The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-04-09
TIE FARMERS AynTHE supREssE COURT.

The Farmers Alliance of Minnesota is
going q long way far when it assails
tie United States supreme court as il did
recently as shallow or corrupt,'' and asks
farmers generally TO unite in an effort for
the abolition Of the tribunal. The trouble
grows out OF the late decision taat an ap-
peal ID the courts could bo taken from the
decisions of the inter state comm cree com
mission. That particular opinion, itseems
to US, was based on good law and should
not be attacked. II il is not cool law then
the commission could ruin every rail
road IN the country by imposing. rules and
regulations that would compel :be compa-
njcs 20 operate their lines at 4 L SIS. twill
hardly be claimed that Congre IS. legisla-
lures or commissions hare right, NOR
Ally or legally, 10 make an Individual or
company 10 a losing business.
The United States supreme court is ret
The tribunal that it should be. Its degen-
grafton began during the war, when poll
lies and expectancy became more or less in
auential in the selection OF justices, and in
arriving 81 opinions. Some of the deci-
sions have been dictated by the times ra-
Their than By the law, and public opinion
has had its weight on the minds of the
judges. The eight to seven commission
also did much to destroy the popular re-
spect for and confidence in the great court,
for it showed the people that party politics
was more powerful with the judges than
the determination TO know only the cold
law. So also the other day the court
handed down an opinion which had been
dictated and arrived at by the influence of
public opinion. This was in the case of the
Idaho test oath law, the court ruling that a
statute was valid and constitution al
which punished by disfranchiseme Mt
and denial of all civil rights me M
bers of a certain church, infictdng
.h csc penalties without SO much as giving
the parues a hearing. We think that
decision was bad, and do not believe it
would have been made if the court had
been guided by the constitution and the
law instead of by the preiudices of their
own minds and of the people. Other
decisions have tended to reduce the court
from the lofty pedestal it once occupied,
and the masses do not look upon the
tribunal with the awe, the respect and the
confidence they once felt for it.
And yet the mere suggestion of the
abolition Of the court strikes oiae with
terror, just as the denunciation of the
court as an Institution is more or less
horrible TO the individual mind 1t is the
one place TO which we all look for justice
ana right. Congress and the President are
regarded as partisan, doing right by
their political friends and supporters and
denying rights to their judicial opponents
What Democrat ever appeals to Republi-
can Congress for justice with the expecta-
ton of that his prayer will be grantedQ
Both Democrats and Republicans go into
the supreme court leaving their politics
outside, and without fear of encountering
party politics on the bench. 1t is true,
they are sometimes disappointed, but the
rule is otherwise.
1t is to be regretted that the farmers should
allow their preiudices against corporations
lead them to the denunciation of the
supreme court for no other reason than that
the court stands by the law and reason.
Its an indication that the farmers, in their
praiseworthy organization, are liable to
drift into unreasonable politics, and deny
the justice to others that they are trying
TO obtain for therns elves.