The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-05

likes him or is suspicious, or measures
 him by low standards, or prefers some
 other judge A challenge of a judge
 has never been allowed. because years
 before he had been an attorney of either or both of the parties in other
 causes. Let it not be forgotten, how
 ever. that this objection was not raised
 by the parties but Is now trumpeted by
 volunteer, galloping over the state
 on a black charger of hate, shriek-
 ing, with maniaeal fury. curses upon
 the courts and constitution of our
 country.
 Corporation and Anti Corporation
 Lawyers
 "The only part of the baccaulaureatc
 which approaches criticism is that the
 judge violated proper standards of ju-
 dicial ethics by sitting in a cause where
 corporal ton. which many years be-
 fore had been one of his clients was
 one of the parties. It is an ignorant
 conception of the relation of client
 and attorney to regard the attorney
 as mere employe or hireling who
 must do as he is bid. or generally does.
 Such a notion doubtless became rooted
 in the mind of the author of the bac- caulaureate from long dominance of negro plantation hands, and dependent workers and children in his cotton fac
 tories whom he has been accustomed
 to think are bound to do whatever he bids The attorney Is an officer and minister of justice His office Is ere ated, and It's duties are defined by
 law In the language of the code of
 ethics Tt Is steadfastly to be borne
 in mind that the great trust of the lawyer is to be performed within and
 not without the bounds of the law
 The office of attorney does not per init. much less does it demand of him for any client. violation of law or any manner of fraud and chicane. He
 must obey his own conscience and not
 that of his client
 "In these days of industrial and bus mess development nearly every form
 of undertaking assumes the shape of
 a corpora ton The state Is a corpora tion Most of the churches are cor
 porations. Your college is a corpor-
 ation Factories, mills. railroads and business organizations of every Kind are incorporated. In the pursuit of their businesses they come in contact with others. commit wrongs and are Wronged Under such conditions there must be attorneys to defend them m the courts that their rights may be enforced and there must be attor- neys to prosecute them in the courts to enforce the rights Of others against them. It is essential to all security ana happiness III EpNti iiiiAeiiN NiioN 'N one be deprived of life, liberty or prop erty. but by due process of lava right for which English speaking people have shed their blood since the days of RunnYmede. Even the burglar ana the murderer cannot be punished Tor crime except after trial and nearing according to law in court or 1ustlce' Unless our constitutional sateguarus of the rights of natural or corporate persons are idle and insincere parch- ment decla rations. it is impossible that the calling of an attorney, whether his business be 10 represent corporations or to sue them. can unfit him TOT pup lie confidence and trust. If the at torney is upright he ought to be trust
 ed everywhere, no matter Whlch siuo
 he represents, and if he is not up right he ought likewise to be distrust- ad no matter what side he represents. If is the man and his character, ana not whom he has represented m the mast in his office of attorney Whlch determines whether he ought to pc H iudee or public official If the judg- ments of ones people count for aught the fitness of my appointment TOT iudee was beyond dispute. The people of my ward, city. county, congressiohai district and state have repeatedly non ored me with public trust, knowing how and for whom l practlced law. | There are scores of instances known ol all men which prove to any mlnd not corrlnt. even if l were otherwise SUD foot to suspicion under the doctrine or aenyironment' that in positions or pup . 1ic trust even when l was a fallroau attorney the wishes or interests o' clients or my own interests never swerved me from my conNlc'lohs Vi public duty. although l sometimes loi- lowed them to my hurt. The hthess al, ant senators, representatives, Juoses an" executive officers, and members or the llapislature and met with the warm ana hearty approval of the bar ana people, This I say because it is the truth anu il Is well known to all now llVlhs Who
 were old enough to be acquainted Wl'h nubIic affairs at the time of the ap-
 pointment The frothings of an office seeker cannot change or blot out the
 judgment of the people of Alabama. Abraham Lincoln was a railroad law
 var John Tyler Morgan and Edmund w Pettus were railroad la"NeIs' George W. Stone, Robert (, Brlckell,
 Peter Hamilton, Robert H. Smith anu pavtd Clopton and Thomas J. Judge and other illustrious men whom the state delights to honor. represented railroads and other corporations. Ihe neonle never considered them disen- titled to honor because or the chehV they had It is neither democratic nor iust to cry down or seek to create prejudice against mans past occupa- tion however. humble 1t may have been, so long as he was honest and served Ihonoraby in it.
 Was Bound to Sit in the Cases oI was not disqualified under the con stitution and laws, nor did any cause exist in morals which would have jus tifed me in declining to sit. Moral oowardice in judge is treachery to the neonle II has been the law for cen turies that a judge ought not to with draw upon recusation, unless the cause is true in fact and sufficient in law for the office of judge is one neces- sarv for the administration of justice from which a judge ought not to be nermitted to withdraw without suf- ficient grounds If judges could re- fuse to sit, although not disquaiined' because the discharge of their duties in .ar,;,,iar cases would be unplea sant