The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 28, 1916, Page 8

g The foreground of this picture is the rust-sick 'stubble of Professor Bolley’s ‘tests. Here was developed the “rust-resxstant” D-5 whmh has come into great " demand since the epidemic of 1916. The six clumps of bushes in the middle ground are common barberry which have sent clouds of rust spores throughout the wheat area at the college and have every season for many years entirely killed off all wheat growing near them. Technicality the Cloak of I Bias Legal Nicety Ever Refuge of the Dishonest J udge; s i = Subtle Forms of Bribery Corrupt the Court : ( R # ECHNICAL. nicety and judicial bias, or bribery, go together. The one is a cloak to the other. For the purpose of settling matters of legal dispute in a just ! and proper manner, the courts are kept B ‘ up and maintained at a great expense. .The people are paying a high price, a very high price, for the due administra- | -tion of justice, and they do not care to -pay for technical niceties, which serve only to defeat justice. When we ask for bread, we must not be given a stone. It .is high time for the courts and judges to come down to.the plane of humamty, and }'to take a broad and beneficent view of the law and the coust procedure, and to -think of giving a just return for their salaries. s By law all forms of action are abol- ished, and there is but one form of action for the enforcement or protection of private rights or the redress of private f wrongs, and it is named a civil action. Hence there can be no such thing as a wrong form of action, though there may be a defective complaint. JUST CAUSES DEFEATED "BY MERE ERROR IN FORM Y, In the commencement of a suit, or ‘ givil action, to obtain a remedy for a ~ Uprivate wrong, the first. step is to make & complaint to some court or judge. Any old woman can go before a judge and [Ftate her complaint or cause of - action in a way so that he can understand it, and that alone is necessary. If he does not understand it, he should say so at the start, rather than after the expense pf a trial. However, in praetice, the gomplaint is first reduced to writing, and B copy of it is served on the other party, the defendant, with a notice or summons dppear and answer. The complaint ey derianded, and a plain statement of the facts constituting a cause of action, so that it may be understood. And as all dges and all lawyers do err, and it is proper that all errors be corrected as soon as discovered, the complaint may be amended at any time before the trial, or 'dunng the trial or upon an appeal. ! And yet because of some, alleged defect in the form of the acti plaint or in the proced might be pointed out ‘paoment, cases are o 3 $ a defect which .dcorrectedina ould ‘contain a prayer for the relief - thrown out of By J. E. Robinson Candidate for the State Supreme Court Indorsed by the Nonpartlsa.n League court and justice is denied or trampled under foot. A judge sits and hears evidence for days, and then dismisses a meritorious cause of action because he thinks it is not in proper form, or because of some supposed technical defect easy - ‘to correct, and of no injury to any one. All that is contrary to law and common court of commerce. He was impeached and convicted of using his judicial pull to induce a railroad company to sell him a large pile of coal at a small per cent of its value. He did not seem to know that is was plain vulgar bribery. In recent times, there is less vulgarity and more of stéalth and finesse in the brib- The law is_ supposed to facilitate justice. Instead it is often used by the courts as an- obstacle to fairness. The good judge brushes aside technicality to get at the right. The bad judge hunts for technicalities to decide the way he wants to decide. The knowledge of abstruse law points is often one of the tools by which - the dishonest judge earns his bribe. Don’t vote for a judge just because he “knows the law.” It is well that he should know the law, but it is better that he should know how to deal fairly and to rebuke dishonesty. sense. At most, it is a mere technical nicety, and it- shows judicial bias or hribery, ignorance or narrow 'mindedness. When justice is denied or strangled by any court, there is always some technical excuse or some untrue statement of facts to make the wrong appear right, In olden times; technical nicety prevailed more than it does now, because judicial..: bribery was 'more common, and the judges had to give some reason for their - unjust decisions. Lord Bacon, chief Jushce of England, was acco a great philosopher and a great jurist, and yet he had to go down. on his knees before the house of lords . and plead guilty to some sixty specific charges of bribery and official corruption. He had not thought of any one daring to complain of his lordship; in a way he must have been as simple as our ‘Arch- bald,thelatechlefjusficeotthelate ery of a judge. His son, his wife, or his brother-in-law is retained to appear as an’advocate before him, and that is much the same as reta.mms the judge himself. ‘Then he is given railroad passes, special cars, special favors, which bias the mind. . There are numerous ways of doing it.. JUDGES MADE BY i POLITICAL BOSSES’ : The Lochren judges: took no vulgar bribes when they commanded the sun-and the moon to stand still, and the sovereign states to refrain from ‘enforcing their rate laws. They simply obeyed ‘their makers. A few years ago, the people had little-to say concerning the making- of. their judges.. In this state, and in - nearly every other state, the judges were virtually made by a few political bosses . and railroad lobbyists. famous boss; he and his chieftains made all the judges. In New York at one time | Boss Croker sat down to a feast with twelve Judges “of his own making. And s0 it was in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Colo- rado, California, Washington, and in most of the other states. Big Business is ever practical. It has no use for a profound lawyer or a judge who is over scrupulous. It demands success, regardless of ways and means. Its lawyers must know how to secure and control judges and juries. They must “deliver the goods.” ‘ In “Everybody’s” ' Magazine for 1912, there was a series of articles A on “Big Business and the Bench.” - It shows that a fearful state of judicial corruption has prevailed from the‘ Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the ‘Lakes to the Gulf. It gives names and dates, convinc- 2 ing details and pictures. of bosses - : and judges. It shows how judicial e : demmaambongitlndpndform- ey one state that they may be used as : the basis of similar decisions in oths: er states. It shows how some judges have even allowed their decisions to . be written and. revised by. the attor- A neys of Big. Business. . These artmcles show how the courts stifle entiasm by the use of ‘their con- 4 tempt process, and by the disbarment of 1 attorneys.. - Indeed, a person’ is’ dwayu 4 treading on dangerous grounds ‘when he . . i .speaks’or publishes- -anything” ill ‘of the courts.: The' lawyers [are - swormn to" - maintain:the ‘respect’ due to' the’ eourts, ; and ‘their' bread ‘and’ butter- ‘depends ‘on: their standing’ with'the conrbs. Indeed, in case of ‘an unjust decision the la THE PEOPLE THEMBEWES : MUST CHOOSE JU'DGE & What is the remedy for ju wrongs? It is not the impeachment: or’ recall of judges. . The procedure is too S endless, ‘uneertain and expensive, . The remedy:smsomethmglikeanewden,l In Oluo, Mr. Cn ot Cincmnah was a.