The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-08-23
HIS ADDRESS IS MADE
BEFORE BAR SOCIETY
From Tuesdays Daily.

soCSuoy Ddiiys
Former Judge Lorin Cray of Man
kato this afternoon discussed before
the Minnesota State Bar association
the Judicial Recall" He spoke as
follows:
Il would rather discuss the ques-
ton of judicial recall before gath
ering of lawyers than before any
other audience which can be assem-
bled. Men accustomed to reason
long and patiently over vexatious OF
intricate problems; men schooled to
appeal to the right of reason of
others; men whose life long study
is to solve questions of right and
wrong, justice and injustice; men
who, sometimes sorely tempted to
fiex their own honest opinions in Or
der to succeed in a vigorous contest.
yet have profound appreciation of
and regard for human rights, and
their preservation through the gov
ernmental channels, are not likely
to form hasty and ill-considered opin-
ions on so important a question as
this; men who for all others stand
against the popular will, who dare
face the frowns of the angry pop
ulace, who will deliberately go down
in defeat, who will stand by the ship
until she sinks, in defense of a client
or cause they believe to be right,
however poor, lowly, or even un-
worthy of great effort, with utter dis
regard for SELF and careless of pop
ular applause, men who burned the
midnight oil over the writings of
Kent and Story may well be empan-
elled as a jury to consider the wis
dom of such radical change in our
constitutional form of government,
as this proposed innovation seems
to involve.
Have Courage of Conviction.
"Such as these have the courage
of their convictions, and, if practi-
cally of one mind, are a power in
moulding public opinion, and result
ing legislation, almost irresistible.
And from such as these our judges
are chosen What does the innova-
ton mean; and is there need for
appeal from the courts to the people.
In this day and age of rapid transi.
tions, of industrial and commercial
war, wonderful inventions and in
tense life, when the industrial, the
commercial and the social world is
going at such a furious pace, when
the air is pregnant with the cries of
the reformer and the demagogue for
majority rule, and the atmosphere
is damp with the tears shed over
lost rights of the masses of the PEG.
pie, when the cry is going to heaven
or elsewhere that the remedy and
the only remedy for these deplorable
conditions, lis that the majority of
the electors must rule under all con-
ditiOns, first, last, and all the time,
let us not forget that after all, under
our form of government, If we are
going to continue it at all in it's true
spirit, the majority of the people
must rule not in their own interest
and for their own good alone, but
in the interest, and for the good oil
the majority as well. That unless
such rule is for the interest of all
of the people, and there is pro
found and lasting respect for the
rights of the whole, then a republic.
an form of government must of a
necessity prove a failure, and our
constitution must stand aside.
What Will Bring Anarchy.
mo one can doubt that the unre
strained rule of the majority, impel
led by the selfish interest which al
ways has been, now is, and ever will
be the ruling power in the mind oil
man, means anarchy pure and sim
pie, and nothing else. You and
would hardly be willing to submit tc
a vote of the majority of our fellow
men, the question whether our prop
erty should be distributed among us
Under the republican form of gov
eminent, when there is constantly
before the people for their considera
ton important questions more or less
involving the masses, it is easy, as
our experiences teach us, for the pub
lie mind to become inflomed and
unreasoning, and as our people are
ldSI ueCOHlUS d pcOplo vi luIeT
mingled nationalities, unreasonably
excitably as well, and there must
be restraining power to prevent has
ty, illconsidered and unjust action
need not only be suggested to the
intelligent men.
One of the Necessities.
THAT this was one of the impera
tive necessities of government by
the people. was clearly seen and un
derstood by the trainers of our con
stitution, indeed, much better seer
and understood than by some of us
at the present day.
whether these men builded wise
Iy and well hundred years of Amer
lean history has determined and re
corded, and it is quite clear, and
this record proves, that those men
keenly appreciated the necessity fol-
protecting the people from the AFRO
giant assumption of power by, and
the corruption of ignorance of, an
unrjghteous judiciary and also as
well, the necessity of protecting q
righteous judiciary from the popular
clamor or excited terrorism of an
impulsive people.
"In the constitutional convention