Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-02-11

THE JUDGES, SALARY Bull.

The bill to increase the salaries of the JUS
tees of the Supreme Judicial Court, after
narrow escape from defeat in the Senate, has
been cruelty slaughtered in the House, its third
reading having been refused by 1873 against 55
votes. The objections to the BILL so far as
they were developed in the brief discussion
upon it, do not appear to us very formidable
or very well founded. And we can only ac-
count for the almost remarkable vote on the
hypothesis, that the mass of hard-working men
are naturally repugnant to the enlargement of
salaries for any kind of public services. The
objections were not clearly and directly stated,
though this was evidently the spirit of all Of
them. The great mistake they have made, APP
pears to us to have arisen from the fact, that
they estimate the services of a judicial officer on
the same principle that they do the services Of
page or doorkeeper in the House of Repre-
sentatives Issue proposals, they say, at the
present salaries, and you will have applicants
enough which would be very sensible, if ap-
plicants were all that is wanted, and not the
best and most irrcproachable judicial talent
There were two considerations connected
with the subject, which the majority found
great difficulty in properly estimating. The
first was, whether the present salaries were
guaranty, at all times, of judicial fitness. Re,
cent events seemed to establish the negative of
this proposition clearly enough. 1t might not
be very proper to critically analyze the motives
which have induced the successive designations
&c Tudf nd
Thomas. But it is within the limits of truth
and propriety, to say that one important reason
was, that their places did not command the
pecuniary support to which their talents and
their services were entitled in almost any other
field.
The duties of the judicial office, requiring
ripe experience, mature judgment, rapidity
and correctness of generalization, and fuency
of expression, cannot be frequently or hastily
transferred without detriment And yet, at
the present rates of compensation, there is no
certainty, from year to year, but that the high
est court of judicature in the Commonwealth
will be changed, and that the appointing power
will be compelled to fl the bench with other
than the best men.
The second consideration was whether the
Office was worthy of the proposed increase.
1t would have been absurd to look for unity of
opinion on proposition like this For every
man who is entrusted with responsibility is
confident enough to form an estimate of such
things, by rules and facts, with which his pur-
suits have made him most familiar. But when
we consider how much the labor has increased
since the present rates of compensation were
established how greatly the responsibility has
been enlarged with its duties; and the difficult
ty, deicacy, and importance of maintaining the
reputation of a Judiciary so widely and honor
ably known as that of Massachusetts, the re-
suit is a matter Of some surprise. The judi
cial Office, more than any other, is entitled to
honorable salaries" in the sense of the Con.
stitution, not for personal accommodation, but
on account of the dignity of the position and
the exalted and imposing character of its du-
-