The sun., 1895-05-26
THE MAN FROM BnooKITX.
Observations and Comments IN Relation 60
Topics OF the Duy.
I.-BoSon WHERE HONOR Is DUE.

oEnlttOn OF Wnat i consiuer ONO Oh tnc rureSt
pieces of truo courage within my experience of
men and things. mean tho sce OF ar. Justice
Shiras Of the United States Supreme Court in
changing his conclusion concerning the Income
Tax law on the rchearing. 1t is stated. with
out contradiction so far as have seon, that
this Is the first time Judge OF that court has
altered his opinion after actually expressing 1t
from the oench' Iho average iayman docs
not realize what pressure Judge Shiras has
resisted. Precedent, under our system OF ju-
risprudence' mas such prestise' ana Is 30
aeepy roo'eu III the .NnSio-'hAoi, 'n'nu' wnich
IS conservatism user IN ihstisutiohai matters,
that the poet harhiy cSaBserateu VINO ca'led
o"t i''"
Acodcicss myriad OF prccedents,
"i'ucrhess OF sihS'e INSTANCES
What Is more, this pressure of tradition and
prescription increases In multiplied proportion
with the grade and dignity of the court, till
In the highest courts 1t Is almost iron. In Eng
land, indeed, where these principles were car
ricd to an extreme. the upper law courts aud
tho courts OF chancory got themselves into
such spider web tanglc of precedcnts In mat
ters both of law and practice, that they could
not move with tho times, and the whole Judi
cial organization OF England had to be recnst
and liberalized and all sorts of Gordian knots
cut by act of Parliament. to give them tho
nerdful elasticity.
And, indeed, adherence to precedent has in
a court of last resort a genuine and immeasuc-
able value peculiar to those courts. Lawyers
arc being consulted moro and moro at tho out
set OF large business operations. and thcy must
have legal ccrtainties TO rely on; and whenever
there is any doubt of stability or any unsettled
question ahead then:
Enterprises of great pith and moment
with this regard their currents turn nwry.
And lose tho name OF action.
And while judicial decisons are in theory
one thing and judicial methods another, tho
two nrc so intimately allied TINT if not equal
they are fully alike in their power to unsettle
the bar.
Tbes. oro ere,t f,roes IN run counter tn. md
49,. -. a.. .u,,. oons,5ar.ti,, Gov ,,oir,,
ye. wheh .he @ ..ue 9, s,,,,;aos o s%,s
as cn,nnletelv as Mr. Choatc's lucid argument
did the kindred question Of stare dccisis. Judge
Shiras's departure was not from the rule OF
stnr, s,,er anti1,l1s pias The consideration
for departure seems to me to lie just here.
When tho people call u man to be Judge over
them they do expect him to adhere in general
and method are in the ultimate analysis mat
ters not of principle but of policy. What is
matter of the very highest principle is that the
people shall have the Judge 3 honest OPINION, 10
tho ror,. hast ~ his iud,ine novcr on every
Wv w 80, - - 49,. ,,as.,a,.
question ana every very ',me % on ha any yoa QUESTION m
I,,d,,o trov. th,t he is n fo,l;b,, human bcng
IuuSo h'o" '..;. ',.,' s.a,',,,,,aa,,a .,a, J., ,.
Hc is chosen with foreknowledge that he may
,n.,,o, ~, 10 mn, b,s ,utv nlnin--to givc them
of his best: to amend his own errors as ho
would other errors, ut once, regardless of mat
teis Va PA''euh'S' "' "''S''' ANe"'"ASoS Va
where 1t may leave himself! But the current
is strong; it is made so easy, 50 safe, so regu-
lar so pleasant 10 SIT ncqu'e'eeh.' 'nat scarcsy
any one anywhere and no one at all in the Su-
T. was his nlain dnty having genuinely changed
~ W.. ms pan "s w., ,h nanaa. w. =,
Judge Shiras has risen greatly,to a great cmer-
gency, none the less great tor beihg met IN S.
eGS IN e fGrn am proud m of Sm anu as
ucoxcrp,,xc WAVE ,rxcrus
h'-o'Noh"S'S' WAVE i'hs''hs'
cning factor ns we progress; or. rather. we find
more and more cases where an undulatory theory
thing hrsities the | sea that ever unGtiiated was
my own little equator after an overdose of paw
Of Er;or apples antsT @ When H Gm
counting for phenomena which We're doing very |
well ~ they stood. l suppose II was mach the |
same attitude of mind In which tho medical |
world received lIarvey's discovery Of the circu-
: even The American flag. which used Just to
wave, undulntcs in the breeze; l saw it only the
OF her ,iay in n beautiful letter to a news slGpcr
from is, special correspondent Color rays
have their separate waves; has your pulse: |
50 has the weather; so has electricity; so has an
earthquake; So has the luck at Monte Carlo. |
Having this 1t were grown up with the idea
that everything has its own peculiar wiygc and
wabh!c i have been applying II since the panic |
Of SO3to that tide in the affairs of men which |
taken at the food leads on to fortune" Tho |
general rules hold quite well in this ns in other |
affairs Once in so often there is a flush of pros;
prrity. and once in so often n reaction and hard |
times; and once In u longer period boom or n |
craze and panic. The periodicity is 50 irrcgu,
the tide. bu turn it does. within ccrta in pretty
definite limits every time. What I've been |
noticing of late is the difference in the wave |
lengths. For example, when great depression
col!ps on real estate always acts differently from
property. Both begin to fall together, |
but landed values fall far more slowly, and for |
quite "A time after goods are a drug real estate |
can somehow still pc sold at more or less OF a |
in 1854. But, on tho other hand, when general |
values begin to pick up. real estate is as likely
as not to keep on sag,,ing down for u long time, |
till it gets to II bottom OF Its own, and rises after