Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-11-28

problem of poverty, nor with blind
hostility towards reform that prom
ises to be effective, but sincerity link
ed with that hot vindictiveness which
shows itself in his protest bewilders
me. | hold myself to have been seri-
ously at fault somehow in the devel-
| opment of the theme of my lecture. II
[ succeeded in embittering the heart
of a good man, and provoking his an
tagonism, instead of convincing him,
my method must have been at fault.
Evidently | was so unfortunate as to
excite such intense prejudice in his
mind that he failed utterly to grasp
my meaning. | reproach myself. The
reform for which | plead is so vital,
so urgent, that | cannot afford TO
talk to an intelligent nan for an hour
and a half without convincing him. l
shall tear that lecture of mine all to
pieces to discover any element of
weakness in its statement of fact,
or logical structure. | shall elimi-
nate from it mercilessly every word
that inspires prejudice, rather than
conviction. U~nhappily, Dr.. Snod-
grass protest offers no help to me ir
this reconstruction.
Look at the protest a moment.
The good doctor Indignantly repu-
dates the improved assertion" thai
every man is guilty of swearing to al
differentiation of his property to
ease the burden of his taxes. Why
my dear doctor, is ii not clear to you
that such an assertion mYst be lief
improved of necessity? What would
happen if | should get the records o..
a town and stand upon the platform
and read those records, indicating the
exac values placed by each either
upon his real estate alone? MY au,
dience would either leave me In hol
haste, or throw me out or the WIN
dow. No, sir, discretion lis sometimes
the better part of valor. BESIDES, the
assertion is so incontestable thai
proof would be superfluous. Every
man in the audience knows it is true
Doctor Snodgrass must know it. Ii
he owns any real estate in Peril
Amboy he would not dream of sell
ing it for the price at which it is list
ed for taxes. If | do him injustice
his congregation ought to canonize
him at once. He has wings already.
The doctor failed wholly to recog-
nize my statement of my own posi-
ton with reference to the administra-
ton of justice throughout the civiliz-
ed world. | did not say that oul
judges are purchasable. | said pre-
cisely the opposite. | did not de-
| clare that dishonesty rules the
bench" The doctors superheated i'm
agination played him an ugly trick
there. His outburst against "incen-
diarism bordering on treason Is
what the profane might call hot
air" 1t seems incredible that an IN
telligent man should fail so dismaily
to catch a point stated so explicitly
that a child might understand 1t
What | said was his: "We must lift
our administration of justice bov
the level of financial influences. Our
Judges may be ineorruptible, but the
machinery of the courts is such that
only the man OF money can set 1t IN
motion, or keep it running. 1t is q
cruel mockery to say to the common
man, There are the courts for your
defence against injustice while the
common man lacks the means to en-
ploy the lawyer who is capable o.
fighting his battle for him again.
Here again, what proof is needeo
The fact is so self-evident that an al
tempt to prove it would be ludicrous
NV contention was that our court
should be made so sacred mat When
a mar approaches the bar OF humar
ilstice. he should stand. before the
JUDGE stripped to his naked soul ant
shielded only by the righteouspeHS o.
nc canses that fhe same law Rhc