Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1901-12-19

not do 1t. The parties, evident
ly, both OF them, wrote in parallels. They
did not intend to put upon paper the real
inwardness of the arrangement they were
making, lest. as they say. some of their
correspondcncc should come to other eyes
than theirs, and thus the real inwardncss
of the matter be shown . Here
was the plaintiff, a democrat, publishing
a democratic newspaper, who was giving
to the people, from time to time, COM
ments and editorials touching the defend
ants candidacy for Congress, and sup
porting him, and casting his Influence In
his favor in that direction. Here is %
reader who was looking for. and had a
right to expect, the honest judgment OF
the editor, and he takes his paper and
reads 1t and says, Here is n democl at
that know and have confidence In who
Is advocating the candidacy of the defend
ant. Now If he. knowing what he does
about these matters. thinks 1t Is q proper
thing to do, that influences my judgment.
But suppose he had known that IT was not
the honest judgment of the editor, but a
mcrcenary judgment, what influence would
that have had? He was looking for an
honest Judgment, and he gets n mercena'y
Judgment. He is like the man that plant
ed a vine. and looked that it should bring
forth grapes. and behold it brought forth
wild grapes, or he looked for bread ard
was given a stone. That is not exercising
inc honest Judgment l1dl lltSt NdStS Siy
every person Is bound to exercise. That
is not acting upon the ground that the
action Is for the best good of the public.
So from every view you look at this mat
ter. taking now the contract to be as the
plaintiff sets it up, and as his testimony
tends to show it, we don't see how the
law can sanction It,"
This is sound, and in the interest of pub
lie good morals. The judge emphasizes
the circumstance that Livingston was the
editor of a democratic paper, because that
was the fact; but his opinion should
have been. and we doubt not would
have been the same IL the plaintiff
had been the editor of n republican pap r,
hired to support a man whom it would
not have supported without pay.
We have known editors who have main
tanned in private that It was no worse
for them to take money or its equivalent
for their support of a candidate than for
a lawyer 10 take pay fur his support of
his client. quite likely this is the view
held by the editor of the Pennington Re-
former. Tho plea will not hold water.
Judge, jury, public, all concerned, <npw
that the attorney is under pay for his
services, ana is doing what he can to
earn his money. The hired editor caro-
fully conccalS the fact that he is paid. or
to be paid, for his support. # he would
put at the head of each editorial the an
ncuncemcrt: "Thi raper supports ---
for Congress because its editor has BE-, n
hired to support him. there would lie
some aualogY between his case and that
of an attornc%. Otherwise there is an cs-
sertial differ roe between the two cases.
one Is an honest and the other a corrupt
transaction. As Judge Rowell in substance
says. the readers of a journal are entitled
to is honest judgment instead of a mer-
cenary judgment. re suffer them to be
swayed by the latter sdpposinG 1t to he
/. the former, is contrary to the public good
and Ne rejoice that thus far our Vermont
courts put the proper seal on such tran.
sactions, when they come before them.
Since the above was in type we have
received Mr.. Pages statement, elsewhere
copied. 1t describes the previous rela-
tons of the parties to the suit, which in
dictate that Livingston was not a coy in
noccnt, but was all too willing to be pur-
chased, and affords some explanation Of
the incredible folly on the part of Mr..
Page in entering into relations with lNt-
ingston which he wished concealed from
all eyes. 1t does not explain how, il it
was an innocent transaction, Mr.. Page
could rave allowed his counsel to NOV,
for a verdict on the ground that tho
transaction was so corrupt that no action
could be based upon it. 'Suicide.' it has
been said in certain cases, lis confes-
sion" The motion made in Mr., Pages
behalf was confession-what else can be
made of it?