The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-05-01
a FLExrBLE SUPREME COURT.

theory OF these contemporaries is that on court
days when the crowds are In Washington, the
chief and associate justices should mingle They
should sit out on the courthouse stems. whitt1e
sticks. chew tobacco In arable and truly demo-
cratic style and discuss with. citizens family and
neighborhood affairs. the prospects of prominent
colts and heifers, the comparative weights of
hogs, the precinct indications of the next cleo
ton, the pugilistic abilities of local champions
and the latest ball game between the Cedar
Springs and Green Valley teams. Or is It that
the members of the court scatter and Distant
nate themselves through the hotel Hobbies and
streets Of the cities and the side roads of rural
districts. introduce themselves, as do fruit tree
and wire fence statesmen, and accumulate the
views and wishes of constituent voters on pend.
ing issues of constitutional International or cor.
poratlon law? II we are to have democratic
court, let US have 1t right The specifications
OF our esteemed contemporaries are vague Let
us come to business. Why not have the members
Of the court nominated by popular primary,
elected by the popular vote, required to go about
making speeches, answering moot questions pro-
pounded from the audiences pIedging themselves
to decisions along states lines and subject to re-
call? We might have them also administer
Justice in their shirt sleeves--hickory shirts
preferred-with their respectable trousers sus-
tanned by cotton galluses
In the view Of the I,der-A ppeal the Supreme
court now is supposed to be 'unsympathetic and
too remote from the people" Consequently it in
vites hostility and criticism. Says our Peters
burg contemporary:
There is much more than a meaningless pro-
test in these expressions OF discomfort and dis
trust of our courts. Our system should he aucb
/ that principle which has triumphsd in a battle
/ of opposing convictions need not be embodied
In statute before 1t can be accorded judicial cog
nizanGe
Exactly where these expressions of discon.
tent and distrust OF our courts" are found we
are not told The distinguished foreign person
who is at the head of the Industrial Workers
OF the World. Colonel Roosevelt and some de-
feated litigants in civil cases and convicted de-
PENDANTS on the criminal side have expressed
discomfort and distrust we believe 1t fs true
perhaps, that no thief e'er felt the halter draw
with good opinion of the law. Yet the Under.
Appeal appears to have general information on
the subject; and its Astounding intellectual &C
tivities and profound judicial explorations have
led 1t to sapient conclusion. This. as we get
it, is that the Supreme court should hasten to
interpret the law according to the trend OF pop
ular sentiment. as indicated In the election re-
turns, without waiting for congress to express
the will of the voters In statutes 1t should study
the figures the bulletin boards rather than
precedents and the constitution
The theory on which we have proceeded here
tofore is that high court and all courts should
be unsympathettc and infexible, that a popular
Judge or one seeking popularity, Is "a deformed
thing In the words OF a great English jurist
Our Petersburg neighbor proposes an improve
ment. We should pull the bandage from the eyes
of justice and take away her scales: leave her
an alert obliging and responsive dame, with
her ear close to the ground and her vision fixed
ever on the polls and the editorial columns of
the Washington Herald and the Inder-Appeal, In
falliblo opponents Of the predominant purposes
of the time
Which would be all very well and comfortable
II elections always went and the voters voted
always according to the desires OF our contem-
poraries. II 1t should happen, however that
the returns showed sometimes wrong results
even the Inder-AppedE and the Herald might
conclude that. after all. little delay and de-
liberation and consideration OF the law as es.
tablished and the constitution as written and
expounded would be advisable Our friend by the
Appomattox seems to have forgotten that, ac-
cording to its ideas. the people OF this country
have voted wrong in ten of the last thirteen
general elections. If the Supreme court had
been quickly subservient and submissive to the
popular will as expressed at the polls from 1864
to 1884, the South would have been In lament
able condition. At that period We were rather
pleased TO see that court infexible, unsympa-
thetic and remote from the prevalent political
inauences. What has happened may happen
again.
PROGREsSfNES CHANGE WITH TINES
There is some comfort in the appearance of
the California progressives and Pepubltranr aa