The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-09-03
Correspondence
judicial Nominations.

judicial Nominations.
Editor Anti cnopolist:
As this is the season for making NOM
nations, wish to call attention to a
point which seems to be in some dam
ger of being overlooked. I refer to
the necessity of care in the selection of
judges.
In the contest with railroad corpora
lions, which has but just been COM
menced, and which is to continue,
doubtless, for years, or at least until
the right Of legislative control shall be
fully established, and until the best
methods for the exercise of this right
shall be ascertained and applied, it will
prove of little avail to the people that
they have the Legislative and Execu-
tive arms Of the government to support
them, if the judicial arm is against
them.
To give the corporations the choice
Of the judiciary, is to give them the
last, decisive word, and therefore the
whole case.
These corporations, having command
Of all the lines Of transit between the
producers of the country and a market,
their power to tax the whole transport
able product of the country the very
last cent it will bear, is as full and COM
plete, as though they had the same in
bonded warehouse under lock and key,
and it cannot be expected that this
ground of vantage is to be yielded
without vigorously contesting, point by
point, and inch by inch, all the legal
approaches looking towards their dis
Judgment. If the main question now
pending before the Federal Supreme
Court shall be decided in favor of the
people. then their policy will be to him
der and delay the administration Of
restraining laws, by making a fight on
as many technical and collateral points
as the case admits of. 'sThe laws de-
lay is the rogue's respite Time is
money with railroads, and a good deal
of it, too, in such case, and we must
expect all the litigation which can be
made profitable. Even litigation, to
lose case in the end, is the most prof
liable course in many instances; while
| on the other hand favorable decisions
even on minor points may not only Sc
cure the delay desired, but also demon
alize the opposite party.
Our State courts, both district and
supreme, are to be important factors in
the final result, and we should see to it,
that, so far as vancancies are to be fill
ed the candidates are not already COM
mitted,against our cause, either by edu.
cation, association or interest.
While the judiciary Of this country,
as rule, is composed Of high-minded,
incorruptible men, there have been
glazing instances Of the contrary.
Railroad corporations may after all es-
innate judicial probity at about its
true value, when they habitually ten
der to judges free tickets, and pass
their goods over their roads at much
less than the usual rates. These have
been common practices, and if they are
not efforts to find the soft side Of judi
cial human nature, what are they for |!
Tickets are equivalent to money, and
these corporations rarely give away a
great deal of money. as naked graf
uity. The friendsphip Of judges ap-
pears to have q pecuniary value.
In selecting candidates for the bench,
lawyers Of the best legal ability are
properly sought for, as also happens to
be the case on the part Of the roads in
selecting their attorneys. This is CO.
incidence werth looking after, for a
man in his ordinary private business
would rarely desire to submit his case
to judge who had formerly been an
attorney for the opposite party in the
same case, or in cases identical in prin-
ciple. Business prudence would forbid
it, and what is true in private business
would seem to be so in the cases likely
to arise between the public and the
roads. A railroad attorney may be q
safe man upon the bench, but certainly
it is not the most hopeful place to look
for such men. Attorneyship for the
railroads can hardly be considered the
best school to fit men for judicial inn
partiality in cases between the people
and the roads.
1t is urged that judges should not be
selected, by either party, with view to
the character Of subsequent decisions
This would be ; good rule if it were
practicable, but the able lawyer Of to-
day, who has never yet breathed an
opinion As to the legal merits Of the
! controversy between the roads and the
people, is either remarkable for reti-
cence which is in itself suspicious, or