The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1906-10-26

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 at home
and wherever he Is known as clean,
temperate, Industrious, Woodworking
lawyer, who has educated himself and
achieved lucrative practice. A
former Judge of the supreme court
says he has not heard of him, which
may be true. But in several former
nominations for judges of the supreme
court it 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 1t 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 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
it 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 a
case is apt to have a higher opinion
of the virtue of decision than the
lawyer who loses. When lawyer
stands up to say that another lawyer
is not judicially fit for the bench, he
expresses his opinion-not 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 a declaration
and whose entire training is to guard
against prejudgment, gratuitously pre-
judges 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 a good treasurer
on idle assertion, weighted
with no proof and appealing to no
sense of logic or reason. The facts
remain: Judge Knauf is a graduate
of Ann Arbor; he graduated success
fully in the law; he had a lucrative
practice; he is we'll grounded in the
principles of the law; he is intelligent;
he has the ability to apply those prin-
ciples to the facts that may come be-
fore 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 knowl-
edge of legal principles, the logic to
apply them and the fairness to be I'M
biased. And that is all there is to the
matter of judicial ftness-notwith-
all the vague attributes that
"our friends the enemy" would at
tribute to "commendable judicial
Let us be sensible men in this mat
ter-not volatile speechmakers borne
away by an artificial hue and cry
against a man who deserves we'll of
his party and his people. You need
not be traitors to your country be-
cause you are sensib1y 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 democrats, personal friends and a
number OF attorneys who seek to be
Judges of judges, to elect Judge Fisk,
= democrat. to the supreme bench.
That is all.