Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-12-19
CHATTER H.-Continued.
From the Newberry Observer.

elected as pOltlcldllS, "llhou' '
slightest test of their knowledge o.
law or fitness for the place before
hand, and it is almost impossible to
get rid of one when he proves himself
to be ompetent-especially FED
eral Judge. President Roosevelt ap'
pointed Judge Anderson, and he him'
self declared afterwards (Oct Il
1q1O) that he was "a damned jackass
and a crook" When a great lawyer
is able to boast that he can take elthel
side of any case and win, his sense ol
iustice must be gone; but the othei
LAWYERS admire him so much they VIII
insist on his becoming judge. IL IL
well-known, though, that the JUDGES
cannot be chosen from among tne
most able lawyers, because the aoles'
iudges can make so much more money
than q Judge is paid; while those law
vers who do not read law but pracIice
entirely by ear are extremely ANXIOUS
to get a judges salary
It is surprising that the people nave
not vet determined and estaohsneu
some method of selecting their Judges
which would eliminate proiessioH"'
politicians and secure progressive men
of learning, ability and merit as 10
done in the civil service Of the Feueral
government and in the government
~ r,anv of the cities. They have not
even retained the right upon pe'i'ioi'
n hold an election at any time TO re-
,,,ove an unfit Judge. 1t was not pos-
chile 70 remove Judge Swain OF Flor-
ida and If every working man III
America tried to have the Feoerai
iudee. Wright, removed, there Is ho
vav by which it could be done.
When any man continues to thihA
earnestly about something Whlch he
rnovs nothing about and cannot un-
derstand, he is usually able IN time u
reach a conclusion which erorely SAT
isfes his own mind, but which Is al
wavs wrong. Consequently, the de-
cisions of incompetent judges are near
" always reversed on appeal. Most
of their decisions are nothing Out
long arguments which take up time'
cost money, delay business and aoo
IN the confusion Of the judge-maoe
law. A Judge is not compelled TO give
his reasons for his decisions, ana II
would seem best for him not to do So
because, while nine times out OF ten
his decisions might be right nine
times out of ten his reasons FOR MS
decisions might be wrong and cause
them to be reversed on appeal.
The courts are maintained by the
people for the administration OF JUS
tice. but whenever anyone asks lor
Justice in any court it will always
cost him a vast amount OF money IL
he gets it, consequently it often hap
pens that one party can exhaust the
other financially before the suit Is
ended. This seems strange when we
know that the numerous judges. court
officials and employees are all palo
handsome salaries, and that their du-
ties are light: but it is clearly due
TO the fact that the courts are given
or have assumed quite an amount oil
power which the officials are able 70
use to legitimately extort heavy costs
and fees from anyone who asks for
Justice, or is obliged to defend him.
self or to transact business in any
kind of a court AS there Is no one
empowered to dismiss court officials
or compel them to do their duty, they
do as they please; and nothing Is
more obvious to a man who is COM
PEELED to hang around a court house
than that the courts are run more for
the convenience of the court officers
than for the benefit of the public.
The courts have simply degenerated
or developed into money-making in
stitutions for the lawyers and court
officials, and have become the most
expensive and the least effective of all
the branches of the government. This
is due to the fact that the people dc
. not criticise the courts, and have al
lowed them to stagnate. They criti-
else the lawyers with the greatest Sc
verify, and this has compelled them to
become highly efficient Upright and
influential men do not criticise the
courts because they regard them and
the jails as being maintained mainly
for the accommodation of scoundrelly
litigants, burglars, thieves, helpless
drunks" and others of that class. and
think that decent people should keer
out of both unless they are subpoenaed
or arrested.
The ignorant individuals respect
the courts and are afraid to criticise
them, because they respect anything
which they are not able to understand
and which they know to be dangerous;
but a progressive and intelligent people
who read the daily papers, cannot be
made to respect practices which are
so antiquated, barbarous and foolish
The courts can never be expected tc
reform themselves. Outside influ.
ence must compel them to do so. This
is made difficult because of the fact
that the law, on the ground of its ma
jesty, attempts to prevent and escape
just criticism. While this arouses the
Suspicion lIldl IL lS lulludlllSHldliS uh'
sound, the courts will punish editors
and others very severely for CRITICS.
ing their decisions. When the supreme
court of Colorado was accused by {
newspaper of making a political de-
cision, the judges promptly fined the
editor $1,000 and made him pay it
When members of the supreme cour
of the United States were called upor
in 1876 to decide constitutional ques'
ton all the Democrats decided fol
Tilden and all the Republicans fol
Hayes.
The law is intended for every man:
protection and preservation, and Ii
supposed. to be the staff of honesty
instead of the two-edged sword o
craft yet every one who is familiar
with the common law as it is enforced
today knows that if any man gets into