The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-24
Letters to The Editor
Attempting To Degrade rAe court'

Attempting To Degrade The courts Editors of The Advertiser:
 The Statute of Alabama. In prescrib- ing the duties of Attorneys. In Section 590 of the Code, page 259. says: Duties of Attorneys--It is the duty of aftor- neys-- :. this State, and of the United States.
 Second--To maintain the respect due to Court of Justice and Judicial or ficers.
 Every lawyer when called to the bar, takes an oath to observe this law, aho 1t is the very rarest occurrence waen 1t is ever broken,--never Intentionally by reputable lawyers.
 They realize that the courts of the land are sacred. for without them. anarchy would reign supreme, e,--and Tn. stead of having well ordered and well regulated government. the country would be in chaotic state, and might would be right" therefore, outside or their sworn duty to observe these IaWs' from a source or personal interest. always, do they undertake to uphold the hands of the Courts and see that they are respected.
 citizens as a matter of self interest, are morally bound to do: unjust criti- cisms of court or it's judicial officers when indulged in to the extent ot abuse which is calculated to inflame the public mind, whether by private citizen or exalted officer, is intolerabie, and against the ia~rs of decency--strfk. ing as it does at the very bulwarks of society. In those instances where a private citizen in the public prints or elsewhere does this wrong, there may be some excuse. believing that a rlgns of free speech Is guaranteed unto him by the Constitution of the United States; but there is no excuse--and can be none--for any officer exalted or otherwise, to indulge in the public ssa tAvx n thing which would tend to degrade the Courts or it's judicial officers, who are sworn to obey the Constitution of the State and of the United States.
 In nearly every publication wnien rasi road cases, antagonistic to the position taken by the Federal Courts of this district, the reai condition of the facts is ignored. eithe4 purposely or rom ignorance. The facts that exist are; that the Legislature passed an Act, which was intended to become law, but those against whom 1t was intended to operate saw, or thought they saw, defect therein. and therefore went into the equity branch Of the Federal Court, to test the validity of the same, and raised the question of it's consti- tutionality. As soon as the petition was filed, that Court took jurisdic- made certain orders pending the hti- gation; those orders are now in force. and will remain ESQ. as long as the question of the constitutionality or the Act of the Legislature Is in question. If upon that. hearing the Act passed by the Legislature is declared valid then the crders now In force will be vacated, if declared unconstttutional, they will remain In force.
 As a question of law, briefly stated, the State of Alabama. is estopped from further action in these proceedings until there is a judicial decision by the court having Jurisdiction, of the sub ject matter of the suit; for the reason that it was present bv it's counsel, who acquiesced in the granting vf the tenn porary restraining orders.
 As has been said nearly all of the articles one sees in the papers crifi. cizing the Federal Court. are based upon the presumption that the Act passed by the last Legislature is valid As a matter of fact, we cannot tell whether 1t Is valid or not, until 1t has been tested by the well-known rules of law. scientifically applied. It Is people to pre1udge grave questions and this is a grave matter,--there- fore, does it not seem ill-timed Tor any one, no matter what his posfrion in society, be he layman or professional man, to undertake to criticise our courts and its judicial officers, es' pecially when such criticism is adverse ly indulged in? I have briefly dis cuSS6d InlS prOpOSiIl0A dS dppiICdnLo to all courts. both State and Federal: But let's stop and see who this judicial officer Is, who has dared to follow has conscience, and make the orders now in effect throughout the State of Alabama in reference to restraining the officers of the State from hunting down and driving off trainnen, like cattle, and incarcerating them by wholesale" Judge Thomas c. Jones Is one of our people-has been so since childhood, ov hoe alr rfn right opafnHk might. We judge men, not by their promises, but by their records, and if that be so we must accord to Judge Jones the full merit of our praise; as held what he thought was right against might; in the dark days or reconstruc- tion he upheld what he thought was right and against might; as an alder stood up for his people, and upheld right against might; as a Legislator in the General Assembly of Alabama, his voice was ever heard appealing for the right, and against powerful 1n- fluences, which would have shaken the determination of many a man: as Speaker of the House of Representa- tives, as member of the Constttu- tional Convention, as Governor of this great State, he has always contended for what his conscience dictated to be right; and since his accession to the bench of the United States, his decisions have been marked with rare ability, and his dealings with those who trans gressed the law punctuated with humanity and gentleness
 Now. is this man, the Confederate soldier.-the City alderman,-the State Legislator--the Governor of the State the member Of the Constitutional Con vention.- the Judge who has so ably presided over the interests of litigants in the Federal Court-the man who, if he had never done anything else. builded a monument to himself which shall last forever when he wrote the Code of Ethics, the guiding star for every man, young or old in the legal profession:- is this the man. then, who having received the endorsement of his people all of his life to be assailed by & thoughtless and arrogant set of criti- cisers? They may do so. but the great thinking and feeling mass of the people of this great State will cry them down. and have confidence in the wisdom learning and uprightness of Thomas G. Jones Lex. Burr Not a Murderer--HamiItOn Not a
 Saint.
 Fort Deposit, July 2sth. Editor The Advertiser:
 As you have doubtless given some att tention to the subject, will you please enlighten me as to reasons why the good soldier, great lawyer and politf- elan. Aaron Burr, incurred such uni- versal hatred, persecution and oblo1uy? Hamilton admitted in a paper written the night before the duel severe crit icism of Burr; the duel was common then and for many years thereafter.