Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-07-11
Not Probable That Vacancy Can
be Filled by Electors Be-
fore November, 1910
PRIMARY LAW QUIET ON POINT
No Provision Made for Selecting Nom
inees for Vacancies Between Dates
Of Primary and General Election =
Hull Men Would Be Pleased to See
Prouty Named for Place.
Special to Times-Republican.

! Special to Times-Republican.
Des Moines, July 11.-There is de-
| bate in the minds of lawyers and 9TH
ers as to whether nominations can be
/ made for the general election in No
vember of this year to fill the vacancy
caused by the death of Judge Charles
| is no question but that the governor
makes the appointment till such time
! as the vacancy can be filled by cleo
tion, but whether the vacancy can be
filled in November of this year or can
not be made till November, 1910, is a
question.
Had the vacancy occurred among the
nominees of the primary election of the
state convention there is no question
but that the state central committee
could make nomination, and if the
vacancy in the office had occurred be-
state conventions the nomination could
then have been made at the state con-
|! vention.
The peculiar incident of vacancy
occurring in the office after the parties
have all made their nominations for all
offices and before the general election
is held seems not to have been pro-
. vided for in the primary election law.
None of the state officials have thus
far looked up the law on the matter
+, or made any effort to investigate it out
Of their respect for Judge Bishop. The
republican state central committee
! meets Tuesday next and the demo-
cratic state central committee meets
! the week following. When the state
central committee meets it will proba-
bly make some effort to ascertain
whether or not 1t has any power to
make q nomination and eventually 1t
will probably be put up to Attorney
General H. W. Byers for an opinion
in the matter. If the state central COM
mittees can make the nominations 1T
will probably be the duty of the secre-
tary of state to officially inform them
of the death and they will then meet
and make nomination.
There is not even conjecture at this
time as to who may be the successor
10 Judge Bishop. Some of the Hull en-
thusiasts were early in the field with
the suggestion that the governor
should appoint Judge S. f. Prouty. OF
course this would be an easy way to
get Prouty out of the way of Hull for
congress, but it is little too coarse
grained politics to be given considera-
ton.
A position on the supreme bench
appeals primarily to men Of scholarly
attainments and of similar tastes and
inclinations. Judges on the supreme
bench do their work in the quiet of the
consultation room and the law library.
It is life that gives little opportunity
for attracting the plaudits of the pub
lie which so many lawyers like to hear.
1t is a work that the public learns more
of after the worker has taken his place
in history A service to the public
that is important and is highly honor
able. but for which the compensation
must largely consist in the salary of
the office with the honor to come after
death.
The man who likes the glamour OF
public life with the strife of politics
never has any inclination to go to the
supreme bench, and some who have
gone there have found the work too
much of drudgery and have left. The
glamour of public life comes in state
offices and congressional and other po-
sitions but not to any great extent to
the supreme bench.
With the exception Of the usual sum-
sol1 tn oil 1Iys
of professional life the members of the
supreme court are hard worked body
of men, At the regular sittings of the
court here cases are submitted on ap-
peal from lower courts either by writ
ten opinion or by oral argument or
both. These cases are submitted to
the entire court and the cases are then
allotted in order to the members equal
ly divided and each member then re-
views the case, studies the law and
writes an opinion for each Of the cases
allotted to him. At the next sitting
he reads his opinion in the consultation
room to the other members. II they
agree with him on the points of law
it becomes the opinion of the court. If
any member dissents he writes his dis
senting opinion and the opinions are
then filed with the clerk.
The chief work of the office is thus
done away from the public gaze. Fur
thermore the great bulk of the cases
appealed to the supreme court do not
contain new points of law. They are
very much in the nature of hundreds of
other cases that have been appealed
before and on which the court has ruled
and the work of the court consists
thus in much drudgery in ascertaining
whether the established principles of
law have been correctly interpreted
by the lower courts. In the check
mating scheme of the three branches
of government the judiciary is of equal
importance with any but it is not every
lawyer to whom the duties Of the office
would appeal.