The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1905-03-10
EdiF oriGI o07non T..
JUDGE carr's Letter of Acceptance.

nomination for circuit judge in letter
to the chairman of the convention, un.
der date of March 2, which was read to
the convention before the nomination
was made.
In it he expressed "willingness" to
accept the nomination sin case Mr.. Cav
anaugh of Paw Paw is not candidate"
This was a useless proviso, and one that
looked little like playing to the CALLER
les" of Mr. Cavanaugh's Van Buren,
county friends, as Judge Carr must have
we'll known that Mr.. Cavanaugh was not
a candidate, the Van Buren, county con-
vention having endorsed Judge Carr and
instructed the delegation from this coun'
ty to support him for the nomination.
Judge Carr gives as reason for ac-
cepting the nomination that "the office
of circuit Judge is non partisan one,
made so by the constitution by placing
the election of such officers at the spring
election and away from party politics"
OF course the constitution says nothing
about the partisanship or non-partisan-
ship of circuit judges, and it is a mere
opinion of the honorable Judge that non
partsanship was the reason for putting
the election of circuit judges in the
spring instead of in the fall. It's barely
possible that the idea of the authors of
the constitution was to place the party
nominations for judicial places as far
away from the nominations for other
offices as possible, so that judgeships
could not be traded in conventions for
other places on party tickets-in short
to make the party nominations free from
outside influences, rather than to make
elections independent of party lines.
The Claim of constitutional non .parti-
sanship" does not apply to circuit judges
any more than to judges of the supreme
court, and it is perfectly safe to believe
that Judge Carr was enough of parti-
san to support the three democratic
nominees for supreme Judge last fall,
and that he is partisan enough to sup
port the democratic nominee for supreme
Judge this spring. Indeed The True
Northerner thinks more Of Judge Carr
for being a consistent party man than 1T
would think of him as a turn-coat or
mugwump. We have no fault to find
with him for being democrat if he hon
estly believes that party to be in the
right, even though we think him mis-
taken. But man who is himself par
tisan has no claim to the suffrage of his
constituents on platform of non-parti
sanship.
Do not misunderstood US. We do not
pretend that Judge Carr is partisan on
the bench Neither is Judge Des Voignes
on the probate bench of Cass county
or Judge Anderson on the probate bench
of Van Buren,. Neither is the register
of deeds, clerk or treasurer of either
county so far as official duties are con
cerned. So is every faithful public Off
Ger non partisan in the transaction Of
his official duties, and seldom indeed, if
ever, does citizen have a reason to
claim that public officers discriminate
faith.
The fact remains that John r.. Carr
was consistent supporter of the party
of Cleveland aud Bryan, of the party
that plunged the nation into depression
and dependency, and that during the
same time Judge Des Voignes was doing
all in his power to advance the interests
of the party that has caused the sun Of
prosperity to shine with fervent glow on
every farm and hillside, on every city
and hamlet in Uncle Sans domain.
There is not single legal or moral at
tribute claimed for Judge Garland we
are not trying to detract an iota from his
merits-that cannot be equally claimed
tor Judge Des Voignes. Both are up
right, honorable, christian gentlemen;
both are clean in life and pure in motive;
both are lawyers of wide experience and
learning Why, then, should any repub-
lican vote against clean, able republi-
can for any democrat? There is no valid
reason. and we believe few il any will do
so.
Again, Judge Carr says: "If | am
defeated at the polls, will gracefully
submit, but with the feeling that my
administration of the office of circuit
Judge was not satisfactory to the voters
OF the circuit" In this view of the sit
uation the Judge is wrong. He should
not forget that he resides in a strongly
republican circuit, and that it is only
under extraordinary circumstances that
any democrat could hope to be elected.
III the circuit gives, as it undoubtedly
will. a majority of thousands to the re-
publican state judicial ticket, it will be
in no sense a rebuke or criticism of
Judge Carr's official acts il he does not
run behind other democrats in the same