Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1867-08-10
.GREENyILLE, S. C.,,Jnly 81, 1867.
The Judiciary Of New York City.

I GRElSENvILIE, slSla' S. C,July 27, 1867.
The Judiciary of New York City.
THE North american Rev,eo for July
there Is remarkable article on tho judiciary
Eofsthis city, written evidently by somo one
who has excellent meansof knowing whereof
I3iiee-speaks The .pictprc of corruption Which
| lItpresents is Indeed startling, but we have
It,ntortunately no excuse for thinking it over.
drawn. There was time when New York
could he proud of her judges; whom the
bench was recruited from the best mon ot the
lSbAr, aud a stain upon the ernine was ul,nost
I5unkpown. Even under the elective system
the courts maintained for while the honora.
liblerep4tat'3n which they acquired in previous
|3years. That they have-falen to their present
low, estate the writer in Tile NorM Amertc.n
I,attrbutcst to three causes. The first is the
same cause which renders every measure of
municipal reform almost impossible in New
T York. The last census showed that there
were we in this city 77,475 foreign born voters,
and only 81 500 native ones Since then the
snaturalizations have been so many that the
proportion now is probably 100 900 to GO, 900.
| 3Forelgners, OF course, are not necessarily in.
capable OF selt.government; but the fact is
notorious that in New Yerk as in ncarly all
large cities, the great majority of the emf
grants are ignorant and ocmoralizcd; they
shaye little at stake in the welfare of the com
;mumty, and they easily fall prey to political
tfickstors' : ea They not only support Democrat
candidates, but as between two Democrats,
they will, as a rule, prefer tho worse ne
This was cxcmplifcd in a very curious manner
md refaaHdo Wood for the. tie Msyolaiitv @ f5aan IL
hsoi.s botG were Democrats. Tiemonn was
an honest mah, universally respected Mr..
Wood but we know all about him. Well,
Mr. l'iemann was elected by 1928 majority,
which was within 100 votes of the preponde-
rance OF nativn born over naturalized voters
according to the census Of 1855. An analy
sis of the vote by wards showed that the
strength of MT. Woods party, all through the
city, was almost exactly that of tho natural
lied voters. II is this same party which has
recently elected prize-fghter to Congress.
The wonder is that they have not brought the
bench st;l lower than it is already.
The second cause is the dangerous amount
of patronage at the disposal of the judges
With the great increase during late years of
reterable causes. the courts have acquired the
power Of appointing fayorites to positions of
enormous profit. The legal fees Of u referee
are nominaly So "A day; but by the custom Of
ges for every day in which he does anything
ip cause Half the days charged are mere
adjoarnmcnts arranged by the referees clerk ;
the other half arc very brief sessions and
many of these, too, are conducted by the
clerk In pressing cases the referee can make
what terms he pleases with the counsel and
when his relations with the court arc such that
there is a moral certainty of the confirmation
OF his report, his fees often run up to an enor.
nous SUN. Then there are receivers, and
commissioners for opening streets these are
appointed by the bench, and get lnrge fees for
doing nothing. 1t has heen said that on the
settlement of a certain receivers accounts re-
Gently, the judge who appointed hin denai1-
ded halt the fees, amounting to $40 ,O00.-
I VI course tho temptation to dishonest man
to intrigue andbribe for the sake OF getting
sucl valuable patronage ns tliis is almost ire
sistible, and q man of lax morality on the
bcnclr oan hardly fail to become IN time
thorough scoundrcl.
The third cause Of judicial deterioration
has resulted from the efforts Of the bench in
times past to interfere with the frauds Of the
Common Council The plunderers Of, the
public became aroused to the necessity oil con-
| trolling the civil courts. In 1861 notorious
corruptonist, after making display of pa
triotis,n in the Nominating Convention of his
party, rrorosipg for rc-e -e, otion to tho Superior
Court hessrs. Hoffman and Woodruff, two of
the best judges in tho State, and collecting a
large sum of money from them for what he
represented to be Legitimate election expenses
| sold thom out at the eleventh hour for $10,-
| 600, andcaused other names to be substituted
The large classes interested in evil or illegal
practices, tho gamblers, the advocates Of. froe
rum, the Sunday traders, work hsnd in hand
ia this matter with tho corporation /" Ring
apd have secured a powerful Influence oyer
meof tho courts. The history Of the Ex;
| cisc law affords pretty good example of the
way in which this influence is exerted., The
counsel for the Liquor Dealers Association
told his clients at the outset that the law could
not be resisted. Not single respectable law.
/ yer in New York vcntured to pronounce ,it
Unconstitutional until. a brewer applied to a
certain judge for an Injunction to restrain it's
execution, on the ground that IL could not ap.
sply 70 dealers already licensed until thcir II:
censess Had rub out. the licenses being Of the
!; nature of contracts !. Tho Judge promptly
!! granted the ihjanotion, and moreover decided
A that the entire law was me INSTITUTIONAL md
Il who'll void question @hiott, had not bier
before him at all s. A nd / hsSiligs 3deciaeds
4 point noyer raised, ,he would lear no argiman,
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