Life, 1912-01-11 · page 9 of 40
Life — January 11, 1912 — page 9: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical article critiques the judicial system's failures. The top illustration shows well-dressed figures in top hats representing judges and legal professionals, likely commenting on their formal detachment from justice. The main text discusses how the Cayuga County Bar Association called for investigating judicial conduct, with judges reversing verdicts and criminal justice being "lamentably lax." The article sarcastically notes that public scrutiny of judicial failures is useful for determining "whether justice has been promoted." The "Happy Daze" cartoon (bottom right) depicts a portly figure—likely Secretary Hitchcock—requesting Congressional funds for experimental postal and aeronautical delivery systems. This appears to mock government spending proposals and bureaucratic inefficiency as absurdly balanced against each other.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ARWALKEA Poking Up the Judges HE recall is not the only way to intimate to a judge that his de- portment is not satisfactory. At Au- 5 the Cayuga County Bar ion passed a resolution on De- cember 5, calling upon the Judiciary Committee of the House of Represen- talives to investigate the personal, po- litical and judicial acts of United States District Judge Ray. The Au- burn bar doesn’t like Judge Ray's manners and is going to try to better them, The proceeding looks salutary. It is responsible, orderly, and directed apparently to the accomplishment of a good end. Our neighbor, Collier’s Weekly, has been printing pictures of judges who have reversed verdicts on absurd tech- nicalities. This also looks salutary. When the case is described and the judge’s opinion and the reason for it are given, the public is helped to con- sider whether justice has been pro- moted. The administration of justice in this country is far from being what it should be, The administration of OLD FOLKS YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY criminal justice is lamentably lax. New trials are granted sometimes for absurd reasons, as the omission of a letter in a word in the indictment, or contraction of the name of a State. The fault is not so much with the judges as with the system. To better that, many good minds are working; the President is Solicitous about it, and able judges and lawyers protest against existing defects and urge legislation and reforms that will ob- viate them. There are sound objec- tions to the recall of judges, but the disposition towards the recall springs not from impatience with just rulings, but from weariness and disgust be- cause. of failures of justice. ECRETARY HI iCOCK, in his report, asks Congress for $30,000 to experiment with a parcels post and $50,000 to experiment with carrying mail by aeroplane. These two re- quests are nicely balanced, revealing to a cent Mr. Hitchcock’s comparative mystification over a parcels post which is in use in all parts of Europe and over an aeroplane mail which is not in use at all. LARA (blushing): T just heard again from Jack. Mavup: He writes a splendid love letter, doesn't he? HAPPY DAZE