Douglas Island news., 1902-11-12
Justification by Faith.


 plained to the satisfaction of the peo- pie of Douglas, and perhaps never will be.
 Mir. Irwin was given an opportunity 10 stand up and explain. Instead of producing his court docket, and from the entered facts therein proving that his accounts were in good shape, he de- voted his allotted time to trying to blacken the regulations of the young men who had presented the charges, an attempt which was entirely intellectual.
 It would seem that Judge Brown looked at it in about the same way, for he said that the question of the feelings or animus of any one bringing the charges was not matter for his con- sideration. Judge Brown found that there was something rotten and said so in plain and unmistakable language.
 We have not space for his remarks in full, but will give our readers some ex- tracts that are the most to the point:
 "Now we find this condition of af- fairs: 1t is acknowledged by yourself, and is apparent to any one, that you have made errors. It is evident to me that you have not used that degree of care in charging costs that should have been exercised by an officer of the law. It Is equally evident to me, and you ad- init the fact, that you have not ad- judged fines against parties who admit their guilt. In one instance you have assessed a fine of fifteen dollars and paid the costs and fees of yourself and the marshal out of that fine. This is unlawful and something that you had no right under the statute to do. You must observe the requirements of the statute in the performance of your duty. Where the law fixes fine you must assess that fine with certainty and enter in your docket the amount of the fine, and if there are costs either of yourself or the marshal, they should also be entered in your docket in every instance, and added to the fine in the case. If witnesses are sworn and ap- pear in court and are entitled to fees, the fact of their appearance in court and the charge for such fees should be entered in the docket of the commis- sioner.
 "In another instance you have as- sessed in your judgment the costs against a party confesSing himself guilty, and have not assessed fine at all, although the letter of the statute, so plain that no one who would read 1t could err, requires you in such cases to assess a fine, the minimum amount of
 Izvl L.. you do a like thing in assessing costs, but in figuring up the costs you made errors. In another case the fees of wit nesses are retained where no witnesses appeared. Not having appeared they were not entitled to fees, and there IS $500 in your hands that should be by you returned to the party that was fined such costs. In another case, having charged up ten dollars or more as costs, you find later in figuring up your cost bill that you had retained $1.S0 too much, and you afterwards credit that in your fine and forfeitures account to be paid to the government It was not collected as fine, but as costs, and erroneous costs. This is a careless and improper way of conduct ing the office of United States commis- sioner, and must never be repeated"
 The Judge further said that it was strange thing to him that a man of MT. Irwin's ability should make such mis takes, and that they brought the public service into discredit.
 A great deal of babel has been raised by some people about Mir. Irwin's pre- vious record and bis connection with the church and a whole lot of other bosh and nonsense. It appears to us that this also has nothing to do with the case. If Mr. Irwin was guilty of taking one cent of other peoples money and putting it down in his own pocket, he was guilty as charged and that's all there is about it.
 Judge Brown seemed to think he was guilty and he said most emphatically that it must not occur again
 Editor Frame of the Record Miner, stole an article about church hymns and used it as a leading editorial, just because it looked spicy. A local Ju- neau preacher took it as personal matter, and came back with both feet. Verify, verily, honesty is the best policy.
 The Douglas Miner takes exactly the position we supposed it would in the commissioner matter. The people of Douglas ask in all fairness for just what the law says is their right to have. The Miner opposes the proposition, and