moment ago. The power is of life or death. This is Jack Angel with George Wilson, an engineer whose recordings here have imprinted

city in sound. Of the problems of your growing youngsters, especially your teenagers, then knock on heaven's door with your prayers. Before they yet call, I will answer, comes God's reply, where Father and Mother pray for the guidance of God's Spirit in seeking solutions, to the problems that surround their daily lives, their heaven itself will supply the answer. King David found the solution, and therefore he said, through thy precepts, I get understanding. You fathers, let your son know by your word and actions that the greatest blessing you desire for him is that he might ever be a follower of Jesus. You mothers, let your daughter know that you desire no greater honor for her than

that she walks with God. Gather your children about you each day and pour out your heart to God in prayer. From that prayer your children and you will rise up strong in the Lord, ready to say with David, I hate every false way. You will be ready to take the Savior's hand as He calls, follow thou me. Do you conduct regular family worship in your home? If you don't but would like to begin, we think you'll be interested in a helpful 24 -page pamphlet which we shall be happy to send you without cost or obligation. It's called our family worship and gives you the why, where, when, and how of successful worship in the family circle. For your free copy, just write to this program the family worship power in care of this station. Ask for the pamphlet, our family worship. At this time we of the family worship power

wish to pay tribute to the radio industry and particularly to this radio station for its courtesy in bringing you our broadcasts. We hope that you, the audience, will join us in expressing your appreciation to the station management. Where can you and I find help to live gone -pleasing lives and to aid those close to us to walk in God's ways and to live gone -pleasing lives? Only at the throne of grace. Will you go there with us now in prayer to seek God's aid?

Gracious Heavenly Father, we are sorry that we have so often insulted thee by our sins, pardon us through the blood of thy son, Jesus Christ. Help us to overcome our own evil wills. We are so weak and we look to thee for aid, for thou hast promised to put thy spirit into our hearts. Come now and take us and all who are near and dear to us and lead us into a life that will honor thee. Keep us from sin and strengthen us to build stronger homes in which thou, O Lord, will be glorified. Hear us and help us for Jesus' sake. Amen. Dear Shepherd of thy people, hear thy presence now His grace, that thou hast given us grace for prayer, so give us thanks to prayer. We

think these thoughts let holy peace and love and comfort dwell. We give our troubled conscience peace, love and experience. Even the disciples of Jesus needed instruction in prayer. They pleaded with Him, Lord, teach us to pray. We invite you to join the present company of our Lord's disciples to pray the words He taught them. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. And grant us thy peace. This has been the family worship hour, presented in the interest of a family altar in your home. Remember a complimentary copy of today's meditation may be had by writing this station. Also, if you have a spiritual problem but no one to advise you, we shall be happy to help you. Just address the family worship hour in care of the station to

which you are listening. The family worship hour is transcribed and is presented by this station as a contribution to the spiritual welfare of its listener. Amen.