The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1912-02-29
ef the people instead Of by indirect
tote through an untrammeled electoral

lf the people instead Of by indirect
tote through an untrammeled electoral
! tollege, so actual experience has con-
sinced rs that senator's should be elect
| Cd IL Greet vote CT TIE people instead
! OF irs7iiae tiy through the various legis-
lature
Ia,leye III t-e ;tsit.,etive the RET
erenz rot %
destroy re- eove IT. but
/ to to-Eect 4 Il IL sizes Eais-
i represents tiTe. E-eTe aea.n / an con-
cerned not with theories. but With ac-
tual facts. II in am state TIE ncople
are tilenSe.ves s11,.i5.@.ed with their
present representative system then it
is, of course, their ri@ht to -eep that
system unchanged, and it is nobody's
business but theirs. But in actual
! practice it has been found in very
/ many states that legislative bodies
have not been responsive to the popular
will; therefore INbelieve that the state
should provide for the possibility Of di-
rect popular action in order to make
good such legislative failure.
Recall of Judges.
As to the recall. L Go not believe that
+! there is any great necessity for it as
| regards short term elective officers. On
abstract grounds I was originally in
! cliled to he hostile to It. I know OF
one case where it was actually used
! with rlfschievous results. On the 9th
er hand. in three cases in municipah-
/ ties on the Pacific coast which have
come to my knowledge it was used
! with excellent results. l believe it
! should be generally provided, but with
such restrictions as will make it avail
| able only when there is a widespread
and genuine public feeling among a
majority of the voters.
| There remains the question of the re-
! call Of judges. One of the ablest jul
rists in the United States, veteran in
service to the people, recently wrote
me as follows on this subject:
"There are two causes of the agita-
ton for the recall as applied to
Judges. First, the administration of
justice has withdrawn from life and
become artificial and technical. The
recall is not so much recall of judges
from office as it is a recall Of the adj
i ministration of justice back to life. SO
that it shall become, as it ought to be,
the most efficient of all agencies for
making this earth better place to live
in. Judges have set their rules above
life Like the Pharisees of old, they
have said, The people be accursed;
they know not the law chat is, our
'ruleD. Courts have repeatedly defeat
ed the aroused moral sentiment of a
whole commonwealth. Take the ex-
ample of the ST. Louis boodlers. Their
guilt was plain and in the main con.
fessed. The whole state was aroused
and outraged. By an instinct that goes
to the very foundation Of all social
order they demanded that the guilty be
punished. The boodlers were convict.
ed, but the supreme court Of Missouri
never questioning their guilt, set their
conviction aside upon purely technical
grounds. The same thing occurred IN
California. Nero f1ddling over burning
Rome, was a patriot and statesman
in comparison with judges who thus
trife with and Illustrate the aroused
moral sentiment of great people, fol
that sentiment is politically the vital
breath Of both state and nation. 1t Is
to recall the administration Of justice
back frcm such practices that the re
cent agitation has arisen.
Second, by the abuse of the power
to declare laws unconstitutional the
courts have become a lawmaking in
stead Of law enforcing agency. Here
again the settled will of society to cor
rect confessed evils has been set al
naught by those who place metaphys
ics above life. 1t Is the courts. not the
constitutions, that are at fault. It Il
only by the process which James Rus
sell Lowell when answering the critics
Of Lincoln called .pettifogging the con
stitution' that constitutions. which wert
Idesigned to protect society can thus b
made TO defeat the common good Her,
again the recall II recall Of the ad
ministration Of justice back from AGA
demical refnements to social service"
An Independent and upright judiciary
which feariessly stands for the right
even against popular clamor. but which
also understands and sympathizes with
popular needs. Ia great asset Of popu
lar government. There Is no public
servant and no private man whom
place above a judge Of the best typt
and very few whom rank beside him
believe in the cumulative value Of thu
law and in its value as an impersonal
disinterested basis Of control. be
lieve In the necessity for the courts
Interpretation Of the law as law with
out the power to change the law or Il
substitute some other thing than Law
for 1t. But I agree with every great
jurist, from Marshall downward, wher
say that every Judge Is bound to con
slider two separate elements in his de
cision Of case, one the terms Of the
; law and the ether the conditions Of &C
tual life to which the law is to be ap
piled. Only by taking both Of these
elements into account is it possible tt
apply the law as its spirit and intent
demand that it be applied. Both Law
and life are to be considered in order
that the law and the constitution shall
become, in John Marshalls words, 'ts