Page:The autobiography of a Pennsylvanian.djvu/221

 modern life. Its most complicated and involved processes of ratiocination and its most elaborately established principles concern the acquisition, ownership and transfer of property, and they are, therefore, of comparatively minor importance. In the long run it is of little moment which of two men secures the moneys in dispute. He who wins may be the worse off because he has won and he who loses has suffered no irreparable harm. The treasures of the earth are still within his reach. A man may exert as high an intellectuality and as much mental acumen in playing a game of chess as Napoleon did in planning the battle of Austerlitz, but when it is over he has only played a game. The Knights Templar are well dressed, carry short swords, and march with accuracy, but the swords never cut and the steps lead nowhere. Decisions of questions involving the rights of property require much learning and skill and have their uses, but their effect upon humanity is neither very deep nor very permanent. I have known judges who, sitting in the quarter sessions and regarding the work as of little consequence, would tell the district attorney to proceed with the trials and they themselves retire into their chambers. I have known others who looked upon the betrayal of a woman as a mere peccadillo, and the stealing of money as the most heinous of offenses. All of these judges were mistaken. The most important questions which arise in the courts are those which concern personal liberty. The worst of crimes are those which involve brutality to man and beast, and the abuse of women and children.

It is a satisfaction to me to remember that during the fourteen years I sat on the bench no man was ever tried for a crime before me, even the least serious, without my having analyzed the evidence on both sides, and no man was ever convicted and punished unless that evidence convinced me that he had committed the offense. The most difficult matters to determine with any assurance Rh