The San Francisco call., 1897-12-07
RATHER LATE PROTESTING.
The Boston Transcript Scores the
Oregon Lawyers Who Obi scted
to Mckenna's Appointment

Oregon LaWyer Who Obi scted
to Mckenna's App5In; ment.
BOSTON, Dec. 6-Ihe Transcript to-
night publishes the following editorial
"a small section of the bench and bar in
Oregon has invested itself with some no.
torlety by its protest against the proposed
appointment of Attorney General Nc
Kenna to be one Of the Justces of the
l nj ed States Supreme Court. The names
of several United States Judges and about
fifty mem bers Of the Oregon bar are anon g
the signatures, while lending luster TO the
whole is that of George II. Williams bet
ter known to the country twenty odd years
ago by the sobriquet Of Landaulet' Will
hams, whom even Presld ent Grant, with
al! his loyalty to those who had once won
~ goodwill, found be could not afford 10
{Eeep in his Cabinet.
7 There is a well-grounded suspicion
Naat these gentlemen are not stating their
Veal objections in this protest. The osten-
S.ble ground on which it is based is that a
seat on the Supreme Bench ought 10 be
held only by one who in learning, in
tellectual ability and determined charac-
er has shown himself to be among the
lew most eminent OF the legal profession,
and capable OF executing the great trust
. placed upon him, and OF maintaining the
; character for ability and dependence
which has made the Supreme Court of the
United States one OF the first, if not the
very first, OF The tribunals Of the world.
That contention is perfectly sound, but is
II honest and genuine? Can these gentle
men OF the far Northwest demonstrate
that Judge McKenna does not answer
these requirements to a reasonable
degree? If he does not, then their protest
IS suspiciously late.
"If he IS not com petent to sit on the
Supreme bench he is not com petent to be
L.. 4 4 III
and the objections should have been
urged when his appointment to that re-
spOnsible position was under advisement.
1t is, OF course, entirely possible that the
Attorney General is not the best choice
that could be made to succeed
Justice Field, but evidence to the con-
IT ~ ought not to be confined to The sus-
pIcious source from which it now eman-
ates. He was appointed United States
District Judge by a Republican Prcs.-
dent. There was no criticism of his serv-
ice in that important position. His record
Ras so good that another Republican
President selected him for his Attorney.
General. Among his duties in The nine
months during which he has b pld that
position have been the strengthening out
al he Governments IMPLICATED relations
with the Union Pacific Railroad and his
decision upon section % of the DingIey
tariff law. In both these services he h as
appeared 10 nave the interests and the
good name of the country close at heart
at is possib BILE that The latter of these
official acts, which was popular in New
England, old not commend itself TO the
latitude of Oregon, and that Mr.. Williams
and his friends, for reasons of their own,
were disappointed when the Attorney
General gave the coup grace to this
piece of legislative trickery and treach-
cry, and this may be the new light which
has convinced them that il is their tdutv
to the country 10 keep silence no longer
1t is also limited that tlfey voice the
rejudices OF an organization in the back
ground because Mr.. McKenns wor-
SHIPPED God in his own way and says his
PRAYERS in his own way. Ii that were the
bottom reason. of course it would have to
be cloaked with another one for recess
parade. The Oregon manifesto is sus-
picious, and if no more SPECIFIC or better
established charges can be presented,
Judge Mckenna should be In no way
preiudiced by it,"