The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1912-03-01

OHl1 " iaAAhS OObA Va AA~SS
into account is it possible to apply the
law as its spirit and intent demand that
it be applied.
Moreover, never forget that the
Judge is Just as much the servant Of
the people as any other official. OF
course he must act conscientiously.
He must not do anything wrong be-
cause there is popular clamor for it any
more than under similar circumstances
governor or legislator or public
utilities commissioner should do a
wrong.
But in their turn the people must
follow their conscience, and when they
have definitely decided on given pol
icy they must carry out that policy"
Keep Good Judges in Office
Keep clearly in mind the distinc-
ton between the end and the means
to attain that end. Our aim is to get
the type of Judge that have described
to keep him on the bench as long as
possible, and to keep of the bench,
and, if necessary, take off the bench,
the wrong type of judge. The ques-
ton of applying the recall in any shape
is one Of expediency, merely. Each
community has right to try the ex-
pertinent for itself in whatever shape it
pleases.
II don't believe in adopting the re-
call save as a last resort, when it has
become clearly evident that no other
course will achieve the desired result.
But either the recall will have to be
adopted, or else it will have to be made
much easier than it now is to be got
nd of, not merely of bad judge, who,
however virtuous, has grown so out OF
touch with social needs and facts that
he is unfit longer to render good ser
vice on the bench.
Failure of Impeachment
1T is nonsense to say that impeach-
ment meets the difficulty. In actual
practice we have found that impeach-
ment does not work, that unfit judges
stay on the bench in spite of it, and
indeed, because of the fact that i'm
peachment is the only remedy that car
be used against them.
A quicker, more summary remedy
is needed; some remedy at least as
summary and as drastic as that en-
bodied in the Massachusetts, constitu'
ton. And whenever it is found il
actual practice that such remedy does
not give the needed result, would
unhesitatingly adopt the recall.
but there is one kind of recall il
which I very earnestly believe and the
immediate adoption of which I urge.
When a Judge decides constitutional
question, when he decides what the
people as a whole can or cannot do,
the people should have the right to re-
call that decision, it they think il
wrong. We should hold the judiciary
in all respect; but it is both absurd and
degrading to make fetish of judge
or Of any one else"
Appeal to the People
Many eminent lawyers believe, and
sometimes assert, that the American
people are not fitted for popular gov
eminent, and that it is necessary tc
keep the judiciary independent of Z
majority of all the people; that there
must be no appeal from the decision o
court in any case; and that therefore
the judges are to be established as SOW
ereign rulers over the people.
Il take absolute issue with all those
who hold such a position. l regard i
as a complete negation of our whole
system Of government; and if it became
the dominant position in this country
it would mean the absolute upsettinl
Of both the rights and the rule Of the
people. If the American people art
not fit for popular government and
they should Of right be the servant
and not the masters of the men whom
they themselves put in Office; theI
Lincoln's work was wasted and tht
whole system of government upol
which this republic rests is failure.
Il believe, on the contrary, with a
my heart that the American people ar
fit for comnlete sef-poyernment AMI