The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1910-11-01
THE SUPREME COURT
UNMASKED

tnab DOuy uHtI Tic icBistaeuiO
adjourned. After we adj
journed one of these men APP
! preached me and sarcastically
Remarked: Il guess the SUI
preme court is safe now
1--WE were accused of doing
nothing after u period of 80
days. 1t should be apparent
to everybody that, with Mr..
Palmer on the committee, il
was impossible to accomplish
any satisfactory results. II
suspicion was in the air be-
fore, it has become intensified
by the action of the senate"
The copy of the DeWolfe
charges, which President Ruth OF
the senate had sent to President
Bridges of the State Bar associa-
ton, was transmitted by Bridges
to the associations grievance CON-
mittee. The grievance committee
undertook to investigate them, but
DeWolfe refused to testify before
it, on the ground that a majority
of its members were prejudiced
against him. The committee re-
viewed the testimony given by De-
Wolfe before the Halsey commit
tee, and reported to the associa-
ton generating the court and
suggesting that DeWolfe be prose-
cuted- for disbarment for making
the charges.
DeWolfe appeared before the
State Bar association and asked
for a thorough investigation by an
impartial committee, containing
neither politicians nor corporation
lawyers. Asked whether he had
any testimony to offer the CON-
mite which he had not given the
Halsey committee, he replied that
he had. Thereupon, without trial
or hearing, without even permit
ting the DeWolfe charges to be
read before it, the State Bar asso-
citation exonerated the court, and
ordered a special committee to
prosecute DeWolfe for disbarment
This committee, which was ap-
pointed more than year ago, has
never taken any step toward car
rying out those instructions.
The association also ordered Its
grievance committee to proceed
against ex-Judge Root for disbar-
ment, but voted to withhold taking
any action against Judge Gordon
who was still under the protection
of the Great Northern railroad
Other matters in connection with
charges against the supreme court
were turned over to the new griev-
ance committee, to be appointed
by the new president. The asso-
citation then proceeded to elect as
it's new president, to appoint this
committee, G. G.. Gose of Walla
Walla, brother of a member of
the supreme court.
Nor was this all. Apparently
oppressed by the fear that even
this lid might perchance be titled
i'm some future proceeding, the
bar association adopted a new set
of bylaws providing i'm detail for
hearings by the grievance commit
tee, and containing this significant
precautiOn. L quote:
~"AIl the foregoing proceedings
shall be kept secret, except as
their publication is hereinbefore
provided for, unless otherwise
ordered by the association by two
thirds vote"
Here ended the investigation of
the supreme court at the hands of
its friends.
Permit me to conclude by quot
ing from an address delivered by
me to the State Bar association
at that session, and equally appli-
cable to all persons who insist that
the people are not qualified to Sc
lect supreme judges:
"You gentlemen pretent to
be very anxious to restore
confidence in the supreme
court. You will not find that
difficult If you will only go at
it right. But your difficulty
lies i'm the fact that you are
trying to bunco the people in :
a confidence game. You want
the people to have the conf
dence and let you have the
court. III this association will
join in the effort to restore
the court to the people
through the primary law, If
this association and the court
will only have confidence in
the people, 1t will not be long
until the people will have con-
fidence in the court"
Probably because gave it
to them gratis, the members
of the bar association have
not seen fit to follow this
advice. A year later, at it's
annual convention at Belling-
ham, this year, the association
went on record again as fa-
voring the nomination of SUI
preme judges under the con-
vention system.