242 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



A democratic ideal makes the social problem inevitable and its attempted 

 solution indispensable. 12 



Seventhly, the popular suspicion that judicial decisions unduly favor 

 the interests of corporate wealth is apparently increasing. The reasons 

 are not far to seek. The road to a judgeship often lies through an 

 attorneyship for some great corporation, and an unconscious if not a 

 conscious bias is believed to follow a man when he ascends the bench. 

 Association with the comfortable and well-to-do is thought to exert a 

 similar influence. The indiscretion of certain prominent jurists in 

 accepting Pullman and other railway passes, and in going on junkets as 

 the guests of railway attorneys whose clients either have or some day 

 may have cases in court naturally arouses suspicion. Active participa- 

 tion in politics by members of the bench, nepotism in the appointment 

 of railway receivers and the distribution of other choice plums, the 

 auctioning off of judicial nominations to the highest bidder, promotions 

 to judgeships as a reward for services rendered political machines 

 closely allied with corporate interests, — these and other infractions of 

 the law of fair play have lessened the prestige of the courts. For- 

 tunately, however, instances of corruption on the bench are still believed 

 to be the exception and not the rule. 



In the eighth place, the most common criticism of the courts does 

 not concern their integrity, but " the comparative inflexibility of the 

 judicial mind, a certain blindness to the changing social and economic 

 order, an exaggerated veneration for ancient principles of law, estab- 

 lished under conditions which no longer apply." 13 Tradition and prec- 

 edent are all well enough as guides in a stationary environment, but 

 they lose much of their utility amid shifting conditions. It is worthy of 

 note that some of the courts are less frequently the target of adverse 

 criticism than others, and the Supreme Court probably least of all. 

 More or less florid rhetoric is occasionally employed in denouncing the 

 decisions of that body, but I do not recall any decision within a life- 

 time against which the taint of dishonor has been brought by any one 

 entitled to belief. Moreover, partly because long years of service on the 

 bench make for a public rather than a private point of view, and partly 

 because climatic, geographical and economic conditions in the United 

 States are more diverse than in any one state, the decisions of the Su- 

 preme Court are relatively flexible. 14 



The legal precedents which have arisen amid rural conditions may 

 prove a misfit in a large city. The reasons are apparent. The rural 

 mind inclines to a minimum of public control. It is jealous of 

 authority. It emphasizes the rights of the individual rather than the 

 social interest. It explains the presence of Bills of Eights in the con- 



12 ibid., p. 25. 



is Walter E. Weyl, op. cit., p. 112. 



14 Frank J. Goodnow, "Social Eeform and the Constitution," pp. 330-331. 



