Gfo Nebraska. Independent
DECEMBER 7, 1905
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Current Comment on Leading Topics
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JEROME AGAIN TALKING
District Attorney Jerome has severely criti
cised the judges of the New York supreme court
on the ground that they are influenced in their
decisions by corporations to whom they owe
their election or from whom they have received
favors. He suggests as a remedy that the judges
be appointed for life. How this would cure the
evil he does not explain. Our federal judges are
appointed for life and only the ignorant or preju
diced would assert that the United States courts
are free from the influences of corporate wealth.
Mr. Jerome said in part:
With but a few exceptions I have very
little reverence or respect for the judges of
the supreme court in this department.
; What we ought to have is the Massachusetts
system, where judges are appointed for life.
Go to Massachusetts and get into conversa
tion with members of the bar, and they will
say " that this case should not: be taken be
fore this or that judge. Why? Because he
has pprtnln npenHnr idpns as tn thfi ftnnlica-
tion of a certain law. Go over to the bar
association in this city, and if you know the
men you meet well enough and they are in
clined to talk they will , say that they dare ;
not take this or that case before a certain
judge because he was assessed so ; much for "
his nomination and borrowed it from this
corporation or that, or that a certain judge
Is mixed up in this or another commercial
transaction. It is known that certain, mem
bers of the judiciary to which I have refer- .
and other business matters and transactions
r while they sit on the bench. Every day that
passes oyer their heads is filled with im
minent peril peril of a scandal that seems
about to break because of these affiliations.
., .. Those who heard these words must have
thought instantly of one of the supreme court
judges now on the bench, whose name has
been conspicuous in the testimony at one
of the sessions of the insurance investigating
committee.' The elective system in recruit
ing the judiciary is democratic, but it can
never produce the most exemplary judges,
unless the political parties are elevated and
pure in their management. Qn the other
hand, of course, judges appointed by an ex
ecutive who is the mere tool of bosses may
fall far short of the ideal. Springfield Republican.
Mr. Jerome should either name the
judges whose practices make them unfit to
sit upon the bench or he should retract his
charges. New York World. ' r
If the judges are such as he describes
thev should be removed from the bench and
our courts purified. If under the smooth
surface of dignity and respectability our
judiciary is rotten and given to the render
ing of unjust decisions and the use of power
to safeguard wrong, by all means let the truth
Pbe known. It is the time for a general judi
ciary house-cleaning. But unless he Icows
that of which he speaks and is prepared to
follow up his charge Mr. Jerome has done a
great wrong. He has not only weakened
the people's faith in their tribunals, but he
has subjected honorable men to suspicion.
New York Tribune.
District Attorney Jerome has said too
much or done too little. If the justices of
the supreme court in the First judicial depart
ment are so unworthy that he feels for them
no reverence and not even ordinary everyday
respect, then he has no time to waste on
banquets and public speaking. He ought to
be In tho bar association every night mak
ing a prodigious fuss about these bad Judges,
and demanding that tho association present
thnn to the legislature for impeachment.
New York Timed.
But it comes with mighty poor grace
from William Trnvern Jeromo whin, hnv
in denounced "this elective office tmslneH
it "I ho great foundation of our difficulties,"
ho rot- on lo my: "Wont of all it nn
ob cttvo Judiciary." If Jerome had an ounco
of gratltudo In his bodr; Jf he had even an
embryonic appreciation of , the loyal, won
derful and inspiring support Just recently
given him by the great common people of the
metropolis, he would be thoroughly ashamed
of himself for having indulged in any such
attack as this upon those who even now are
holding up his arm. Mr. Jerome means, of
course, that the people rare unnt to elect
their judges; that they are unfit to elect the
most of the officers who shall rule ovr them
and administer their public business; that,
, in short, "this elective business is the great
foundation of all our difficulties." And yet
when this man stood alone, without the back
ing of any party or any. organization, as a
candidate for re-election, and pitted against
him was the candidate of the most marvelous
political organization on earth, the people,
just because they believed in Jerome's com
mon honesty, breaking over party lines
rallied like a great army without captains
or regiments to his standard and triumphantly -elected
him! Are the people fit to elect their
district attorneys, Mr. Jerome? C:uaha
World-Herald.
' McCURDY'S RESIGNATION
' . r President McCurdy and family surrendered
their control of the Mutual Life Insurance com
pany by resigning from the "various high offices
. they held. McCall still controls the New York
Life and the Equitable has not been mutualized,
but public sentiment may yet force out McCall
and place the Equitable under the control of the
policyholders: -
The announcement of the resignation
of President Richard McCurdy, General Man
ager Robert H. McCurdy and General Agent
Louis A. Thebaud of the Mutual Life Insur
ance company is welcome to the policyholders
of the company, for it removes f-om the
management those who are mainly respon
sible for the Mutual's troubles and makes an
opening for a reorganization on better lines
than have been followed in the past.- Robert
H. McCurdy is the son and L uls A. Thebaud
the son-in-law of Richard McCurdy. Each
of these three men have been drawing ap
proximately $150,000 a year in salaries and
commissions from the company besides their
Indirect profits in financial transactions
with the : company's money. As they have
had these soft snaps for many years they
have grown immensely wealthy. A few days
, ago President McCurdy asked the trustees
.... of the company to cut his salary of $150,000
in half, but they refused because they were
convinced that the welfare of the company
demanded an end of the McCurdy regime.
It is now the duty of the trustees to select
honest and capable men, in whom the public
can place the most implicit faith and con
fidence, to be the successors of the men
who have resigned. This is vastly important
and we trust is realized. President McCall
of the New York Life and others who have
profited with him at the expanse of policy
holders in the same manner that the Mc
Curdys have should at once follow the lead
of the Mutual's officers and make way for
others better qualified for the positions they
hold. Buffalo Evening Times.
McCurdy's concept of that duty has been
unmasked. It is to put his relatives and
his relatlves-in-law at the crib until this one
family draws $1,000 a day from the Mutual.
It Is to debauch legislators in the Mutual's
"House of Mirth" in Albany. It Is to waste
trust money in "yellow-dog funds." It Is to
buy a "moral obligation" upon political
parties by contributing to campaign funds.
It is to give false testimony under oath.
What a relief to know that this view of duty
in a great public trust Is to be rebuked!
Juatlco Peckham and Kldrldgo Gerry, upon
whom the World called to rid tho Mutual
of McCurdy Ism. aro leading the honorable
movement to that end among tho trustees.
It in most creditable to them and to thou
who aro working with them. It Is real trtu
teeihlp, not dummy tnitrediln.New York
World.
Westchester county, which also sent Apgar
to the legislature. It will be recalled that
Apgar was unable to remember anything
about $1,000 which an Equitable voucher
credited him with receiving. Senator McClel
land's memory was still more faulty. Mr.
Hughes asked him whether he had ever
been employed by the Equitable. He posi
tively denied that he ever had. He was
asked whether he had receive! any money
from the Equitable. He positively denied
this. He was then confronted with a re
ceipt in his own handwriting for $3,500 paid
him by the Equitable. Then he broke down
and confessed. McClelland began politics in
the Assembly . twenty years ago, when
Speaker Husted and Depew had him put on
the insurance committee. On that committee
he served both in the Assembly and in the
senate, part of the time as chairman. He
lived with Boodler Fields in McCurdy's
."House of Mirth." Various vouchers amount
ing to tens of thousands of dollars were pro
duced for moneys obtenslbly paid him as a
lawyer. He is now United States appraiser
by President Roosevelt's appointment. New
York World.
Ellenbogen committed perjury only once,
and that for money, not to rob widows
and orphans, but to protect two of his tool3
from criminal prosecution. He is paying
the penalty. McCurdy Instead of going ro
Sing Sing proposes to retire to his magiifl
cent country estate at Morristown and there
pass his remaining years in luxury on the
money of the policyholders. McCurdy com-
mitted perjury not once but many times.
Now he does not even profess penitence. He
merely admits that public opinion is too
strong to permit his continuance in office
and he steps out on the plea of ill-health.
McCall is still more brazen. He and Perkins
lie again and again. They toss off perjuries
as the rain . drops from a - shaken maple
bough. Unless men like McCurdy, McCall
and Perkins wear the striped suits of con
victs it will be of little avail to send the
Ellenbogens to prison. New York World,
Former Senator Charles McClelland It
tho necoml member of the lenltduturt to ap
pear on tho witness island. Ho comes from
PLAN TO PEOPLE1ZE THE TRUSTS
The Columbus Press Post' gives the fol
lowing resume of Judge Grosscup's article in the
American Illustrated Magazine for September oa
the "Peopleization of The Trusts:"
The remedy consists of bringing the peo
'ple back into the ownership of the property
of the country. There would be but two
classes of securities issued, one which repre-
sents the cash paid in, or its equivalent in
property, the other issued fronrtinie to time '
to cover the value of the Increase in property.
Labor , would be given opportunity for par
ticipation in ownership, and all would be un
der the watchful eye of the government. Se
curities would be sold only under govern
ment supervision. Judge Grosscup decrys
municipal ownership, but his co-partnership
relation in the ownership of the corporation
is a very close approach to It, If, indeed, it
does not amount to the same thing. The
most cheerful bit of information which the
article contains is that the people of the
United States own a majority of the bank
deposits, which shows that they own a con
trolling interest in the wealth or the country,
but, again, tho corporate interests are founded
upon this wealth. They aro nurtured by It.
Without access to It they would of necessity
find themselves unable to continue their en
terprise of rendering the people poor by the
use of the people's money. The methods of
the Insurance companies furnish a moat tell
ing example of the way In which the pro
mulgators of the trust use the people's money
to build up fortunes for n few choice specu
lators. "The pood, old fashioned notion that
a thing to be possessed must first be earned,"
Is forgotten bv monopoly promoters, whoo
mad passion for money-getting causes then
to Iih nil consciousness that there U such
a force a the people, except as thev may
lvnte tool or stepping sfrmei far tee up.
bullllng of their own fortunes Thlse reU-n
of a few hn produced a dontnin of robbery
which I absolutely lawlesmuu Korerned by
the caprice! of men dominated by money
madneKS. "Toil h capital; frugality h capN