Fergus County Democrat., 1912-02-13
INTEGRITY OF THE COURTS.

INTEGRITY OF THE COURTS.
Our esteemed contemporary, the
Argus, takes the Democrat to task fol
daring to criticize President Taft fol
his announced intention to appoint
George NJ. Bourquin, of Butte, federal
Judge for the district which comprises
the state of Montana. Our remarks
are decried by the editor of the Argus
as a criticism of courts in general and
calculated to inspire distrust OF ju.
aicial officers and legal procedure
among the masses" 1t is insinuated
that our attack of the proposed Bour-
uuin appointment is inspired by de-
sire to win a political advantage.
We shall enter into no controversy
with the Argus as to the motives
which impelled us to speak our mind
freely and more or less emphatically
about the Bourquin selection. We do
take issue with that paper, however.
as to the alleged impropriety on the
part Of this or any other newspaper
and the actions Of judicial officers.
The s'sancity of the courts has
come to be almost a fetch with many
very excellent citizens of this nation.
TO them, the fact that a man happens
to be chosen as judge of any court
Immediately lifts him above his fell
low men. 1t transforms his moral and
mental attributes, makes him immune
to the temptations to which men II
other walks of life are subjected, sur
rounds him with a barrier through
which the Whisperings Of bribery or
corruption can not penetrate. His
every decision is the fiat Of infallible
wisdom and his person as inviolate as
that Of the Sacred Llama This were
excellent if the facts justified always
such exalted admiration.
This paper yields to none in its re-
spect for courts, properly constituted
and maintained. 1t holds that they
form the bulwark Of our liberties and,
in very large majority of instances,
have been true to the trusts which
the people of this nation have reposed
in them We do not condemn the
judiciary as a whole, as our con-
temporary would have it understood,
but we do condemn the methods now
being employed, and successfully, for
bringing this branch of our govern
ment into deserved disrepute. We
condemn the appointment of judges at
the behest of Big Business.
aidemwt pairaegh re Rscases yqeteXa
The Argus states that cit is easy
nd 10 ho
but quite another thing to sustain
them" Has not Connolly sustained
every charge which he has thus far
made in his series of articles just be-
gun in Everybody's Magazine? Has
not Snyder sustained every charge he
has made in his series of articles now
appearing in Golfers Weekly? What
more proof, pray, is needed that there
Is corruption in the Judiciary as in
other branches of our government
than the things which these and 9TH
er men are writing and proving?
This paper does not believe that
any earthly institution, including the
courts, can suffer from honest criti-
cism. On the other hand, it is only
by having pointed out the spots which
have been be-smirched that they may
be cleansed; by having shown up the
weak spots that they may be strength
ened
1t is true that comparatively few
cases OF actual perversion of the oaths
OF Judges have been brought to light
IN THIS country 1t may be that Dean
John n. Wigmore, Of the Law School
OF Northwestern University, explains
The reason when he saws.
THE public does not fully under.
stand the position of a Judge in re-
spect to his immunity from exposure
by the bar. His professional iniuuities
or lncompetencies. if any, are so com
mlted as to become directly known
only to few persons in any given in.
stance; and these few persons are the
attorneys in charge of the case. To
bear open testimony against him now
is to risk professional ruin at his
hands in the near future. Moreover
this ruin can be perpetrated by him
without fear of the detection of his
malice; because judges decision car
oe openly placed On plausible grounds
while secretly based on the resolve tc
dlsfayor the attorney in the case
hence, lawyers. dread, most of all
Things, to give personal offense to a
Judge"