Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-05-15
From the st. Adams Messenger
Passes TO Judges.

We presume all of our Judges OF the sr
preme Court have, for wears, been furrfsL
ed with passes by the different rslIross
companies of the State. We sincars1v
hope that they have. With the misersbIs
contemplate stipend they receive ~
their services, il is a sufficiently diFeT,
undertaking for them to exc out a resDact.
able and comfortable support Tor fbaT
selves, without charging them with ss6ef-,
used" and following a pass to bias tEls
Judgment becau sc by using one thew e-
save something of their misery sslsr-
with which to clofhe and feed their FAM,
Hes.-RgltlGnd Herald.
The foregoing is certainly rather 70.
markable doctrine. So far as the rail
road company is concerned the right
fare is right Of property, and when
they part with it they deplete their rgy.
enue Just so much. To the Vermont
Judges and their families this cannot
probably amount to a gift of less than
one thousand dollars a year by the II
Central. We do not believe II has ever
been given with corrupt intent, and wp
know il has never been so received. brt
we cannot see how, on the one hand
trust estate, bankrupt road, can afford
to give such gifts, nor on the other If
the Judges cannot live and paw their
travelling expenses on g. 800 a wear. how
other people, whose incomes are often
nowhere near that figure, can afford 10
travel at all.
We have long commended that the State
should pay the travelling expenses Of IFS
Judges, or. what is equivalent. increase
their salaries above fair compensation
for their time, labor and learning. enough
to meet the necessary OutgO not only for
travelling but for entertainment It Is
humiliating and disgraceful that the
State of Vermont should compel her high
functiOnaries to be beggars or permit
them to be the recipient of gifts. and
there is where we choose to charge home
the disgrace-upon the State and not
upon the Judges. We take il that our
jurists are great enough to be above To-
tiuence, and vet we remember how
Judge COllamer dared not trust himself
to hold pass when tie railroad com
pany issuing it became a party In his
court. 1t requires extraordinary nicely
of discrimination to tell just where c0ur-
tesy leaves off and influence begins. But
it seems to Us that the State ought 10
make its jurists sufficiently independent
so that they could adjust the balance bv
reasoning thus: "Why should I take q
pass, worth $3.50, from this party, who
is always a sutton, when | would spurn
the gift Of horse from that, who is now
for the first time in court.
Tie whole system of passes is fraught
with danger, damage and corruption. Il
lessons the income of the roads, thereby
compelling them to exact higher fare
from those not favored; it weaVes aweb
of favoritism and influence which
abridges our freedom and curbs our in
dependence, ard in every case where tbs
giver is strong and the taker is weak Il
creates a condition of things wherein
oftentimes
"Ohense's gilded hand puts justice by
1t ought to be abolished. If indlvilu-
ais will not do it, railroads should. Ii
they will not, the law should compel it.
How soon we shall have such a law in
NermOnt-a State which will not have 8
railroad commissioner, to stand between
the people and the corporations. unless
the roads will pay his salary, which. Of
course, makes him their officer though
he wears the livery of the State-h0w
long, we say before we can have such q
law it is not easy to predict, but if there
Is any meaning in the fast gathering
signs of the times, il cannot be very long.
Then and not till then may we consider
ourselves a free people and Vermont an
independent State.