The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-10-26
SOME ICE COLD FACTS
FARGO Forum Shows up Some of the False State.
ments About Non-Pa artisan Bunch.

In would that be an improvement? In
no sense whatever. and the advocates
OF Judge Fisk's election know 1t.
| There Is no condition of affairs in the
supreme court of this state and there
will be no condition of affairs that re-
qutres the election of democrat to
leaven the republican lump. and that
fact will be very clearly presented and
argued II any one of the lawyers COM
mttee now so actively working for
Judge Fisk. should chance in the flu
ture to be a republican candidate for
the supreme bench.
Now as to the matter of personal
and moral fitness-that no longer en-
tiers into the question 1t is admitted
by Judge Engerud that there is no
objection to Mr.. knauf upon that
ground. Mr.. Knauf is known ut home
and wherever he is known rs q clean,
temperate, Industrious. Woodworking
lawyer. who has educated himself and
achieved a lucrative practice. A FORM
er judge of the supreme court says he
has not heard of him. which may be
true. But In several former nomina-
tons for judges of the supreme court,
1t was argued that the nominee was
unknown" "a real estate agent" "a
new man." ian untried lawyer."-so
that this Is no serious indictment.
Men work up In the world-not down.
When President Roosevelt succeeded
President Mckinley it was said he was
young. hot-headed. impetuous and
lacking in mental balance and all
kinds of disturbance was predicted.
He made good-so will Judge Knauf.
Consider the matter of judicial fit
ness for a moment. Law Is not an
exact science. Legal decisions are
the dicta of logic that applies certain
principles of equity and fairness to
an agreed state of facts. There Is no
arbitrary means of determining the
soundness of an opinion, except as 1t
follows certain agreed principles of
law and, in the end. does substantial
justice. If all lawyers were agreed
upon the law there would be fewer
lawsuits. The lawyer who wins
case is apt to have Il higher opinion
of the virtue of decision than the
lawyer who loses. When a lawyer
stands up to say that another lawyer
is not judicially fit for the bench, he
expresses his opinion-not a state
ment of fact, because there is no even
standard by which judicial fitness can
be measured before trial. The law
yer who makes such declaration and
whose entire training is to guard
against prejudgment, gratuitously
prejudices his fellow before trial. 1t
were as easy to say that this man
would not make a good auditor, and
this man would not make good
treasurer-merely ON idle assertion,
weighted with no proof and appealing
to no sense of logic or reason. The
facts remain: Judge Knauf is a grad
uate of Ann Arbor; he graduated sue
cessfully in the law; he had a lucra-
tive practice; he is we'll grounded in
the principles of the law; he is intel
ligent; he has the ability to apply
those principles to the facts that may
come before him and the fairness to
do so justly and without favor. No
other lawyer has gone upon the bench
with any better equipment than the
knowledge of legal principles. the
logic to apply them and the fairness
to be unbiased. And that Is all there
is to the matter of judicial fitness
Notwithstanding all the vague attri.
butes that "our friends the enemy"
would attribute to "commendable ju-
dicial material"
Let us be sensible men in this mat
ter-not volatile speechmakers borne
away by an artificial hue and cry
against man who deserves we'll of
his party and his people. You need
not be traitors to your country be-
cause you are sensibly partisan. Clear
the air of prejudice and rant, and go
sensibly to work to discover what is
at the bottom Of all this noise and fuss
and you will find that the prime object
Is through move on the part of dem
ocrats, personal friends and number
of attorneys who seek to be judges of
judges, to elect Judge Fisk, demo-
crat, to the supreme bench. That is
ALL