Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-05-20

Justice Fuller this morning. Had Justice
| Shiras retained his old position in respect
to the consttutionality of the law, it would
today have been sustained by the addition
of Justice Jackson's voice in its favor.
The Crowded Court Room.
In anticipation of the announcement of
the opinion of the court the Supreme Court
room was crowded long before the hour
of convening. By a few minutes after IL
all of the seats in that small portion of
the room devoted to the public were oc-
| cuped, and by 12:15 the bar itself was
filled. There was the usual number of
handsomely dressed women in the throng,
| ID the scene was quite gay one, as the
justices fled into the court room. Quite
number of distinguished men occupied
seats in the bar. Among these were Sena-
tors Hawlev Squire and Mitchell of Ore
gon; Representatives Grosvepor and Hare,
ex-Representatives Butterwortk and Kas-
son. Controller Bowler, eX-First Controller
Lawrence, and the District bar was repre-
sented by Alessrs. Sheilaoarzer, J. NJ. Will
son, J. j. Darlington, Calderoa Carlisle,
H. E. Davis, eX-Commissioner Douglass
and others.
Attorney General Olney and his assistant,
Mr.. Whitney, reached the court room short
ly before IL and greeted Mr.. James c. Car
ter, the only member of the staff of counsel
for the appellants who was present.
When the Justices Entered.
There was a buzz of expectation running
through the court room when the doors
leading to the robing room were opened and
the arrival of the court was announced.
Chief Justice Fuller bore in his right hand
a bundle of papers, which was carefully
scrutinized by the crowd in the absurd
how of ir:, ;,lyl +,,ai-
tents Justice Gray's usually inscrutable
face wore sphynxlike smile as he sur
veyed the large crowd from his towering
height Justice Jackson, whom many sup
posed to be the arb.ter of the fate of the
law, seemed more feeble than usual as he
took his seat.
Justice Shiras was apparently under
great nervous strain, for his brow was
deeply furrowed and his lips were tightly
compressed when. after the formal prelimi-
naries of opening the court had been OBJ
served the chief justice, without a word of
warning, read the titles of the cases on
which the fate of the law depended, and
Immediately proceeded to read from
closely written manuscript the judgment of
the court
The Chief Justice Read 1t.
The chief Justice read in low but clear |
did ne raise his eyes from the manuscript
to look into the court room beyond the bar |
but confined mis- attention entirely to the
document which he was reading, and |
which he consumed with great speed
He occupied about forty-five minutes in |
its delivery, although it was apparently |
much longer than the dissenting opinion |
of Justice Harlan. which occupied an hour |
Justice JncksOn's Return.
Justice jackson, who appeared the |
Supreme Court bench so Unexpectedly to |
every one, his associates included, returned |
to the city today from Philadelphia, where |
he has been under the care of Dr. Pepper |
AS Justice Fuller proceeded in his read |
ing the belief of those who were present |
that the law would not be sustained was |
gradually verified and enforced from the |
frequent assaults which the opinion made |
upon the character of the tax as direct |
tax. The question merely was whether the |
judgment, of the court would go so far as |
to declare the entire law void or whether |
1t would rest with the destruction of those |
sections which impose a levy upon rents, |
the incomes from bonds and the product of |
personal property. 1t cannot be said, there
fore, that the final conclusions of the court |
were surprise to those assembled The
surprise came when Justice Harlan rem
dered the dissenting opinion, but it was |
not based upon the fact of his dissenting,
for his views were well defined on the pre-
ceding occasion.
Justice Harlan's Dissent |
Justices of the Supreme Court, in render |
ing opinions, are usually content with a |
calm, unbroken statement of their views |
which are usually read from manuscript in |
- a most uninteresting style. Not so how |
ever, with Justice Harlan today Almost |
at the beginning he began to gesture and TO |
address his remarks so forcibIy to the MEM |
mers of the bar that they were quite pre- |
pared when, warming up with his theme,
he finally turned deliberately to the Chief |
Justice. who sits next to him, and gesticu-
lated almost in his very face.
Justice Harlan's opinion throughout had
a caustic tone, almost of sarcasm. He did
not. of course, descend to humor to IL
lustrate his points, but at one time quoted
from the brief of one of the counsel for
the plaintiff in reference to the distinc-
tions between the tax on a 1O-cent dog
and one valued at $1,000 and so pointedly
did he address his references to the case
in hand that the auditors were thrown into
a state of very undignifed hilarity
Justice Harlan's opinion caused many
grave faces among those who heard him
render this impassioned and at times elo-
quent protest against the demolition of the
law. Some of his phrases caused a thrill
of sensation to run through the assem-
blage. When he said that he regarded this
judgment with the gravest apprehension
gray-bearded lawyers moved uneasily in
their seats and looked at one another with
concern.
When he said that this decision would
tend to re-es tablish a condition of help
lessness on the part of the American ad-
minstration, there was q general lifting
Of eyebrows, and men who had been up to
this point somewhat amused at the almost
vehement utterances of the justice began
to look more serious.
''If this new view of the Constitution
shall become accepted and fixed" said the
justice, with bitter sarcasm, ne turaed
his face toward the chief of the bench,
sitting beside him, "the American people
cannot too soon amend their Constitu-
ton"
Justice Haran's concluding remarks
made the impression of wonder and sur
prise felt by those in the audience still
more marked. After declaring that d logi-
cal result of the judgment which threw
out all the law because some parts of it
were void would be to invaltlate the en-