Show A DANGEROUS SENTIMENT benator enuce colored re ea rister glater of the united states treasury la Is credited with having ex expressed preas a very dangerous sentiment a day or two ago speaking of the recent supreme court decision on the civil rights eights bill he Js is represented as baying git it does doss not reflect the sentiment of the peocla as a court decision ought to do it is difficult to comprehend how bow n supposedly Een sensible capable and intelligent man could entertain GO lyo mischievous a view as expressed in that sentence ben aen what would be the result if it prevailed in the courts of the country coa con their judicial functions proper wo would iid nid be abolished and the chief bulwarks bulwa of human liro lifo and liberty swept away avay it would only devolve upon them to meer weer ascertain the popular sentiment on an any Y subject t requiring their cognizance and ac action lon ion and give their decie decisions ions lons accord accordingly egly fab public jo sentiment should not enter into the decisions of courts at all except it be in harmony with the constitution and laws jaws made in un uni bon eon bon with that glorious instrument unfortunately the popular feeling is too often in opposition to the right the masses not being disposed to investigate matters of moment and bound sound them in all their depths with the touchstone of reason are often swayed by prejudice and liable to ba b influenced in their bearings by designing knaves and demagogues they are apt to be ba inclined by the influence of passion or self belf interest and their sentiment should never govern thedrol the deol blans of the courts whose chief glory consists in the to not act dispassionately and after the most careful research and consideration when the popular sentiment and the spirit and intent of the law jaw are harmonious then the courts are doubly strong when they decide in the proper direction we have havo always held the opinion since the agitation of the liquor question in northern utah that the sentiment of the people opIe ople in favor of prohibition bi was wad in unison with the intent of the law though the purport was somewhat vaguely expressed their honors of the supreme court of the territory appeared to tako take a different view however and their decision fell in favor of the liquor traffic we cite this as an instance of the popular p ular sentiment being in conformity nty with the genius kenius of the law and with which we consequently do not think the court would havo have erred in deciding in harmony we are afraid ex senator benator bruce expresses a view that is altogether too prevalent already and the insidious spread of sueh such an opinion is dangerous to tho commonwealth it if it t once fairly took hold of the j judiciary adael of the country it would reduce the government to chaos men clothed with the ermine are as human as other people of all existing safeguards in the body politic the judiciary Is by far the most important and it is a deplorable fact that there is none too much confidence in thea the judicial structure as a whole now this fact la Is felt more forcibly by a community like this than any other the men who preside in the courts of utah are placed in their positions without the sanction of the people and in view of the prejudice abroad against the majority of the citizens kept in a state of chronic activity by a small band of designing demagogues who reside here perhaps in no other nield field are the inducements so eo strong for the courts to be s swayed way by general sentiment in place of the merits of matters in litigation the people hero here have occasionally suffered severely in consequence men who have occupied positions on een ean ciment tl as their guide and decided times almost without number in opposition to the law and constitutional principles temporary wrong wrongs in this way InflIct edy eds might often have been rendered permanent but for the intervention of dispassionate decrees of the supreme tribunal of the land the constitution Is the supreme law of the land but in ex senator brutes estimation popular sentiment should be lifted to that exalt ed position the expression of such a view as that is an incipient plea in n favor of mob law |