Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1906-05-31
A MUCK RAKE MESSAGE
The President Denounces the
Judiciary.
"a MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICEn

The Trusts Escape Through Il Hole
Dug by the administration Con-
gress Recommended to Change the
Federal Statutes to Cover Official
Mistakes.
President Roosevelt is undoubtedly a
close student of Machiavelli, the found
er of the modern school of diplomacy.
LIS special message to congress re-
speeding the opinion of Judge Hum
phrey upsetting his contention i'm the
case against the beef packers, ominr
on the heels of his c~onfiscation scheme
SHOWS that he is now trying to fan into
name the hostility of certain classes
not only against another class of socie-
~, but also against the courts. If he
can so far increase the hatred of the
people toward the federal courts that
they would support him in any viola
ton of the constitution, laws and trea-
ties of the United States, there would
10 longer be any barrier between the
president and the permanent and
hereditary dictatorship at which he
seems to be aiming.
The court may or may not have been
wrong in that case. The constitution
provides that no person shall be COM
PEELED to give evidence against himself.
and it has often been held in pursuance
of this provision that where evidence
mas been obtained upon the assurance,
express or necessarily implied, that it
will not be used against the witness he
Is entitled to immunity under this wise
provision of the constitution made for
the protection of individual liberty. We
understand the courts opinion in the
case Of the beef packers to be no more
than this old rule of the law. There is
a probability, indeed, that the case
against the packers. was prepared with
full knowledge Of this rule and in an
ticipation Of Judge Humphreys action
in pursuance Of it, and that it was so
prepared-that Mr.. Garfield was in
duced to obtain c~onfdentially for the
government the information on which
the prosecution was based-in order
that "a miscarriage of Justice should
inevitably be the result, While our
M~achiavellian student in the White
House would at the same time appear
to be fighting the trusts and would
gain the opportunity to go in eruption
just before the coal strike.
On Saturday, April Il, he delivered
his speech on con%iscation and the muck
rake; on Wednesday, April IS. he sent
to congress his attack on the courts.
Which, if it were we'll founded, would
be the finest muck rake performance
ever witnessed. After denouncing the
action of the court as "a miscarriage of
justice" the president adds, This in
depreciation of the will of congress as
expressed in legislation is such as to
make that will absolutely abortive,"
and again, Il can hardly believe that
the ruling will be followed by other
Judges" meaning the supreme court Of
the United States. Is this a threat or
merely a gratuitous insult to a co-ordi-
nate branch Of the government? 1t
may be both in one. OF course this
threat and this insult will be despised
by the supreme court. But can con-
gress afford to let the incident pass
without rebuking the offender? Can it
afford to allow the president to inject
into his messages to them and to
spread upon the pages Of the journals
such muck as this-such charges
against one court and i%nsinuations
against another as this muck message
contains? The president has no right
to say such things in his official capac-
ity. They are distinctly libelous In
character.
The president might properly have
called to the attention of congress the
desirability Of new legislation in view
Of the courts decision, but to hold up a
judge to popular execration and to in
sinuate that other Judges who would be
called upon to review the cast on ap-
peal would be put into the same illory
If they dared to sustain the ruling of
the lower court, and to have all this
spread upon the journals of congress
in a message from the president, is fur
nishing the worst possible example for
the people at this time. This message
deserves to go down in history as the
only genuine "muck message" ever
sent to congress by an American presi-
dent.