The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-10-19
WORLD PROBLEMS At The PRESENT TINE

after the injury, and that he has since
been continuously employed by the
same company at similar work and
Increased pay. In no sense whatever
was his ability to earn his livIihood in
any way impaired"
The public has been led to believe
that the Court by its decision forced
that man ito stagger through life
MANNED and unable to earn his own
livelihood" The defendant railroad
company paid him for the time he lost
and he is still in the company's en-
ploy. The Court in dealing with the
case declared as follows: ct creates
II CATH BULL EAT
liability wholly irrespective of neg
ligence or faults on the part of the en-
ployer or any of it's officers, agents or
employees" 1t was entirely dissimi-
lar to the Act of Congress dealing with
the same subject. Now if a company
or corporation or individual can be
mulcted for damages or injuries which
follow from an employees own negli-
gence or carelessness, it is easy to
see how much care must be exercised
in future in the selection of en-
ployees. They have special
name in England today for Chose
employees who permit themselves
to be injured in order to work
up damage suits. This is not I'M
known even in this country and any
statute which does not draw the dis
tinction between injuries that are
purely accidental and those which flow
from the employees negligence GER
tainly comes into conflict with the die
tates of common sense, let alone the
constitution.
There is pretty general feeling
nowadays that corporations are al
ways in the wrong. A Judge or Court
that will render decision in favor of
the corporation, as opposed to the in
dividual, is always regarded with sus-
picion, irrespective of the merits of
the case from the standpoint of justice
and equity. Popular prejudice how
ever, is not always an infallible ex-
preston of right as opposed to wrong,
of justice as opposed to injustice
The Logical Conclusion.
I have dealt with these three cases
in detail because of their bearing up
on the popular demand for the recall
of Judges and Judicial decisions Ac-
cording to the opponents of these new
political principles, Judges are to be
recalled by the common everyday
voter who knows little of the law and
perhaps less of the facts which have
entered into some unpopular decision.
They go further and assert that pro-
vision should be made not only for
the recall of the Judges themselves,
but for the recall of their Judicial de-
cisions. Let us take concrete ex-
ample of how the latter will work.
We will suppose that in the State of
Minnesota two or three dozen or even
a half dozen Judicial decisions are to
be submitted to the voters at any one
election. When the Court came to it's
conclusion it had before it the briefs
submitted to it by the opposing law
yers in charge of the case. 1t had thus
knowledge of the law and of the
facts in the case. The people in gen.
eral to whom these decisions are sub
mitted will have no such advantages.
They must pass upon the law without
any previous legal training. They
must pass upon the facts in the case
as they are set forth perhaps by some
partisan newspaper or interested poll
tician who, for the time being, is bent
upon having the decision reversed.
Thus it will come to pass that every
negro roustabout in the country, every
hanger-on of the saloons and dives,
every unlettered citizen will be en-
powered to vote YES or NO on a
question which certainly calls for a
knowledge of the law, let alone the
this stage in our political history it
will be then incumbent upon us to
abolish our law schools, to place a
ban upon the legal profession and to
dispense entirely with Judges and
Courts. And yet these are the things
which are put before the country today
as serious political issues, as solutions
called for by the conduct of an unjust,
corrupt and partial Judiciary. The
chief trouble with the American peo-
pie today is that they do not follow
principle out to it's ultimate and
logical conclusion. Almost any poll
tician nowadays may advance a
principle and no matter how preposter-
Gus or absurd, it is taken up and ad-
vocated because of the prominence of
it's originator and leading exponents
The Free Silver craze is a striking
case in point. No one now thinks of
it and when people speak Of it they do
SO with the ridicule and opprobrium it
deserves, yet for brief space Free
Silver was held up as the sole hope
of the Nation and as furnishing the
only way out of existing perplexities.
Perhaps these two new theories will
with thn CANA fato Let