The Pensacola journal., 1906-04-11
PENSACOLA FLORIDA WEDNESDAY MORNING APRIL IL 1906
Integrity of the Judiciary
Has Been ASsailed.

In its issue Of April 6, the Lake City
CitizenReporter contained the follow
ing remarkable u1erance:
The. terms Of Justice Charles B.
P2rlhill and James B. Whitfield, two
justices Of the State Supreme Court,
expire next January. II is generally
understood that they viii be candi-
dates for denomination at the coming
democratic primaries. The people Of
columbia county wiz take ghOIlish
pleasure in voting against them. Their
unfair methods in fighting Lake City,
when endeavoring to secure the per
manent location Of the University Of
Florida, viii be remembered by all
true, loyal and patriotic citizens Of
Columbia county. These men should
not receive a vote within the confines
of our county's border line. and. unless
we are greatly mistaken in the peO-
pie Of Columbia county, they will not.
We referred 70 this utterznce as re-
marlRble; it Is more than that. It is
an uncalled for, reprehensible assault
on the. integrity Of the whole supreme
court which should rot be allowed to
stand unanswered or go unrepudiated.
Let us go back a few months and
see if We cannot discover the animus
Of the Lake City papers position.
One year ago when the last state
legislature was in session there was
introduced and passed a measure
known as the Buckman bill, which
abolished all of the state schools but
two ana which created a board of
control. One Of the duties and powers
Of which was to select the respective
locations for these schools.
The members Of the legislature
from Columbia county voted for the
bill. the people Of Columbia county
approved it, and no opposition either
IN Lake City or in the county itself
was manifested toward the bill The
people of Lake City knew the state
Unfversity-One Of the two schools
which was continued under the Buck
man bill-was located in their town
and It never occurred TO them but that
ahe board Of control would leave il
there. The bill was perfectly salts
factory Acknowledgements
al right in every way.
But the board Of control in accord
snce with the power which Columbia
county had helped invest in it, decided
20 move the state university from
Lake City and locate it at Gainesville.
Then, and not until then, did the peo-
pie Of Lake City and Columbia county
have any fault to find with the Buck.
man bin.
They not only found fault, but then
played the baby act and instead of
swallowing the same medicine which
they had helped to force zown the
thrOsts OF the people Of some Of the
other counties they raised the hue
and cry that the BucEman bill was
unconstitutional" and they brought
action which carried it TO the supreme
court on that ground.
The supreme court, after hearing all
Of the argument ana investigating the
law, decided that the Buckman bill
was constitutional, and therein lies
the why and the wherefore Of the as.
ssult which the Lake City paper now
makes on Justices ParkhfH and Whit.
field and which constitutes an equal
" direct attack on the integrity of The
whole supreme court
We think il hardly necessary to gc
into the case further. The circum
stances themselves are a SUFFICIENT
rspudiation Of the Lake City papers
assault on the character and integrity
Of the members Of FlOrida's supreme
court.