The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-04-10
SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 1904.
AN ADMIRABLE PRECEDENT.

FAiN AGM iF0FADEE TnESEOEN
A precedent was set during the past
week by one of the judges Of the dis
trict court which we wish might be i'm
itated upon a generous scale and ex-
tended to cover other persons than
minors. The judge in question directed
the officers to clear the court room of
minors before the beginning Of a trial
for highway robbery. He stated from
the bench that the crowds Of half
grown boys who were loafing about the
court room should be in school; but, if
not, the court room was at any rate not
~ a proper place for them, and they were
turned out incontinently.
Our judges as a whole neglect to ex-
ercise this very important authority,
which might be used in discretionary
way to the great advancement of pub
lie morals. The judge is the arbiter
over the proceedings and attendance of
the court. He assumes in too many
cases that proper publicity, which is
required for all legal proceedings, in
wolves permitting the presence Of any,
body whom morbid curiosity, or some
thing even worse, brings into the audi
ence. In this way the ascertainment
and the doing of justice is frequently
made a powerful force toward the en-
enlargement and promotion Of crime.
The blood and thunder novel of the
yellow-covered variety, the publications
that pander to the criminal element,
are justly denounced as breeders Of
lawlessness. Is it any worse to read
the story of an outlaws life than to
hear it told by witnesses in a court
room? Does not the latter make a far
greater impression upon the mind Of
the youth who has before his eyes not
merely the record, but the presence of
the desperate whom his diseased imag-
ination turns into a hero? Take an
other class Of cases still more offensive.
1t is a familiar fact that whenever
these are called the court room benches
will be crowded with women whom a
sense of decency and the shame proper
to their sex should keep away. No re-
buke from the bench is sufficient to
shame their brazenness, and they re-
main to listen greedily to every sala-
cious word entering into the necessary
testimony. Yet they can be there only
by the permission of the very court
that is disguised with their presence.
Publicity in court proceedings is fully
attained when the representatives of
the accused party and the representa-
tives Of the press are allowed to be
present There is then no possibility
Of star chamber proceedings, of i'm
proper secrecy, of favoritism to one
side or the other. All the facts will be
given next morning to the world. be-
cause all the world now reads the
newspapers. The party on trial can
sacrifice none of his rights, for his
counsel are there to protect them
The privilege of attendance is q mere
judicial gratuity, and custom that
should now have its limitations.
We believe that in every case in
volving outrageous crime or fragrant
immortality our court rooms should be
closed against all except those directly
interested and the representatives of
the press. We believe that yellow Jour-
nalism itself, desperately bad as IT Is. IS
not responsible for as much in the
growth of evil as are the open and in
viting doors of our court rooms. A
great and permanent reform rests
within the prerogative of the Judges
ana any move in the direction of ac-