The daily Nome industrial worker., 1916-02-19


 jurist, and was with Judge Dc Kortc another jurist notorious for decisions favor ing the larger interests in the Rand Kotze resigned to show his indigna- tion, and De Korte refused to ac- cept the chief justiceship. Meetings were held in the stock exchange of Commissioner street, stock brokers, mining magnates and leading bus mess interests spoke against this condition and the trouble extended unti first came tho Jameson reid and finally the war which ended the independence of the Boer repub- lie. But it can be all traced back to the effort of the capitalist inter. ests to have the Supreme Court O, the Transvaal subject to no popular control and no influence save them selves. Indeed when the agitation was at it's height a prominent Amer ican mining engineer under salary to the Goldfelds Limited, delivered a speech and showed the very great superiority of conditions which ob taincd 'in a real republic, where the Supreme Court is amenable to no other control or authority or super vision except themselves
 Men are creatures of environment and granted that judges are all men subject to the same human influ- encos. they too will merfifest instinct lively in their decisions the influ- ences of that environment in which they have been raised and in which they live
 Granted that they look with favor upon an extension of privilege to the great linancal interests, granted that as great corporation lawyers they have trained their minds to identify their interests with corporation in- terests, granted that they have been associated with the privileges that have even pressed hardly upon the people, it is almost certain that ar judges, be they ever so determine as to impartiality, their views will of necessity partake of the views of the class to which they belong, and they will be prepared to uphold IL against all corners. They will view in the reactionary precedents which reactionary judges have established satisfactory doctrines enough where on to base their reactionary deci- sions, and even sincerely believe them to be impartial and sound and socially just
 Of all the grossest superstitions that can be promulgated, none is so gross as the idea that immediately the corporation lawyer dons the ju- dicial ermine be rids himself of his former views and notions and is cer- tain to be free from any bias or par tiality in consequence of those form CT views Nothing is further from the truth, and short consideration of judicial decisions will show that they have not only retained their class viewpoint, but under almost inconceivably unfavorable conditions ruled adversely to claim where the claim was almost obviously righte- ous.
 The interests are under no such influence. They are in no wise so superstitious. They know very well that it is essential that they get men who have been as lawyers or sup- ordinate jurists faithful to them and believers in their right to control They look with suspicion upon any one savoring so mildly even as Brandeis of radicalism, for they want one of their own rcactionary class and one who can be relied upon in an emergency to uphol1 privileges and the interests.
 And it is because they are under no vain illusions under this head they will leave no stone unturned to maintain control Of the Supreme Court. That is the most powerful body in the United States. As one writer has said it is immaterial who makes the laws; but it is very ma erial who shall interpret them. The growth of judicial oligarchy in the United States was feared by many of the more radical of the re volutionary fathers. Thomas Jeffer-