The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-27
LAW SCHOOL EXERCISES
FORTY YOUNG MEN AND TWO WOM-
EN- GRADUATED LAST NIGHT.
John II. Wilson'S Address on '.The
Federal Judiciary and Future of
American Institutions"


Grand Opera House. In accordance with
the established custom it was an event of
oratory music and roses. Forty young
men and two young women armed with
diplomas were graduated from the Law De-
partment of the University of indianapolis
and sent into the world to practice a
chosen profession
The theater was crowded with the invited
friends of the senior class The lower
boxes on each side of the stage were filed.
Many unable to procure seats stood up.
The stage was boxed in with tropical
scenery and presented a handsome appear
ahce The front of the stage was banked
with potted plants and a great jardiniere
OF palms stood on either side. The gradu-
ates forty-two in number, occupied seats
on the stage with members of the faculty.
The young men of the class were dark
evening suits and looked the dignitied bar
risters they hope to become. The young
women, Miss Elizabeth Myers and Miss
Alice Miller Greed, were becomingly
gowned in black. Both are strikingly pref
ty girls. Each carried magnificent bou-
quet of roses.
Inc exercises opened with a song by a
quartet composed of Mrs. A. E. Cook,
Mrs. Alice Fleming Evans, Mr.. S. Morris
Neck and Mr.. Frank NJ Elstun After this
Rev DR.. Nathaniel Hyde invoked the di-
vine blessing. Mr.. Elstun then sang a
solo, The Steersman," which was followed
by the address of the evening by John r.
Wilson, of the Law School faculty Mr..
Wilson discussed The Federal judiciary
and the Future of American Institutions "
Mr. Wilson reviewed at some length the
growth OF common law and it's observance
IN this country. In concluding his disser-
tation on the federal judiciary in the United
States he took occasion to say the follow
ing of judges selected from politics, and
incidentally word in regard to criticism
by the press:
Il am speaking now of a peculiar tenn
permanent. / am not speaking of that no
'taDle tyQe, with many judges on its list,
who, with opinions on party poiics yet can
stand neutral; but L am speaking of GER
tam temperament and type, incorrigibly
partisan by nature, earnest because OF in
stlnct and inherent organization. Just as
wen might you expect this person TO take
on new suit of skin, or a new head of
man, simply by transferring him from one
position to another Aesop's fable illus
trates the truth of this-the fable of the
cat that was made a queen. She had been
an earnest partisan against the party of
rats and mice, and had devoted her days
and nights in hot pursuit of them Being
transmitted into q queen, and decked with
royal robes she was seated by the, side of
nef royal spouse upon a state occasion,
when mouse ran across the floor; unmind-
fuI Of her dignity and her position and
true to her instincts, down she came from
her throne, and on hands and knees scam
peEed away after the mouse. You cannot
make q queen of a cati Furthermore, let
me add this type of the judge may expect
criticism; such ought to be criticised. They
may clamor at the press and denounce it
as unlicensed to find fault but the seat of
trouble is not in the press in these specific
instances but elsewhere. The complaint of
such judge of fault finding and of criti-
cism reminds me of the fable of the cuckoo,
that was commissioned to be a nightingale.
by the eagle, the king of birds. Having
such commission signed and sealed, it en-
tered with great dignity and unctious self
congratulation upon the performance of its
duties, the chief of which was to sing and
make glad the forest; but the other birds,
in misery and CONSERVATION. huttered away,
stopped their ears and, in the spirit of
journalistic criticism. denounced the sing
ing in unqualified terms. The nightingale,
and appealed to the eagle, as the king of
the birds, to punish for contempt the treat
ment the singing had received at the hands
of the feathered family. The eagle listened
attentiVely to the complaint and the motion
to show cause why the other birds should
not be punished. for contempt, and coolly
said: 1t is true have commissioned you,
born a cuckoo. to be nightingale, but you
must go elsewhere to remedy this trouble,
for whilst / can commission you to be a
nightingale, true nightingale can only be
made by God Almighty
Fortunately for our Republic, few, very
few of these have ever found their way
upon the federal bench; yet the men who
have been identified with political parties,
and were party men in a sense, have been
commissioned to hold these high offices
almost every single one in the past has
been a Federalist, q Democrat a Wing or
q Republican, but in nearly very instance
they have been men of that large and nom
orable type, who, from the moment they
drew about their forms the robes of judicial
office, viewed and disposed of all questions
submitted to them as judges in the calm
atmosphere of the bench.
CRITICISM OF THE JUDICIARY.
'I do not wish to be understood say
ing that criticism is to be limited to the
class of delinquents just mentioned; infalli-
biity is not the characteristic of any class
of men in any official position; judges have
erred and. in some instances, erred grossly,
Intellectually and morally. They are the
representatives of the people, performing
an exalted service under a high commits
sion. and while there is ordinarily relief for
intellectual errors, by appeal, in case of
inferior courts, the remedy for many de-
linuuencies, and even for moral alterations
is not complete under the provisions of the
law relative to impeachment. Ihe pfoVl-
sion of the Constitution OF the United
States authorizing the removal from office
on Impeachment for and conviction or tred-
son. bribery and other high crimes or mis-
=,
called the scarecrOW of the Constitution;
it may better be characterized as the sword
of Goliath which is kept in the temple and
brought out only on great occasions.
(HowelIs State Trials, Vol. XIV, Page 394 }
The fear of impeachment may have caused
the resignation of some corrupt Judges, ana
NAV have induced men wickedly inclined
TO be more cunning than they would have
been. AS a matter of fact, in the history
of the federal judiciary successful Inn
peachments have been had against only two
judges since the foundation OF the govern
ment. One of these, undoubtedly, was an
insane man. and the other was a district
judge in Tennessee, who. after the breaking
out of the war of the rebellion, undertook
to remain on the federal bench under the
Confederacy. 1t is a cumbrous and unsatis-
factory method of procedure at best, and
even the law is not unsettled, for there is
no LAWYER who knows precisely the mean
ino Of Eother high crimes and misdemean-
ors' mentioned in the organic law.
Further, court IS the place where JUS
tice is publicly administered; theE are not
places where justice is secretly dispensed.
This requirement of publicity in Judicial
proceedings signifies that the public has a
right to see that those involved may be
fairly dealt with; and we have eminent au-
thority. attested by experience, that the
presence of the public in the administration
of Justice tends to keep keenly alive 70
a sense of their Responsibilities ana TO the
importance of their functions those in
vested with the duty of passing upon the
life liberty and property OF the CITIZEN
Such a definition of court involves the
right nav more, it imposes the duty upon
the citizenship of a republic of criticising
iudges who do not discharge their duties
as become Judges 1t has been seldom that
the great mass OF the people nave united
in criticising any court or Judge; but IN
nearly every instance where there has been
unanimity of opinion, the people were right.
1t is the solemn duty of every citizen, by
watching the spirit of justice in the com
munity: he has a right to hate and TO speak