The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-11-13
Loads NppGh @ap0Hma Daily Papeps

tries. In not one of them would tn,
hereditary monarch venture 10 veto o.
declare null such tax. In this coun
try alone the people, speaking through
their Congress and with the approVa
OF the executive, cannot put in force
a single measure of any nature what.
ever with assurance that it shall meet
with the approval Of the courts; and
its failure to receive such approval is
fatal for, unlike the veto of the exec
utiVe, the unanimous vote of Congress
(and the Income Tax was very near
receiving such approvaD cannot avail
against it.
Such vast power cannot safely be
deposited in the hands of any body OF
men without supervision or control by
any other authority whatever. If the
President errs, his mandate expires in
four years and his party as we'll as
himself is accountable to the people
at the ballot box for his stewardship.
If members of Congress err, they too
must account to their constituents. But
the judiciary hold for life, and though
popular sentiment should change the
entire personnel of the other two great
departments of government, a whole
generation must pass away before the
people could get control of the judi
v,
and unrestricted veto upon the action
of the other departments--irres
BILE because impeachment has become
impossible, and if it were possible it
could not be invoked as to erroneous
decisions, unless corruption were
shown.
In the State governments the con-
ditions existing in 1877 have long since
been changed. IN all the States the
governors and the members of the
General Assemblies have long since
been made elective by manhood suf-
frage. In all the forty-five States.
save four delaware, Massachusetts,
New Hampshire and Rhoue Island)
the judges mold for term of years,
and in three of these they are remov-
able Gas in England) upon a majority
vote of the Legislature, thus preserv-
ing supervision of their conduct
which is utterly lacking as to the Fed
eral judiciary. In Rhode Island the
Judges were thus dropped summarily
once, when they had held an act of the
Legislature invalid. In thirty three
States the judges are elected by the
people, in five States by the Legisla-
ture and in seven States they are APP
pointed by the Governor with the con
sent OF the Senate. Even in England
the judges hold office subject to re-
moVal upon the vote Of bare ma
jority in Parliament-though there the
judges have never asserted any power
to set aside an act of Parliament
There the will of the people, when ex-
pressed through their Representatives
in Parliament, is final. The King
cannot veto it, and no Judge has ever
dreamed he had power to set it aside
Professor Bryce overlooked these es-
sential differences in avowing his
preference for a life-tenure, appointive
judiciary in this country.
A great power, however, is claimed
and has been often asserted by the
judges in this country. Subject to nc
supervision or revisal from any source
it is absolute power. If the Federal
judges were elective, and for d term
of years, as State judges have become
there would be the corrective force OF
public opinion, which could select
judges at the expiration of such term
more considerate of the policy in pub.
lie matters which is approved by the
statutes enacted; while in all private
litigation elective judges would be al
together as efficient as if appointed for
life.
Given by the Constitution of 1I
the choice of only one-sixth of the
government-the lower House of Con.
gress the people soon forced the
transfer of the choice of Presidential
electors to their arbitrament and then
by common consent the electors were
made mere figure-heads, compelled to
vote for the candidate for President
whose name is placed at the head OF
the ballot on which the electors are
voted for. Legally each eleCtOr is
free to vote for whom nc pleases but
no electLr has ever dared violate the
implied order given him at the ballot
box. Thus, without changing a letter
in the Constitution, the people early
captured the Executive Department
and practically vote direct for Presi-
dent and Vice-President.
Fer years a similar struggle has
gone on to secure the election of
United States Senators by the people
At Least four times the House Of Rep
resentatiVes has passed a bil to amend
the Constitution to provide for the
election Of Senators by the people, 1nd
each time the vote was either unani-
NOUS or practically So. The measure
has. how ever, never Ia.ssed the Sen
ate. which is to a large extent filed
as the Federal judiciary is, by the in
fuence of corporate 0wer and very
often by the selection Of the attorneys
of those corporations. The bill to
elect Senators by the people has not
been defeated directly, but by the
chloroform process of referring the
bill to some committee which shall not
report it for a vote thereon in the
open Senate. In many States it has
been sought to attain the same end
by nominating the Senators by State
primary or State convention. and
pledging the legislative candidates to
vote for such nominees. This is un-
satisfactory, for the large and in
creasing number of newspapers which
are owned or controlled by corporate
wealth antagoniae any method save
the election by the Legislature. whose
limited number makes the choice of a
Senator by them more easy OF control
by dexterous manipulation.
But by far the more serious defect
and danger in the Constitution is the
appointment of judges for life, subject
to confirmation by the Senate. So
far as corporate wealth can exert in
fiuence, either upon the President or
the Senate, no judge can take his seat
upon the Federal bench without the
approval of allied plutocracy. 1t is
not charged that such judges are cor
ruptlv influenced. But they 90 upon
the bench knowing what influence
procured their appointment, or their
confirmation, and usually with a nat
al orb