New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-01-03
MR. LIMdTs UNFITNEss AS 4 LAWYER
WITH LITTLE LEGAL LEARNING AND no INDUSTRY
MS PLACE IN TIE sUPKEME COURT WOULD

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WITH LITTLE LEGAL LEARNING AND no INDUSTRY
MS PLACE IN THE suPKEME COURT WOULD
BE WORSE THAN EMPTY.
TO the Editor Of The Tribune.
SIR: TnE TRIBUNE hns never undertaken .
work more praiseworthy than that in which it Is
now Engaged, viz: the defeat of the shameful
attempt to Load the Supreme bench with Mr..
Lamar. How any Senator, who is not bound by
party ties to sustain act Of the President, can
be Influenced to vote for his confirmation passes
comprehension. I do not object to him as South
ern man, or even as rebel though no rebel living
not even Jefferson Davis himself, has given more
conspicuous or offensive proof of his loyalty to
the lost cause" If the South is entitled to the
vacant seat land think she Isl suppose it would
be hard for the President to find fit man there
who did not aid or sympathize with the rebellion
But, at least he might find lawyer whose train
ing and experience bear some relation to the
work he is expected to perform.
The nomination Of Mr.. Lamar to the Supreme
Court of the United States is simply grotesque
/ affirm that no President ever nominated for
seat on that bench man so utterly unfit as he in
oil the qualities essential to the bench except
integrity. which / fully concede to him. Could
the President have had any conception OF what
must be the mental equipment Of man who Is
fitted for that high office? He ought to have
known that now, more even than in the past, the
work of that tribunal requires the most learned
and able lawyers that the bar can furnsli-and
lawyers too, who have not only the physical
vig0r for steady and hard work but the taste
for, and training n thu science and practice or
the law which makes that work labor OF love.
For Of all judicial positions ever held by man since
courts were organized none ever required such
variety of learning does the bench OF our SUI
prene Count Some people seem TO think that the
Judges sit there only to decide questions 81 Con-
stitutiona law. Well that is one OF their highest
and gravest functions. But it is only one and
comparatively infrequent one Day after day:
year after year, they encounter every klnd ot
legal puzzle that the infinite variety or human
affairs can present for solution, and their solution
must be final No human wisdom sits arbiter on
their decisions ID Demands on them so various and
charged with consequences grave, not only
weigh them down with re- ponsblity, but exact
the constant excrc!s of the highest ana oest
equipped faculties
absurd rs to pretend that he has either the learn
ing or the experience for this work. Any practice
he may have had in his youn Ger days in MISSISSIPPI
or elsewhere, brief and meagrc as it must nave
been, would not have fitted him for their local
bench During and since the war his experiences
have been in public life, but not Mt the bar nor IN
lie is so little fitted for judicial work that he can
not tell the names of the Reports from their
abbreviated titles And the judges OF thl S4premt
court. know these things to Re true; They are al
saying so and deprocating this unhappy appoint
msnt a Thy do no and %
tcous honorable and manly that he has certain
culture in lighter literature which gives some rhc-
able speaker. though hardly the brilliant orator
that some Of his Southern friends describe him TO
be- But all this is not the solid amor OF Judge
Of the Supreme Court ard it would be gross
wrong to the hardworllcd monhers Of that court to
send 10 their aid so light weiglt.
IF the President does not understand what klnd
= Al. III %l.o 70 SIn
the Senate confirm this nominating The Oldest
and most influential Senator'S on both SIDES OF the
Chambss I"W tha. What say Of MT d Lamar b0
ever painful IL his their plain dnty 70 advise his
rejection There are Southern Senators who know
his unftness, but they will probably vote FOR hn
The country will await with curious interest 'hr
action OF the Republican Senators on whom his
fate depends. And it is to he hoped that What ~"
he will no onfrmcd ny Senators who find II their
professional interest 70 stand well with new mem
Der Of the Supreme Court. ALAwfEh'
Harrington. d. c., Dec. 30 1887
FAILING TO DELIVER THE SUNDAY PAPERS
To Me Editor ~ rhs Tribune
srR Again morning. fer the third or fonrth tine
within few weeks, there failure to deliver the
New-York Sunday aorning newspapers 70 mall sub
scrbers in and this city The Sunday pasers are
now read by largo number Of people here, and when
thsy allowed to lie IN some neglected mailing until
the ext day. or are of distant city by rushing
and everwsr1el mai cisrK tSe supse'ioo's "'o "~'u
rally disappointed When the bnader Is repeated sunday
after Sunday these psoplo begin to grOwl they feel
somebody must be responsible and demand that the
evil be remedIed This mor,ing only one Of the New
York newspapers reached tue Kingston Office. All the
others are their way Chicago. and will doubtless
turn up tomorrow II Intercepted In time. Two weeks
age THE TRIBUNE package for Kingston was SAINT to
Washington and get back here next day. fssthastor
Gillespie seems unable to explain the trouble definitely
While 10 inclined to believe that once In long whils
the fault maj with the publication offices In not de
vering their packages In tims to catch the fast mail
train he tho railway mail clsrks rushed Win
wsrk the sunday mail being especially large. the emily
wonder IA that mistakes not more frequent Oeca-
sonay during the week the CLERKS unable to got the
mail oat In time and the papers are carried past the
bnebeck statsn to be rsurns later In the day IRese
\. ia are &c uti uually increasing la volume.
But this Is only OF the reasons why the service
should be oven prompt than ever. Many on this
side of tho river laquirng why all thcse malls Tor
the west cities and VILLAGES not gov sent by the
West shsrs Railway. Musa delay would thus be avoided
md better tnle made. 4,
Kiuoston n z Ian. l, 1883.