The Helena independent., 1891-07-24
A DANIEL COME TO JUDGMENT.

There was time when it was necessary
for the aspirant for legal honors te
spend several years in the office of a pro
fessional man. His duties in this en-
bryo stage were of a distinctly varied
character calculated to impress upon
him the ups and downs of human life.
After he had attained sufficient
amount of skill in ushering clients into
his employees private Office and bowing
them out again, he was allowed to sup
plement the knowledge Of law he had
gained by careful observation through
the keyhole by an interesting appren
ticeship to the mending of the office
quilts and by the ruin of many folios of
legal cap. At last there came the great
day when with fear and trembling he
entered upon the study Of Blackstone
or Coke, Lyttleton or some other
equally learned pundit in the law. By
painfully slow degrees and through all
manner of persevering hard work, he
did at length attain fhe height of his
ambition. and write himself down a
qualified member of the bar.
The alliance has done away with all
that nonsense. Last year it elected G..
w. Mckay to the judgeship of the
twenty-fourth judicial district of Kan
sas. G. w. was not lawyer. He did
not profess to be one. If he were to tell
the truth, he would probably assert for
the sake of his honesty that he never
hoped to be one. But it is wonderful
what a hold tradition has even on
great men like Mckay. For a time he
seems to have actually thought that it
might be necessary for phenomenon
Of his massive intellect to gain some
smattering of legal culture. Ann Ar
boris faculty dreamed dreams and saw
visions when they heard that the Solo
mon of the alliance might condescend for
brief space to imbibe his legal milk in
Michigan. But, like the thoroughly
practical man everywhere, the new judge
has an utter contempt for theory
What could he learn in few weeks at
Ann Arbor except some captious points
on nolle prosequis, habeas corpuses and
scire faclases? The game was not
worth the candle. He was going in for
practice, he was. Ergo, Alliance Judge
Mckay attended the sittings of the
supreme court of his state of Kansas for
a weary fortnight, and stepped forth
from those halls of justice prepared for
any legal contingency in heaven and
earth.
1t took the new dispenser of justice
some little time to get the hang of his
new court room. For six months he
was content to let his modesty cover
with bushel the light of his
ability. But, the period of pro-
baton over, he seems to have
felt that innovations and i'm
provements were due. One habit has
Mortified him. This was supposed to be
free country, and every man was as
good as another. But the supreme
court seemed to occupy very hazy
position on this important question. He.
G. W., was a judge. The members of
the supreme bench were no more What
right had they, as citizens of republic,
to arrogate to themselves the right to
pass judgment upon the decisions Of an
other citizen as good as they?
This irritating question seems to have
tortured the judges soul to fury. The
practice was glaring injustice, an out
and out outrage, and when the oppor-
tunty offered he determined to show
his sense of manhood by resolute re-
sistance with the seventh month. The
opportunity has come. The cause cele-
bre relates to the ownership of the crops
upon farm, mortgage upon which
has been foreclosed. Judge McKay's
legal lore said the mortgagor was in the
right. For any self-respectng body of
men that should have been enough.
They would have hesitated even to ex-
press an opinion in the face Of such a
weighty deliverance. But the supreme
court in Kansas is nothing if not CON
ceited and immodest. 1t reversed the
decision. Mckay prom pity issued an
order dspossessing the agent of the
mortgage. No supreme bench should
interfere in his jurisdiction. The agent
was fool enough to believe in the
authority of the supreme court When
he refused to deliver up the farm the
judge had him arrested and fined for
contempt. That should have been good
enough law for anybody, but the agent
would not see it and was committed
Some college bred lawyer instituted
habeas corpus proceedings in the
supreme court, and that court had the
audaclty to lberate the agent. But it
made a mistake, if it hoped to bluff the
great Mckay. He ordered the agents
rearrest and, when a stupid sheriff re-
fused, the determined Judge considered
him in contempt as we'll. The coroner
has more sense. He has been ordered
to arrest both the individuals in con-
tempt. He has not refused At present
he Is pursuing policy of mastery in
activity. At no distant date we expect
to hear that the supreme bench has also
been found in contempt, and in fine that
contempt Of Mckay has become SO COM
mon that he is dismissed to other and