The Oskaloosa herald., 1908-12-10
oonscIousness and selfIsh class inter

| The wage-workers, the workingmen
the laboring men of the country b,
the way in which they repudiated thu
effort to get them to cast their vote
in response to an appeal to class ma
tired, have emphasized their sound pa
triotism and Americanism. The Who'll,
country has cause to feel pride in this
attitude of sturdy independence, IL
this uncompromising insistence upor
acting simply as goo4 citizens, az
good Americans, without regard tc
fancied--and improper--class inter
ests. Such an attitude is an object
lesson in good citizenship to the en-
tire nation.
But the extreme reactionaries, the
persons who blind themselves to the
wrongs now and then committed by
the courts on laboring men, should
also think seriously as to what such
movement as this portends. Inc
judges who have shown themselves
able and willing effectively to check
the dishonest activity of the very
rich man who works iniquity by the
mismanagement of corporations, who
have shown themselves alert to do
justice to the wageworker, and sym
pathetic with the needs of the mass
of our people, SO that the dweller in
the tenement houses, the man who
practices dangerous trade, the man
who, is crushed by excessive hours
Of labor, feel that their needs are un-
derstood by the courts-these judges
are the real bulwark of the courts;
these judges, the judges of the stamp
of the President-elect, who have been
fearless in opposing labor when it
has gone wrong, but fearless also in
holding to strict account corporations
that work iniquity, and far-sighted in
seeing that the workingman gets his
rights, are the men Of all others to
whom we owe it that the appeal for
such violent and mistaken legislation
has, fallen on deaf ears, that the agita-
ton for its passage proved to- be with
out substantial basis. The courts are
jeoparded primarily by the action OF
these Federal state Judges who show
inability or unwillingness to put a
stop to the wrongdoing of very rich
men under modern industrial condi-
tons, and inability or unwillingness
to give relief to men of small means
or wageworkers who are crushed
down by these modern industrial con.
ditions; who, in other words, fail to
understand and apply the needed
remedies for the new wrongs produced
by the new and highly complex social
and industrial civilization which mas
grown up in the last half century. /
The courts hold a place Of peculiar
and deserved sancuty under our form
of government. Respect for the Jaw
is, essential TO- the permanence of our
institutions; and respect for the law
is largely conditioned upon respect
for the, courts. 1t is an offense against
the Republic TO say anything which
can, weaken this respect, save for the
gravest reason and in the most care
fully guarded manner. Our judges
should be held in peculiar honor; and
the duty of respectful and truthful
comment and criticism, which would
be binding when we speak Of any
body, should be especially binding
when we speak of them. On an aver
age they stand above any other SER
wants of the community, and the
greatest judges have reached the high
level held by those few greatest pa
triots whom the whole country de-
lights TO honor. But we must face
the fact that there are wise and un-
wise judges, just as there are wise
and unwise executives and legisla-
tors. When a president or governor
behaves improperly or unwisely, the
remedy is easy, for his term is short;
the same is true with the legislator,
although not the same degree, for he
Is one of many who belong to some
given legislative body, and 1t is there
fore less easy to fix his personal re-
sponsibility and hold him accountable
therefor. With a judge, who, being
human is also likely to err, but whose
tenure is for life, there is no similar
way of holding him to responsibility.
Under ordinary conditions the only
forms of pressure to which he is in
any way amenable are, public opinion,
and the action of his fellow judges.
1t is the last which is most imme-
diately effective, and to which we
should look for the reform of abuses.
Any remedy applied from without is
fraught with risk. 1t. is far better,
from every standpoint, that the rem
edy should come from within. In no
other nation in the world do the
courts WELD such vast and far-reach-
ing power as in the United States.
All that is necessary is that the courts
as a whole should exercise this power
with the farsighted wisdom already
shown by those judges who scan the
future while they act in the present.
Let them exercise this great power
not only honestly and bravely, but
with wise insight into the needs and
fixed purposes of the people, SO that
they may do justice, and work equity,
so that they may protect all persons
in their rights, and yet break down
the barriers of privilege, which is the
foe Of right.
Forests.