St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-07-28
Note and Comment.
A VERMONT EDITOR THREATENS SUI
eide.

eide.
There are various ways whereby the
press of the state could be elevated,
and the first step in that direction
would be the killing off of a score or
more printers devils who assume to
mould public opinion as journalists
burlington Clipper.
The decision of the United States
court i'll the Curtis case is a valuable
one. 1t atfiXes a stigma upon a con-
temptible and corrupting business, and
the moral effect of it will be excellent.
II Boston Advertiser.
OLD TwO-PER-CENT.
Come up here, Hubbell, and litigate
the point before You send out single
circular more. Come up here and
stand by the men and women you al
ready have inveigled or bullied into
liability. Come up here and make the
test case you professed to be anxious
for a few weeks ago. Your own skin
is safe enough. You are not criminal
ly liable yourself; nobody pretends
that. under the letter of the statute
But you have been enticing thousands
of others into peril, and it is your duty
to stand by them, if there is any man
hood in yOu.- y. Y. Herald.
TRIAL BY NEWSPAPER.
Judge Wylie made Roadway in the
star-route cases the other day, admit
ting the testimony of Walsh upon the
conspiracy, of which our Geographic
columns give full reports. 1t is the
fashion of the courts to sneer at the
way cases are "tried by newspaper"
but newspaper trial compares very IA
vOrably with other modes of getting at
the truth in litigation. No newspaper
is hampered by the cOnsummately stu
pid traditions which make tie necessa-
ry to argue gravely for two days before
Judge Wylie upon the admission of
such evidence as this of Walsh in the
star-rOute cases. When we think of
the Guiteau trial, the Malley trial, the
Star-route trials and other exhibitions
of judicial administration going on at
all times i'll the country, we cannot
but think that the less eminent law
yers and judges have to say about
trial by newspaper" the better
Springfield Republican.
POLITICAL ASSESSORS TAKE NOTICE.
Gen. n. NJ. Curtis possibly begins to
think it is no fOOling for an officer of
the United States to be caught collect
ing political assessments of his fellow
employees, having been fined yesterday
$500 each in two Otfenses, making
$1,000 in all. This was in the United
States circuit court at New York,
Judges Wallace, Benedict and Brown
sitting in banc and rendering a unani-
nous opinion through Judge Wallace,
affirming the cOnStitutiOnality of the
law and intlicting a fine which indi-
Gates that the Judges regard it as no
light Offense. Gen. Curtis remained
last night in the charge of his counsel
us deputy United States marshal, to
enable him to apply to Chief Justice
Waite at Lyme, Ct, for writ of ha-
beas corpus to bring the question be
fore the full bench of the supreme
court. 1t is doubtful if the chief JUS
tice grants a writ for this purpose on
an appeal from criminal prosecution.
The principle that the government has
the right to adopt such regulations re-
garding the civil service as will pro-
tect its efficiency and preserve its in
tegrity and independence is SO clear
that it is not likely to he overthrow.
1t will be recalled that when this pros
ecutiOn was begun, Curtis clustered "a
good deal and defied the government
to make out that he was an officer or
employee of the government. Hubbell
tried the same game. Now possibly
Hubbell, as well as Curtis, may find
himself mistaken. The courts may see
point where he could not Spring
field Republican.
The disgraceful absrrdity of demand
ing political contributions from these
teachers is self-evident to everybody
but ''stalwart" politicians, who do not
realize yet that the civil service re-
formers mean business Boston Con-
gregatiOnalist.