The Wise Men of the Land of Morning
I Kadi the Judge of the true Laud
hear an unjust Occidental Judge
called "Kadi" In derision, and aa
a term to describe his low moral standard.
In truth, we western peoples who are lost
in the complexities of legislation and prece
dent, extending backward for ages, havs
much to learn from the simple, and clear
logic of the Oriental Kadi.
I do not refer to the Kadi who holds court
In European Turkey, or even In the western
parts of Asiatic Turkey, where the subtle
ties of law bare begun to make their way
from civilized Europe.
Western culture has touched these Kadis
and tbelr education has made them largely
European, because many of them have
studied In German, Austrian and French
colleges. They may be Oriental still In
form and habits, but thoy are not perme
ated with Orientalism as are the Kadis of
the truo cast, where HTe still Is much like
the life described by the story tellers of
the Arabian Nights.
Presumably, the general Occidental Idea
that the Kadi Is a corrupt and cruel Judge,
springs directly from the stories In those
same Arabian Nights. The ' generality of
people do net Btop to realize (although it la
plain though) that the Oriental story teller
Is a satirist, and that he portrayed not the
typical Kadi, but the exceptional one.
In the lands in the east of Palestine and
farther east of them and In Arabia, sit the
Kadis of whom I have knowledge, and who
typify the Kadi of the Orient. Of course,
there are corrupt and wicked and cruel and
ignorant men among them, as there are in
any class or profession in all parts of tho
world. But, as a whole, the Kadis are re
markable men with wisdom as great todaj
as It was In the days when there began the
tales of the wise and deep Judgments of the
Oriental Judges.
The story of the Jar of Olives has Its
duplicate today in real life In many similar
Instances of simple clear-sightedness and
of verdicts that are delivered according to
no Iron formula of written laws, but ac
cording to the dictates of common sense,
vitalised by thorough knowledge of the
human heart.
Among these kadis are men who never
have traveled from their little villages and
towns hidden away In the edges of deserts,
and living still In the day of the caravan.
Among them are men who have been Kadis
for forty years, and who sit, ever' serene
and placid, listening to Interminable stories
of petty village disputes, with no sign of
Impatience or weariness.
Preserving the Public Domain for Actual Settlers
XV I bers of senate and house met In
interlcr In secret session a short
time before congress adjourned.
They were there at the request of the sec-'
retary, and the assistant attorney general
was also present in advisory capacity. The
question under discussion was the rather
large one as to whether congress sboulJ
pass a law allowing the government to
lease to the cattle and sheep rangers of
the west the remaining 500,000,000 acres of
public lands.
The conference In the secretary's office
developed the most serious differences of
opinion as to the wisdom ot such a course
and comments exchanged were at times by
no means pleasantries. Wyoming declared
emphatically for leasing; Colorado, Mon
tana, Washington and other states, through
their representatives present, declared
their emphatic opposition for all time
.against any move to authorize the leasing
of the public lands.
Finally Nebraska came into tbe wrangle
with a proposition that a leasing law
should be enacted applicable to that state
alone, with the idea, of course, that It It
worked well Its operations could be ex
tended by congress to other states. Thus
was bcrn the so-called Nebraska leasing
law.
At a meeting of the senate committee
on public lands, held subsequent to the
conference with the secretary. Senator
Dietrich of Nebraska entered the room
with a large bundle of papers In bis hand.
Giving them to the clerk he said: "There
Is the end of the Nebraska leasing bill so
far as I am concerned. Tbe big cattlemen
say It does not give them enough and the
little cattlemen are arming to resist it."
Senator Dietrich, who Introduced and stood
sponsor for this bill, might have gone fur
ther and told cf tbe contents of tbe papers
be handed to the committee clerk. They
contained protests against bis bill which
ranged frcm a Joint resolution of the Ne
braska legislature to the kick of a single
cowman. And thus died the Nebraska
leasing bill.
Judge Van Devanter. the outgoing as
sistant attorney general, has stated that he
dce3 Dot bolieve a law can be drawn for
leasing the great area of public domain
which will be Just to all in'erests af
fected. Peihapr this Is true, but there 1)
a widespread belief that there must be
some way out of what Is apparently a
hopeless tangle. In time a system of graz
ing licenses will be evolved which will
permit Ct the scientific as well as the prac
tical adniinlstratiop cf the tremendous
Isnded estate of the people of thU coun
try. Such a measure will create no vested
These Judges are In love with their pro
fession; power and prosperity do not weigh
With them against their ardor In the study
of man; they are not impatient nt the pet
tiness of a case, because to them no act of
humanity Is petty. It Is the man whom
they Judge and not his trivial acts.
I have seen these men sit In Judgment.
Day after day they are as calm and self
ooutalned as the sands that stretch away
from their gates.
The secret of it Is that they have no
doubts. No tangle'ot previous decisions ot
conflicting statutes or constitutionality or
policy confronts them. Every Judgment
goes back to the fountain head the Koran.
It answers all their questions. It is the
compass that guides the ship ot law In the
true Orient.
These Kadis do not venture to sit la
Judgment If thej are 111 or perplexed by
private affairs or unhappy because of mis
fortune, of themselves or friends. They will
not even sit In Judgment If they are hungry
or thirsty. They will not Judge it they
are In haste to be gone.
Not long ago I saw a witty article
written by a really experienced and keen
traveler, in which he told about the calm
ness with which an Oriental kadi ad
journed his court because he wished to take
some refreshment and smoke his pipe. I
suppose that this story, which was en
tirely correct as to facta, Imprrssed those
who read It with the autocracy and bar
baric clmpllclty of Justice In Arabia, where
the traveler witnessed the scene.
But, as a matter of fact, that occurrence
was a typical prcof of the conscientiousness
of the Oriental kadi. For what says the
Koran for his direct guidance?
"Thou shalt not Judge, oh. Judge, hast
thou pain within thy bedy. dost thou feel
thy spirit troubled for thy son, doat thou
sorrow for thy friend! Thou shalt not
Judge, oh, Judge, feclest thou hunger or
dost thou thirst, until thou hast reached
a spring to refresh thee! Thou bhalt not
Judge, oh. Judge, feclest thou In thy soul
that Uod bath not willed It to let thee
Judge!"
"What!" ea!d an old kadi to me when I
praised a certain German Jmlg end, in
poof of It, told how he had sit awake all
night studying a case and then hid sat for
twelve hours to hear It In court. "What!
Do you mean to tell me, O Glur, that he
dared to alt In Judgment whori he was
weary and fatigued so that his soul and
mind were not at peace? Unhappy Judges
of the Evening Lands, to whem ths sweet
est duty of man means wretchedness! For
rights for temporsry occupants, will give
no shadows ot titles, no monopolies, and
will help rather than hinder tettlcnient by
homesteaders.
All legislative battles are not fought on
filings. When It is realized that no land
the flocr of bouse or senate. In thi pages
of tbe Congressional Record or even In the
committee rcom. Many really serious and
Important contests never ccme closa
enough to the surface to receive official
recognition even In the preliminary stages
of congressional procedure. For years past
there has wagod a relentless campaign for
the control of the great landed property ot
Ihe United States. Beginning with an area
of over 1,000,000,000 acres ot land held In
trust for the people by tbe representatives
In congress, these vast possession have
been decreased year by year through sale,
grant, gift and ether innumerable ways In
-which land can be transferred from one
owner to another, until tbe unappropriated
public domain tcday amoun s In r:ur.d num
bers to about 600,000,000 acres.
After a struggle, only equalled In the
history of land legislation by the great
fight which resulted in ths tna ttnent of the
homestead law In 1862, congress passed the
national reclamation act ot a year ago and
created a revolving fund, which will shortly
amount to abcut $20,000,000, to reclaim the
fertile but arid territory ot the western
states. President Roosevelt In bis first annual
message laid down tbe principle that "suc
cessful home-making is but another name
for the upbuilding or a nation." In bis
message of last December be again called
attention to the notorious and outrageous
ur.e of tbe present land laws. Great, bow
ever, Is the political power of the landed
interests of the sparsely settled western
states.
In the years of the great trek to the
west, when thousands upon thousands of
native-born Americans and incoming for
eigners were pushing tbe line of settlement
west of the Mississippi, where the earth
needed but tickling with the plow to- pro
duce sure harvest. It was then believed that
the land business of Uncle Sam bad reached
Its highest point. This belief was Justified
by the events ot tbs few yesrs following
the 80s, tor Instead of alienating 25.
000,000 or 26.OC0.0O0 acres of land a year to
settlers, grantees and others, the amount
disposed of annually fell to not over one
bait, or even less.
In the year 1900 public attention was first
thoroughly aroused to the great value for
the future of the remaining public land aa
an outlet for Increasing population, a rem
edy for scclal disorder, and as the future
sourrn of a food supply, which, from present
' Indications, will become absolutely neces
sary within a few brief years. Speculation
surely no man ran do Justice unless ha I
happy and at rest with himself and ths
wcrld!"
"And are you never unhappy?" I asked,
"when you fare a complex case that puixlce
you?"
"Nay," said he. "We are never unhappy
when we Jud(,e. It we be unhappy, we do
not Judie."
And so they sit, white bearded, undis
turbed, patient, while fifty witnesses swear
before them concerning a missing camel
bridle or the right to get water at a welt.
And when all the evidence la In they Judge
as carefully and conscientiously as If the
fate cf the Moslem world depended on their
verdict.
These men are truly at rest. They have
made the good fight, for they can become
Km) Is only after they have made It. They
huvc no ambitions save to fulfill the words
rf the Kcran. They smile at the strife that
plays brforc them, and maintain their own
souls in quietness.
Therefore the Kadi is not merely a Judge
In cases of law. He Is the WUo Man of
the distil;;. Men come to him with their
quarrels tnd disputes and embarrassments
to be Judged, even when the cases are not
at all within legal Jurisdiction.
In Arabia and the Eastern Asiatic Tur
key a man cannot become Kadi by accident
ot birth and station or by favor of politics
or other Influence. He must choose the
profession and train himself to It from
early youth.
When the Oriental boy Is 12 years old
he must enter the Medresn, a theologlual
government school. If he wishes, to enter
either the theological or legal profession.
There he learns tho Koran by heart. It la
expounded for him minutely, passage by
passage. He Is known as a Uofta while
he Is studying. When he knows the Koran
thoroughly, so that he can hold his own
In arguments with the teachers, he as
sumes the name of Hafls. and preparea
for bis examination. A atudent rarely rises
to the degree of Halls until he Is 20 years
old.
When ho passes the examination be must
choose at once between theology nod the
law. Having chosen the latter, bo faces
fire years of study even harder than any
that baa gone before. During that time be
must make himself proficient In logic,
rhetoric, morals, phllsophy, theology sd
lav.
Then be Is ready to pass the examination
which shall entitle him to become a kadl.
But be Is not advanced to that dignity im
mediately after he baa passed the examina
and discussion became rife as to how beat
to conserve these values for present and
future home-makers. Tbe owners of lar .
herds &nd flocks, land and timber specula
tors, and others who saw benefit direct or
Indirect In controlling large areas ot real
estate, recognised in this agitation a serious
menace to their operations and sot about
the task of anticipating any action congress
might be induced to take.
The land grabbe-rs found it easy to accom
plish their purpose under the present land
laws and tbe methods of administration
which prevail In the land office. In the first
place tho government requires only that the
legal forms Involved In securing land shall
be letter perfect, and the receivers and
registers of the land offices In the various
western districts look no further Into the
practical application of the law f.ian might
bo included In a view frcm their office win
dows. Under the present system they are
machines for filling out blanks and not con
servators or guardians of tbe people's In
terests. The prlnclplo underlying all land legisla
tion ot the Untied States from the begin
ning has been that each citizen should be
given a farm in return for which he was
to live upen the' land or so improve It as
to benefit not enly tho new community of
which he thus formed a part, but thu coun
try as a whole by Increasing tbe aggregate
wealth. That this principle has ceased to
govern the land office in its disposal of the
public land, except purely In theory, la a
notorious fact proved by figures startling
and compelling.
Of all the thousands cf desert land en
tries, for iustance, whlih have been filed
In the last ten years, the land office only
Investigated 472, and out of these 297 were
found fraudulent and eventually cancelled.
The highest number of fraudulent claima
Investigated were upon tho one point of
speculative Intent on the part of the set
tler, and In this respect Wyoming holds an
unenviable position at the head of the Hat.
Of twenty-three cases investigated In
Wyoming nineteen of them were found
fraudulent, or about 85 per cent of the
filings are Investigated except tboM In re
gard to which special contest or Informa
tion Is filed, and that In most cases there
Is no one so Interested or so adventurous
as to contest bis neighbor's claim, tbe per
centage of fiaud In the cases actually in
vestigated becomes of startling significance.
In lfcJO tho government of tbe United
States deeded away over 13,500,000 acres of
land; in 1901 these disposals reached a
total ot 16.000.COO acres, a figure which
startled tho country In its enormous pro
portions. In 1902, however, there was a
gain of 4,C00,CK acres, and tbe disposals
made by the government reached the enor
tion, for the most Important and dis
tinctive part of th training has still to
com. He must become one of the poor
and Irarn their dally life, their tempta
tions and their scrrows, by hard, personal
experience.
This stage of his career lasts three years
and almost all Us conditions are rigidly
prescribed. He must practice In court dur
ir,, that time, taking the esses of the poor.
Ills Income from tills source la almost nom
inal and he must keep hhnsrlt nllve by
earning a petty Income with all kinds ot
hard, mean toil. So he learns tho world In
which he is to be a Judge, for be struggles
for exlutenre as do the people who will
come before blm some day to be Judged.
But though he experiences their priva
tions and their temptations he may not
stumble liko them. "To become a Judge,
ch Halls, the green cloth that thou wearest
around they fes must be ever unaolled." la
the law. It la bitter, hard service. But
they who go through It untarnished are
wise when they emerge. They are what
the koran demands when It says that only
a human being who has bworao a true
man shall dare to Judge other human be
lnr.s. Hans Forsten, the Oriental's', who knows
tbo true eastern Judge better, probably,
than does any other European today, tells
in a recent work ot his talk with kad of
Bated a tnlk which Illustrates what I
have said here about tho class.'
" 'Poor Judges ct tho unbelievers,' said
the kadl of fiafeil. Harsan Hey, to roe,
after ho had reud several articles from
tho Turkish law to me, and I had. In turn,
explained to him about the duties of our
Judges. 'Poor Judges of tho unbelievers!
How often you must ruffer painful hours
owing to your duties!'
"That was strange to beer from tho lips
of a man who had been a kadl bidden away
In that little hamlet In Palestine for firty
years and in that time had heard little
or nothing about Eurcpean Judges. When
I asked him If he had never, for even a
moment, repented his ch-.iloe cf a profes
sion, tho aged man smiled and answered:
" 'Not for a moment. How can one feel
repentance tor that which gives blm Joy?'
"A-rd that truly Is tho rccret ct the
Judge of the Orient," concludes Forsten.
"They- are peaceful. I know more than
one. Their .prfsion gives thmn Joy.
We ready pretty Arabic etorlcs of tho as
tounding Judgments of the kadis. The
stories are true ot today. The kadis are
ho wise men of tbo I-andJ of tho Morn
ing." LUDWIO II. SOUOEN.
mous aggregate of nearly 20,000,000 acres.
At the rate which has prevailed during ths
first six months of tho fiscal year of 1903
the disposals will probably amount to at
least 2o,C00,0C0 acres, or fully as much as
was alienated at any time lr!rig the great
rush of emigration to tho west.
The population of the west Is not In
creasing proportionately with this present
rate of lard dlspconl. In fact. In states
where millions of acres have been deeded
away to Individuals there has been an ac
tual decrease of the agricultural population.
All this simply means that under the
homestead law as It stands today, under
the desert land act, a measure born In
selfishness and chicanery, and under ths
timber and stone act the people of the
United States are being robbed of their
landed estate, whlefe. Lord Macauley said,
Is the only thing which stands between ths
people of this country and the time when
will come the real test of republican In
stitutions. In the city of Washington, about the lob
bies of the hotels, In the corridors of the
capltol. In tbe ante-room of the president's
office, signs of this great struggle for ths
control of this tremendous empire wert ap
parent dally during the session of congress.
The tide surges from one end of the capltol
to the other. The big tango Interests ot the
west have done and are doing everything In
their power to get a measure through con
gress which will enable them to Inclose with
fences great areas of land upon which In
time thousands of cabins can and will be
built by homescekers If these fences do not
materialize.
During the last winter quiet but effective
work has been done by those who are aware
of the pernicious use to which the present
Isnd laws are being put, and, as public sen
timent has been aroused to tbe real situa
tion, the demand for a change of method is
becoming more general. Tbe situation Is
such today that It would practically be Im
possible to get any bill through congress
which violated tbs now well-established
principle of the conservation of the publlo
land for homeseekers so clearly set forth
by President Roosevelt In his two messages
to congress.
He Cleared It
"Will you allow me a moment to cloar
my threat?" huskily begged the con
demned borsethlcf, with tears In bis eyes.
"Yes," said the leader of ths vigtlanco
committee.
With a quick movement ot his hands,
which they had neglected to tie, he slipped
the rope from his neck, leaped from ths
barrel on which he was standing, mounted
the fleetest horse la ths lot and was off
like a shot. Chicago Tribune. '
