The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-06-18
SUBJECT TO IMPEACHMENT.

The newspapers are still using very
plain and emphatic language regarding the
pncel enonious and unwarranted removal
Of Chief Justice SANFORD. The idea of
President compelling judge to follow
his policy in the Interpretation of the
law is something so foreign to the Ameri-
can mind as to alarm thoughtful people.
They see in it the greatest imaginable dan
ger to the country, hence the vigorous pro-
test that is being made at this time. Here
tofore, THE HERALD has reproduced only
article in Republican journals on this sub
ject. Below we republish what the Omaha
Herald. the leading Democratic newspaper
Of the Missouri river valley says 1t Will be
seen that the editor thinks President HAIR
RIsoN has laid himself liable to impeach-
ment for his unauthorized Interference
with the judiciary. The Herald says, I'M
der the caption, HARRISON Liable to I'm
peachment:''
HARRISONS appointment of eX-Judge ZANE
10 be chief Justice of the supreme court or u Tan
has not met with much approval IN Utah, Where
ZANE is well known, nor Will IL excite LluGu
praise in the country at large when the metnous
used successfully TO create a vacancy for him
become generally made known ZANE was
formerly on the Utah bench and was ever the
fhe leadership of the Salt Lake City IFi0Une
was constantly Schcming TO gain control OF Ulah
affairs. ZANE retired when his term was out,
after having with other RepuDncau leueTaI
officials been Smirched with a nasty scandal.
No sooner was HARRISON elected than the
same clique set to work to make ZANE chlel
Justice, demanding the removal OF ELLIOT
SANDFORD whose incumbency of the position
had been marked by such integrity. ability ana
fairness as TO make him unasSallaOle. But the
Clique was successful and about month ago
Judge SANFORD received the following letter;
Here follows in its order the correspon-
dence between the Acknowledgement, Judge
SANFORD and the President, as it ap-
peared first in the columns of The HERALD.
The editor of our Omaha namesake then
concludes as follows:
The remarkable character of this correspon-
dence is sufficient apology for reproducing II
here at length. II is remarkable In that II
claims for the President q Utah policy to which
the judiciary of the territory must be subservi-
emit This astounding assertion boldly put
forth, must give good citizens pause 1t Is the
true theory that the judge on the bench Is there
TO adIninistpr the law, above the coercion or dlc
tation OF any policy" If the holding OF a seat
on the bench is TO be made conditional TO the
political manipulations of the President then
the courts are no longer safeguard 10 the PEG
pie The constitution Of the United States
arm OF the government. President HARRISON
i'm trenching upon its prerogatyeS has SUB
jected himself to Improvement.
Perhaps the most careful and conserv-
alive of the great Republican newspapers
is the Philadelphia Ledger, owned and man
aged by Mr. GEORGE w. CHLDs. The
Ledger has always been cautious in the eX-
IRENE about criticising national admins
tration that was Republican, and when it
does speak it is with clearness, GOODNESS
and deliberation. The attorney generals
startling letter to Chief Justice SANDFoRD,
telling the latter that he had been removed
for no other reason than that he was not in
harmony with the Presidents policy in re
gard to Utah, was so astonishing that the
Ledger could not refrain from driving this
terse editorial paragraph at the President
and his judicial adviser. Coming from
such a paper as the one named the few
lines carry great weight:
Nj President, either your attorney general
has made a mistake or you have been led into
error-if the published correspondence between
the department Of justice and Justice SAND
FORD, of Utah, be true. The judge comes out
of that correspondence with far the better
credit so that If there is anything behind OF q
nature to help the eXeCutTe-lt had better be
brought promptly to the front.