Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1883-11-16
WASHINGTON LETTER
IRON our Re.ul., corre.ponaen,.l G

|. WASHINGTON ~. N's WV yuii 1908
The visitor ID the Supreme Cour
room while the court is in session maj
find much Of interest in The proceed
ngs, but the nine immaculate sill
gowns that enwrap all the learning
dignity and gravity Of our highest judi,
cial tribunal are shock to his ideas o.
republican simplicity. Not one OF ths
Judges seems to feel at home in thai
somber relic Of a past age, which in
the eighth century was donned only or
occasions Of pronouncing sentence O
the gibbet from the Kings bench. The
American people. reaaed in an atmos-
phere Of democracy, have never ye,
realized. and probably never will real.
lie, that the wearing Of these black
!, mantles lends any greater degree oi
dignity to the bench than the trappings
of Marcus Furius Camilus made him
more terrible in the eyes of those who
ultimately got the best of HIM. Be-
sides these i'll cut mantles have DIS
agreeable faculty Of enticing them
selves above the ears of some of the
members of the court, whose ineffect-
ual attempts to keep them inplace are
at times as ludicrous as they are exas-
perating. One heaves a sigh Of real
pity for Judge Miller, who would un-
questlonably yield years salary for
the privilege ofshedding this gownish,
and we might say clownish, heritage
from the English law. 1t is unbecom.
ing in our peculiar system of govern
ment, and is decidedly Objectionable
to all who have business with the court
The aristocracy of money may have
had something to do with the perpetu.
alton of the custom of robing the judges
in this country, inasmuch as most of
them have been men of large wealth.
The present bench is composed Of
men of business who have always had
weather eye to the main chance.
The chief justice is said to be good fer
half million, while his associates,
Matthews and Blatchford, are equally
endowed with worldly goods. Justice
Gray is one of the Beacon Hill stock
of Grays, all of whom feathered their
nests comfortably in the early days Of
Boston-men who knew how to gather
in and keep what they gathered. JUS
tice Bradley is What might be called
"ell-heeled and so is Justice Har.
lan and Justice Woods. Justice Mil.
Ter, however. is the one exception on
the bench who is not rich, and who,
perhaps, has been unable to accumu.
late owing to the lmpecunioslty of his
Iowa clieutage, to whom his profession.
al services have been rendered for ma.
ny years IN the interests of charity.
The judge has always been generous
to others without being exactly just to
his own household. Judge Field pos
sesses immense wealth, and has an in
come amply sufficient every year to
add fine business block to his already
large possessions in San Francisco.
The social status of the ladies of the
court families as compared with that
of the cabinet ladies' and the fami.
lies of senators. is a subject that often
agitates the society circles of Washing.
ton, and l do not believe 1t has ever
been authorltativel, settled. 1t is still
an opeh question whether the wife of
a senator outranks the better half of a
Supreme Court judge, and whether the
wife of cabinet officer does not out.
rank them both. Mrs Dahlgreen
book on etiquette does not settle the
matter, and in all probability it will re.
main subject of social controversy to
he end of time-or of the republic.
TO many all this may seem trivial, yet {
t should be remembered that the so. I
:ial requirements of those high IN Of. I
ice can scarcely be imagined BY those a
OF familiar with Washington society. {
The families of cabinet members de- =:
:lare that they are the executive branch
If the government, and, therefore, '
lulte The equal, if not the superior, of {
he legislative and judicial branches. e
The social families Of the senators, b
vhen their turn comes. say they should ii
AVE precedence, for. does not the ii
senate decide, after all, whether man y
hall be a judge upon the Supreme n
'ench or member OF TIE cabinet. t
IN mt much ofan authority on these v
ubjects, but in my opinion the Su- C
'reme Court should have social prece- 4
lence. The position and work of the Il
udges is ofgreat importance. A law c
n this country is not . law if it is ques- {
ioned until it shall have been passed I
pom by the Supreme Court. The {
House may pass bill which the Sem j;
tie may pass. The Senate has right +
o reject the House bill, and the P.esi- Il
ent has the power to veto the bill. Fl
rom the action of the House there is e
n appeal; from the action of both n
ouses there is an appeal, but when the 0
upreme Court has decided upon a p
Nv there is no appeal. 1t is final and e
bsolute. Dom PEDRO. 81
.e.- r