The news & observer., 1905-12-02
SHUT SALOONS AND PEOPLE
WILL ELECT GOOD JUDGES.


Worst of all is an elective judic-
iary. l was educated TO be lawyer
and had installed in me desire to
reverence the bench. And now, gen.
ltlemen, l have no reverence have
not even every day common respect
for the judges of the Supreme Court
of this department.
'When a judge of the Supreme
Court has to go to Charley Murphy,
common bar tender, and plead to be
elevated to a position to pass on our
lives, our liberties, our property, it is
something for the bar to think about.
Yes, it is not only something for
the bar to think about" but everybody
else The remedy is not, however, in
abusing an elective judiciary, but
the remedy is to move out the sa-
looms from the large cities. 1t is next
to impossible to have good govern
ment either in the executive or the
judicial departments in the large cities
with a saloon upon nearly every block
as active agents the year round for
wide open town. The first step in the
large cities for permanent good gov
ernment is to move out the saloons.
Mr.. Jerome in his own words shows
that it is not a truly elective judic-
ary'' that he opposes, but an appointive
judiciary. If he is right, the city judges
i'm New York are virtually appointed"
by Murphy and the New York voters
have not been aroused to do their
duty If they are SO callous, how
could the city judiciary be improved
by an appointment by a mayor owing
his election to Murphy or some other
boss?
The appointive system prevails in
the Federal government with the re-
suit that nearly all the District and
Circuit judges are named from the
attorneys of great trusts and monopo-
lies, who, in most instances, owe such
obligations to the trust magnates that
they usually render decisions that
please the trust or railroad that pro-
cured their appointment. p.
In nearly every State the judiciary
is elective and sometimes the people
elect unworthy men, but it happens
very seldom. But when a Governor
has an opportunity to appoint, he is
much more apt to appoint man who
is biased toward gigantic corporations
than the people are to elect such
man. There was an example of this
not long ago in the State of Georgia
where the Governor was called upon
to appoint the Chief Justice to fill
vacancy. He offered the position to
fln ri iaf n
Railways palpable wrong to fair
minded litigants as Boss Murphy's
naming an unfit man for the inferior
bench in New York city.
An appointive judiciary is to do
away in a sense-with the complete sep
ment, permitting the executive and
legislative branch to pack the court
and force q decision as was done in
an important case al the behest of the
railroads when Grant was President,
Mr.. Jefferson, seeing how the Federal
judiciary had almost put Federalism
and Capitalization into practice, advo-
Gated a commission for six years only,
with a re-appointment by the Presi
dent with the approval of both
houses
Writing to Thomas Ritch!e in 1920.
Mr.. Jefferson said:
The judiciary of the United States
is the subtle corps of sappers and min
ers constantly working under ground
to undermine the foundations of our
sonfederated fabric. They are con-
STRUNG our Constitution from a co-ot- !
dination of a general and special gov
ernment to general and supreme
one alone. This will lay all things at
their feet and they are too well versed
in English law to forget the maxim,
"boni judicis est ampliare juris die
tionem."
Having found from experience that
impeachment IS an impracticable
thing a mere scare-crow, they consider
themselves secure for life: they skulk
from responsibility to public opinion. |
the only remaining hold on them, un
der a practice first introduced into |
England by Lord Mansfield.
IAN opinion is huddled UP in con-
clave, perhaps by majority of one,
delivered as if unanimous and with
the silent acquiescence of lazy or
timid associates, by crafty chief
judge, who soDhiSticates the law to his
mind, by the turn of his own reason
lIlS. "A JuditIdIE ldW was OlCe re-
ported - the Attorney-General to
Congress, requiring each judge to de-
liver his opinion seciatim and openly, |
and then to give it in writing to the
clerk to be entered in the record. A
judiciary independent of a king or
executive alone. is good thing; but
independence of the Will OF the nation
| is a solecism. at least in a republican
government"
Writing to Edward Livingston in
1925, NJ. Jefferson said:
This Judiciary member of the
government was at first considered as
the most harmless and helpless of allI
it's organs. But it has proved that the
the power of declaring what the law is
I'd libitum, by sapping and mining,
Slyly, and without alarm, the founda-
tions of the Constitution. can do what
open force would not dare to atempt.'
The last thing we want is an APP
pointive judiciary. There is now need
of a change to make Federal judges,
particularly all under the Supreme
Court elective for a term of years not
| longer than six. Under an elective sys-
toy,, would baua loco