The Richfield recorder. (Richfield, Idaho) 1909-1931, 1912-10-10

they had not tried to have their
own Taft electors put en- in any 9TH
er way, they lost. 1t was clearly a
case where the victors could declare
fer Roosevelt, or Debs, or for King
! George if they wished, and no court
codid interfere for Taft. The net
result, however, was to disfranchise
the Taft voters. The court might
have given Taft a chance to get
ON the ticket in some other way,
ii he had desired it; which would
De substantial justice of the same
rational sort as the "unwritten law"
tnat honestly clears SO many homi-
cides. After all, it would be plain
justice; and it would be yet palmer
justice in the Idaho case.
1t is only the almost negligible
! few who really believe the country
will perish if Roosevelt is not put
into the White House. There is
not shadow of a reason to be-
lieve that cutting off the Taft vote
in California would have affected
the national result; cutting off the
Roosevelt vote in Idaho, where he
was certain to carry the state, Is
matter for national concern, from
political standpoint; for the fight is
SO close that it may determine the
presidency. But putting both cn the
same basis OF abstract right, the
minority in California and the ma
jority in Idaho should have the priv
iIege Of voting their choice, with
out being disfranchised by techn1-
calities or careless omissions or
misstatements in the laws. What
ever the immediate result may be,
the. net result will be to enormously
strengthen the growing tide of un-
rest against the courts, and against
politics as they are; and the stream
of revolt that has cnce more been
successfully damned little higher,
will one day break loose with the
more resistless power.
To stand by and present such
decision as the living law, is much
the same as if one should gather
TO his bosom a fleshless skeleton
fer a living, loving woman 1t is
perhaps all that is left of her lovely
helpful life; but the soul is fled
Laws must have life, or they are
but skeletons of what they were
created for. Any law that STANDS
On the statute books 10 repulse or]
to Cypress or to wrong the people
whom it was to serve, IS, to say the
least, of little worth; in cases ike
this. the miasma from it's dissolu-
lution is real public menace. The
court needs authority and disposition
10 kill and bury it, as they would
tubercular cow
One may believe, to justify the
law of exclusion so strikingly en-
forced in this decision, that there
must be somewhere a limit to the
filing of tickets. The Law that sits
over all to determine who is elect
ed, must prescribe some rules for
entering the race. Otherwise, as
In horse race, some one who
starts in after the others have run
most of the race, may edge in on
the track, and win by fraud. To
get the names legally before the
people. there must be rules, and
in Justice these rules must be en-
forced. 1t is apparently the court
that these rules were moi
observed by the Roosevelt ticket.
If there were no rules, there might
be five thousand separate tickets
offered fer filing the day before
which would make the
election a travesty on what the peO-
pie intended it to be. To
carry this view to its legitimate con
such Is the tendency
Of ccurts---this decision would be
as inevitable as gravitation. One
may believe that the court had such
a thought in mind when 1T held to
this skeleton Interpretation of law
that was made to serve the people
who live under it--and who made
the law itself. Like old Shylock 8
pound of flesh, Like Governor Haw-
ley's full cash value, it is "the
to make it justice it has
to be interpreted more on its own
merits than as a hypothetical case
that when it comes up in 'ts own
person, is so different that the
two have no similitude whatever.
The Recorder would advise every |
ncdy to, read the decision when it