Little Falls weekly transcript., 1894-10-19
JUDGE WILLIS AND HIS CLAIMS.

Inc Ir1elldS OF Judge w 1li1s ulSe
his promotion to the supreme
court, not, forsooth, for his own
qualification, but for the good of
the court itself, the argument be-
ing that he ''knows Latin" Two
years ago the same combination,
that is now pushing the claims OF
Judge Willis, was engaged in sim.
liar services for Judge Buck. 1t
was not given out at that time
what Judge Buck knew, but he
has himself shown afirmatively
since then that he does not know
English and he has left a painful
negative impression as to certain
other things that a Judge might
know. It was never whispered,
before his election, what Judge
Canty's especial branch of knowl-
edge was, and nobody has found it
out since then; so that it has be-
come something of question of
late to many voters as to what a
Judge ought to know, and whether
it is necessary for a judge to know
anything at all. The claim for
Judge Willis seems to supply the
ans wer, and in so far it is CRATE.
fully received. And yet Lord
Chief Justice Kenyon of the
Kings Bench, who was an able
and conscientious Judge, was SO
poor a classical scholar, that King
George w on one occasion en-
treated him to abandon his bad
Latin and confne himself to his
good law. There seems to be a
suggestion in this. We might,
not unwillingly, dispense with
Latin, it Latin and law are irrec-
oncileable, as indeed they seemed
to be in the case of certain gentle
men of the Latin race who, 1t was
decided of late by Judge. Willis,
must be counted to swell the votes
for Democratic candidate in an
election at which the gentle da-
goes had not voted at all. They
would have voted for the candi-
date, however, so they told the
Judge, had not something pre-
vented them; and on this testimony
the decision was made. 1t does
not require the learning and
acumen of a lawyer to enable one
to see the gross, the outrageous
fallacy of such judicial reasoning.
It was such a decision as Maynard
might have made in a similar en-
ergency; Maynard. the Democrat,
who was defeated by Democratic
votes, while his Republican oppo.
nent was by the same votes elected
to the bench of the court of ap-
peals of New York. There the
cause was the open defiance by
Maynard of law and self-respect in
an emergency where the chance
was offered him to promote by i'm
proper means the success of his
party. He chose to make his rec
ord by excessive party loyalty re-
gardless of nice conceptions of Of
fetal conduct. Defeat came to
him, not by way Of retribution,
but as the result of the efforts Of
the people seeking to preserve
their own safety. For political
partisanship is a side issue in our
everyday life. The ultimate
refuge of us all, in peril of our
rights, is in the courts of justice;
and, for the preservation Of our
safety, it is our policy to keep the
courts pure. To the lasting credit
Of the Democratic party Of Ram.
sey county be it remembered that
at it's last convention it repudiated
the party candidates for the dis
trict judgeship because Of their
unftness Or worse; and preferred,
rather, to nominate two Republi-
cans, whose popularity had been
earned not by party services, but
by fidelity in the cause of the
people at large. We commend
this performance to the Democrats
of the whole state as worthy their
reverence and emulation. The
situation is one not to be lightly
considered. The efficiency Of our
highest court has been impaired