The Sentinel=record., 1914-05-14


 =-----=-=--== where angles fear to tread" They are simply a disgrace to the profes- sion, and a curse to the country. But this is not all the trouble. nor the worst part of it.
 Proper intellectual attainment and legal ability are no longer the crit erian for selecting judges, and erud- itiou has ceased to be characleris- tlc of the incumbent of the bench. inexperienced young men occupy the responsible position of judges among men. Young men who are not only ignorant of the law, in large measure but who have not had that contact with society, and with their fellow beings that is necessary to enable any one to judge Of men motives by their actions. This is another case Of fools rushing in where angles fear to tread. For thirty years the law yers of the seventh circuit and so much of the 18th circuit as was taken from the seventh, have been educat' ing young men on the bench, with fair chance to continue the same indefinitely. With all this array of incompenent men at the bar, and man without experience and without proper regard for the dignity of his court. on the bench what shall we expect. We know what see. We see members of the bar enter the court room wearing sweaters, and rain coats: and 1t has not been 60 days since saw four lawyers, not only take their seats in the bar wearing rain coats, but they actually arose in the bar, and addressed the court without removing them. And within a shorter time | saw post man enter the court room, wearing his hat, and walking across the room he passed within two feet of the sher- if. and climbed up on the judge stand still wearing his hat, delivered something to the judge, when the judge in an mdertone said something To him. and he took off his hat. No further notice was taken of the mat ter. Within the past two years, in court which 1 attended, there was a case on trail in which it was deem ed advisable to keep the jury togeth- 1r duriug the recess of the court the jury, and the deputy sheriff in chare were properly charged that the jury should be kept together. The officer arranged to have the jury sleep at h0te. There he allowed one of the Jur- ors to occupy a different room from the others During the night this juror left the hotel and was absent two hours. and returned to his room. Irpun the courts attention being call ed to the facts he had the delinquent juror brought before him, repremand- ed Aim, fined him and gave him a short jail sentence, but never a word was said. or thing done with the deputy sheriff who permitted this misconduct on the part of the juror What one of the old judges would have done to the deputy sheriff would have been a plenty.
 These are not isolated facts; but simply illustrate the manner in which our courts are conducted. And in ad- i dition, it is safe to say that for at least half the time in both circuit and chancery courts, no sheriffs off cer is present,
 But why pursue this feature sub 
 ject further?
 The fact is that the practice of law, in so far as it's prolessiona. features are concerned have well nigh become a thing of the past. And the judges 'nave. of late SO conducted the busi- ness of the courts that the masses of the people have ceased to regard them as anything more than a cross
 roads gathering where neiehbors have gathered to discuss mere mat ter of differences, and where any body can dress as he pleases; talk when he gets ready. disregard the
 presiding officer when it suits him,
 wear his hat if he chooses, and
 smoke at his will make all the noise
 he finds himself inclined to, and treat
 with contempt any proposed interfer-
 euce with his course of conduct.
 Gentlemen, of the bar, if this thing
 continues, the courts will so far as the purpose for which they exist, will become a farce And for a man
 to say that a man is a judge will be
 much as to say that he is about any.
 thing but something desirable. And to say that a man is a judge will lamount to saying that he is it