St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-07-04
THE PROGRESS OF REFORM.

That is very pretty dispute which
has sprung up between Hon. CONRAD
w. MILLER, city treasurer, and Hon.
HENRY w. Cory, Judge of the munich
pal court. 1t appears that under the
BELL charter the judges of the munc-
ipal court are required to make daily
reports Of their official dOings and to de-
liver them ''by. their own hand" to the
treasurer, OR such person as he shall
name to receive them. 1t further :p-
pears that. in reckless violation o. Il
law, Judge CORY, instead of spending
halliday in riding up the the CO ur.
house elevator himself to the treasurer's
office, has been in the habit OF sending
these important documents by mes
senger.
This was all very we'll in the days of
corruption and miSrule, now happily
past, but ii would not go down under a
reform administration. 1t is true
that the reports reached their destina-
ton all right enough, but that was not
the point. The statutes prescribe that
the judges shall deliver them "by their
own hand" and Mr.. MILLER. after
sound reflection, concluded that he
would be false to his duty if he received
them when brought in any other way.
LII this quandary he wrote to the city
attorney for advice. He stated the
facts, and inquired if a different method
of delivery would satisfy the law. He
wanted to know whether it would he
sufficient should Judge Cory sweep the
re int tt,n
which he used so successfully in the
curling matches last winter, or should
kick them in after the manner of foot
ball. in the punting of which he is re-
ported to be very skiilful. He added, by
way of suggestion, that his own view
was against the legality of such proce-
dure, because the law said hand" and a
"nand' is hand, not foot OR any 9TH
er member of the mortal body.
Mr.. LAwLER carefully looked up the
authorities on this question himself,
and conferred with Mr.. MIcHAE who,
having been in the JOHNSON
building inspectorship case, has recent
ly gone over the whole range of human
knowledge. They decided that 'hand"
was not a foot. and that ones town
hand" was not somebody's else hand.
But they did not quite see what Mr..
MILLER had to do with Judge CoRY's
personal conduct, and SO they addressed
polite note to the treasurer. telling
him that, even though the judge might
confuse the various parts of his anat-
Only, his own duty was very clear in
the premises, and that he had better ac-
cept the reports, even it they were
blown into his sacred presence through
pneumatic tube.
1t is needless to say that Mr.. MILLER
is not happy over this opinion. He did
not care for advice as to what he should
do himself. That is not what reform"
is for. REFORM" applies always to the
other fellow. 1t is therefore rumored
that he is contemplating an application
to the supreme court for scire facias,
in order that the public may. know why
the law is not complied with. The
GLOBE hopes that this will not be nee
essary, but that Judge Cory will yield.
No one has heretofore found him def
cient in the qualities which make human
intercourse pleasure; and for the sake
of good fellowship and in the interest
of amiability, he might just as we'll as
not make daily trip, report in "hand,"
to the head of the court houses first
fight of stairs.
Ii he does. another triumph will be
recorded for the new regime, and the
wisdom of our late municipal upheaval
further indicated. Mayor WRIGHT has
been only a month in power, and yet
some of the saloons are closed at 70
o'clock, which is but an hOul after the
time fixed by law for that purpose, and
municipal judge will have been ar
rested III his pernicious practice of
using boy to run OH his errands. If
the reform administration does no thing
further, it will not have existed in vain.
PROMPTLY Oh the announcement of the
name of MIR CLARKsoN's successor as chair