The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1906-10-24
A NON PARTIzhN JUDICIARY
An Able Disquisition on the Ninth
District Judgeship.

parti7an candidacy of Mr. Mathews
cial district, and earnestly commend
its careful reading by every voter who
believes that the sacred office of a
Judge should be far removed from po-
lltlcal and every other influence ex-
cept a constituencies of dealing exact
justice to all men and all affairs com
ing within his jurisdiction. The ar
ticle is from the Minneota Mascot.
and is worthy of place in every publ
cation that seeks to promote the well
fare of the people through honest ad-
ministration in all departments of
public affairs.
M. E. Mathews and the Judiciary.
M. E. Mathews is not a democratic
candidate for Judge. True, he is
democrat in his political affiliations,
but he seeks the judgeship not as
democrat, nor as the partizan of any
political faith, but merely as a man
and citizen. He will sit on the bench,
not as a democrat nor as a politician,
but as plain citizen elevated by his
t.,
ties of which he will discharge re-
gardless of the position, politics or
9oc1al standing of those concerned.
he best authorities have long agreed
that the judiciary should be taken out
OF politics, that is, that candidates for
the bench should be selected regard
less OF their political affiliations and
that competition for the office should
not be confined within party bounds.
A Judge should owe his office to no
man, corporation, or party and should
be able to sit in any cause without
feeling the restraint which would fol-
low should one whose political debtor
he was contest an action before the
bar.
The qualifications of a good Judge
are many and varied and we will not
presume to touch upon them all. But
few of the most general might be
mentioned. First Of all he must, of
course, be versed in the law, common,
constitutional and statutory. He
must not only know what the law is
but how to apply it and how the
best courts OF the land construe the
different enactments he from time to
time is called upon to deal with. This
knowledge, though product of study,
must be sharpened, polished, perfect
ed IN the arena of the bar, if it is
to become an object of value. a thing
to be relied upon, a possession of un-
questioned certainty. Here as else
where experience is the only infallible
Guide. the one teacher whose lessons
always strike home and are seldom
tGrOnftnf1 AL,
be had in the trial cases in court
and the Judge who has not thus been
schooled will find when he dons the
ermine and wrangllne barrasters be-
siege the Court, with their multitude
of motions and objections, that he has
a condition to cope with where book
learning alone will hardly fill the bill.
The bench must be versed in theory
but it must also be even more thor
oughly grounded in practice Another
most essential qualification for one
who seeks this honor is that he be a
judge of human nature In no walk
of life is this of greater importance.
A Judge void of this essential can
never discharge the duties devolving
upon him with that fairness and JUS
tice which should characterize the
deliberations of court This knowl-
edge of human nature comes from
contact with men and no place is
better calculated to acquire and train
that knowledge than the court room.
The lawyer comes in contact with all
kinds and conditions of men and if he
be keen observer, a sober, serious
student of men and things, he SLOWLY
but surely learns to read the human
book as readily as he does the printed
page. But to do this he must first
spend years of toll and training in
active practice at the bar. Broadmind-
edness is another of the prime essen
tlals of we'll balanced member of
the judiciary No narrow, bigoted
man will ever rise to prominence or
even discharge the ordinary duties of
the bench with credit A Judge must
be free from prejudices and able to
look impartially at every proposition
that comes up before him. This is
another trait which the true follower
of Blackstone acquires in the court
room. No vocation is better suited to
the development of this trait of char
acter than the practice of the law,
when followed from pure motives and
Will TIC Sllu III view VI lul lISIlIlS the
cause of justice and good government.
Of course, judge must be honest,
fair, impartial and the more he pos
sesses OF the qualities that go to make
model man and citizen the better.
We have thus briefly touched upon
few of the qualities one would ex-
pect in judge and measured by this
standard we firmly believe that M. E.
Mathews would make an ideal men,
Der of the judiciary. It is conceded
fact that no lawyer in this part of the
state excells him at the bar and in the
knowledge of law and practice he is
equally without a peer He has been
before the courts of this state in the
capacity Of advocate for almost a gen.
| Grafton, or to be exact, one-third of
century. During all that time he
has been engaged in the active prac-
tice of his profession and no lawyer
in this district has larger number of
important legal victories to his cred
it than he He has been in the brunt
of the hardest fought legal battles
of this district during all these wears