BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1902-04-16
sANJUA n. APRIL 10
Scandalizing The Judiciary


What appears 10 BE- the final swirl of
filth, in the long series of scandal and
villfcation hurled against the lrsular
judiciary by the Tetuan street villlfer:
has MADE its appearance IN the tor n OF
the contest which was begun in the
is ;ue of Yesterday morning. By 1t the
judiciary of Porto Rico has been drag
ged from the high plane which 1t cccu.
o es and has been made the object OF
oopu1ar iibe aud jest The attack On
Iu 1ge Ramos amount to an attack on
tie entir bench.
For long time these charges have
beer repeated day after day, and as
yet no i'm partial or unprecedented person
has been able 10 find one single accu-
sa.ion which is in an.f Y ay S ecihc or
positive. The charges have been i'm
putations of immo orality, and dishonor
in private life. Nothing which wolld
in any way establish or ques ion the
official integrity of the accused has yet
been presented to the plbi1c. Desul
tory charges, made in des1lory way
never Formulated or presented to the
proper authority
In the face of all these acusatl ot1s
Judge Ramos has remained silent
thro lghout. When these charges were
brought against him alone, and did not
tend to bring other judges or the ill.,
sular authorities into disrepute Judge
Ramos had a perfect right to remain
silent, and treat the filth hurled at him
with quiet contempt. lie had the
right to ignore them as any other gen
tleman of sense would refls to ente1
into a controversy with the rabble III
the street.
The situation 70 day is chanaed
a11 .horities into es..ion, and has cast
impu atoms of discredit on the entire
judiciary of Porto Rico. Tat other
men should be looked upon with sus-
p:cion, and ridiculed becau 'e of Judge
Ramos silence is neither iair nor Just,
neither does it bear out Judge Ramo
well known reputa ion for j ristic judg-
ment. 1t is his d 1ty to pceven. other
men from suffering through the silenle
which he has SO long maintained. they
should be kept free.
1t has now become the d 1ty of Judge
Ramos to refute and disprove the char
ges which have been made against him
Dy the irresponsible slandere1 II the
charges made against him merely touch
on matters which ars connec,e ed with
his private life, and which he refuses
to enter into, as he has perfec. right
to do, it is his dlty to the island and
his friends to bring an act on in the
Cour.s and prevent any further repeti-
tion Of the charges " hich have been
made day after day. If the charges are
c ,nnected with his public official acts,
then it is hi; duty TO the community to
Cou t public Investigation, a1d insist
that it be made with all dispatch. This
/ lvestigation should be public and the
resul. of its as well as its.daily progress
1ould be made public all over the
island, to shame III. slanderer
If Judge Ramos cannot-do either OF
the above, it is his duty to resign from
the position which he now holds. The
honor and integrity of oar Judiciary is
much too important to permit one un-
willing man to stand as an oostacle
against judicial dignity and oficia
uprighteousness THIS Judge Ramos
cannot do. His, valor would not per-
NIT lit.
Most of these attacks have been
charges against the morals of Judge
Ramos For ourselves we cannot find
that the. private moral life Of our
judiciary has any connection whatsoever
with the judicial iltegr ty of our jad-
ges We have in the United States and
particularly in the state of New York,
men whose moral lives, if searched
into would be found to be far frJin
what they ought to e, but who have
at the same time been considered
eminent jurists, and most learned law
yers Judge Ramos for himself has
a perfect right to refuse to go into the
details of his private existence but on
behalf of the men with whom he is
associated. it is his duty to still these
accusations once and forever.
The charges made against him in
the performance of his duties as a
member of the San Juan District Court
are an entirely different matter, and
as to these it is his duty to at once
make request that he be given a
public hearing, and that every scrape
of evidence brought forth in that IN
vestigation be made public at once. In
The face of his failure to do either he
must resign, which it is hoped viii not
occur
Of course it might be said that there
= no reason why any official should |
make defense against charges which he
considers the result Of malice and un- I
trt1ths, and which are entirely political
attacks This may Be 50 when there Is