The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1903-03-03

was contemplated duu lit COuSIIGuGIOu I0quII6u
that they should be appointed by the President
or head of the Department. With more than a
thousand times that number Of postmasters this
has become impossible. Postmasters are now Sc
lected in a manner not authorized by that instru-
ment. In practise they are necessarily selected
by the members of Congress or by political bosses.
Except in rare instances the President and the
Postmaster general can do no more than take the
recommendation of the member from the district
or other leading politicians of their party. AS
the constitutional provision is practically a dead
letter there is no reason why by amendment to
the Constitution the postmasters should not be
chosen by districts laid off around their respective
postofices at the same time and in the same man
ner that members of Congress are elected.
Probably the most serious defect in the Federal
Constitution is the retention u~naltered of the
mode for the selection of the Federal Judges at
third hand through the nstrumentality of the
Executive and the Senate, and for life. In truth
no provision could be more undemocratic than
the manner of selecting these important officials
and their life tenure. They are chosen in a man
ner that entirely negatives any expression of pub
lie opinion, and that permits their selection by
powerful influences that usually have ready access
to the appointing power. This is an anomaly in
a country whose government is based upon the
principle that it exists only by the consent Of the
governed. The power that has been assumed and
maintained by the judiciary to set aside the action
of the legislative and executive departments was
unknown when the Constitution was adopted, and
it has become vitality necessary, if such power
shall remain, as is probable, in the judiciary, that
the judiciary shall, at least be selected by the same
element that chooses the Federal legislature;
otherwise the will of the people is at the mercy of
officials who are under no control and are not Sc
lected by the popular will. It's due mainly to the
high personal character of most of the gentlemen
who have occupied the Federal Bench that this
anachronism has not met with a stronger and
more universal demand for its removal. The fact
that nearly every State in the Union has made its
judiciary elective by the people proves that the
mature judgment and the deliberate will of the
people of the United States upon this subject are
well-nigh overwhelming. In 1887 there might we'll
be ground, when popular government was itself a
novelty, and when only one-sixth of the govern
ment was committed to popular election (the low
er house of Congress), for hesitating to intrust
the election of the Federal judiciary to the peo-
pie. But now, with the experience of more than
a century behind us and especially in view of in
cidents fresh in the minds of all, there are many
reasons why the Federal judges should not be
selected otherwise than by the people themselves,
nor hold by different tenure from those who ad-
minister justice in the State courts. If the peo-
pie can be trusted with the selection of one set
of Judges they certainly can be with the other.
There can be no practical difficulty since the dis
trict judges can be chosen by the voters of their
respective districts, the circuit Judges by the peo-.
pie of their circuits, and the Supreme Court
Judges either for circuits or by vote of the Union
at large.-From advance sheets of Claw and HUI
81 ~ r 7 Wy ~ s
the March. Arena. (Reprinted in The Progressive
Farmer hv nermissinn of the anthOrO