Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-11-22
A Lesson on Law and Political Econ
omy for the Boys.
BY LUTHER BROWN.

headings to his sermon do you sup.
pose he would put poor lawyers ?
Judges are nothing more or less than
lucky lawyers, who have by shrewd
management or good luck, been eject
ed to preside over their respective
courts for long term of years, or for
life, with salaries ranging from three
or four thousand to twice that
amount. Now that seems very de-
sirable situation, and it is not strange
that there should be great strife
among the lawyers when vacancy
occurs to obtain the prize, or that
they should make great exertions to
establish new courts but, hold on
boys, don't jump to the conclusion
that the office is bed of sunshine and
roses, far from it, for judges and law
yers are often afflicted with brain
disease that is unknown among labor
ing men, and as it is not described in
the books, | will take the liberty to
name il 4: one idea on the brain, mel
ancholy case of it has lately occurred
in the Senate of the United States.
Senator Davis, the big man, has it
bad, if the case is reported correctly
in the Inter Ocean. He is described
as being closeted with another Judge,
very busy preparing bill to create
nine more circuit judges, or doubling
the present number, and creating an.
other court. He has made the dis
covery that as the law now stands,
person tried for crime in the circuit
court cannot be tried by any other
court for the same offence, or in other
words, there is no court to appeal it
to, and of course no more money can
be made by running him through the
courts; but by creating another court,
and allowing him to be put through
that. 1t would be worth as much to
host of lawyers as a farrow COW is
to family with nine small children
Boys, would you like to be Judges if
you were liable to be taken one day
with one idea on the brain ? So that
you could see nothing, and compre-
bend nothing, but what that idea
forced upon you, while all the powers
of your mind were so diseased as to
be entirely useless. o no / know
you would not, but this Senator, if
the truth is told of him, is in that
awful condition sees nothing but
overworked judges, two years behind
with their work, and with all the
light he can get from diseased one
idea, is making desperate idea to re-
lieve them. But at the same time he
expresses his fears that his plan will
prove failure, for should he divide
his judges into sections, and then di-
vide the work between them so that
they would be able to catch up, he in
clines to the opinion that the parties
to the suit would still have the consti-
tutional right to the opinion of all
the judges, which, of course, they
could not get without running them
through each judges court. Now,
boys, isn't this an awful fix to be in,
after lapse of 100 years spent in
what they call amending the laws !?
If this Senator's brain had not been
affected by the one idea, he could
have easily framed bill that would
have relieved the courts, simply by
declaring that all cases should be de-
cided by the law and the testimony,
without spending any time in listen
ing to the harangues of hired partisans
pitted against each other to talk
against time for money; and where is
the man who would have right to
complain when his case had been de-
cided by the highest court known to
our law, after full and fair hearing
of ali the testimony the parties chose
to offer? Now, boys, | want you to
examine this subject well, the cost of
these nine new judges, and their
courts must be as much as 5000, 900
a year, and | want you to try to find
where any mortal man except lawyers
could be benefited by them to the
amount of one dollar. Get your dad
to help you hunt, he ought to feel an
interest in the subject for he will have
to help pay for supporting the new
judges and courts, whether your
mother has a new dress this year or
has to turn the ole one again. And
then / wish you would go to the poor
house and inquire Of the inmates how
they came to be there question them
closely, and | doubt not you will find
that in large proportion of cases
they have been run through the courts
from one year to another till the sher-
iff came down on them .slike thous-
aDd of bricks and took the last they
had that then they lost all hopes of
ever seeing better days, and to drown
| their sorrow, took to strong drink
which soon brought them there. But
boys, this lesson is getting too long,
and will close, but, fearing | may
never again have the privilege of Civ
ing you lesson, will tell you an i'm
portant truth that | believe is not gen.
orally known perhaps you had bteter
keep it private, for should it get to be
generally known it might injure the
business Of some who are making
great fortunes by running the ma
chine. They who make our state
laws and run their machinery are &C.
tuated by the same object that COM
pany of capitalists are who build and
operate large manufacturing estab-
lishment. The object in each case is
money, and as the manufacturer ar
ranges all his machinery so as 20 pro.
duce the most profit, so does the law,
maker frame the laws and arrange the
details of the same so as to bring the
most business, and of course, the
most profit to those who run the law
machinery.