The evening times., 1897-12-20

The consideration of the nomination Of
Attorney General McKenia to be associate
justice os the Supreme Court will be taken
up by the Committee on the Judiciary fnl-
metiiateiy upon tide -reconvening of the
Senate. The committee has held no meet
ing and a-sprciai meeting viii no. be caileds
Chairman Hoar thinking there should be NO
hurry IL. disposing Of Inclination SO i'm
por;ant as this. There will be an ABUNDANCE
Of protests fIom the West. but it is not
believed that the senate will reject the
nominal One of the most bitter an
tagonists' Of Judge MeKenna is C. E. s..
Wood. Of Portland, Ore, who. in a letter
written to Senator Hoar, says the opposi-
ton is not confined to oregon. 1t exisIs
largely in California, where the judge is
best -knowi.. aud Ill reality originated in
that STATE. Mr.. Wood says'that WHEN ne
was in California in october last there
was general sentiment there against the
proposed appointment, and the expires don
OF tae bar was almost unanimously to the
effect tn,rt -Sir.-McNenna- was a n exceed
ingiy weak man.
MIR. Wood says the opposition to NJ.
.McKrnns-is- -trolest-and-S -Sf,onta neous, and
that tbrcase of Mr.. Mck.nna is " II rened
by ythsettempt to asc.ib. il to petty motives.
1t appears that the support of Mr. Nc
kenna is political and the opposition pro-
ressiona,, and this fact alone, Senator
Hoars correspondent says, is su riri.nt
TO cause the Senate to hesitate "a ron-
firming tn. nomination.
1t is also said that Influential :aernbers
of the bar on the Pacific coast have writ
ten members of the Supreme Court .ela-
tive to the matter, one prominent district
attorney having indited a long letter
to- Chief Justice Fuller, in which ne dis
cussed the case with great frankness.
One OF the prominent members OF the
Committee on the Judiciary last evening
in discussing the subject with rhe Times,
said that while he believed the Eomina-
tion was a weak one, still it WAS lot
prorable that MIR. MckenRa would re de-
reated. THE fact of the matter is,"
said this Senator. that we have been
getting some very weak timber on our
Supreme Court lately, and the norlin,tten
OF Judge McKenna is, perhaps, as good
as we HaNe a iISHt u eNEtSt. 1Hctc
has been great deal OF criticism in our
committee and on the floor of the Senate
recently about the new membership OF
our court.
Take the case of Chief Justice Fuller,
for instance. No nomination in accent
years was more criticised than that. Mr.
Fuller had never had any experience as
a Judge. He was good collecting lawyer
and nothing more. He was opposed lift
terly in the Senate, and we came within
an ace OF defeating him, and would h1yt
done so had not Sena tors Cullom and Far
well taken State pride interest in the
case, and drummed tie Senate for votes.
Many members of the Senate also looked
upon the nomination of Judge PackIam
by Mr.. Cleveland another one that could
have been improved upon. We defeated
two of Cleveland's nominees and would
have beaten the third had it not been for
the fact that some Senators thought the
country ~roule-think we We're fighting tie
appointing power rather ian being Gesir
Gus of securing a good court.
-.sIn-Harrison's --rasc-we Thought also
that he ha made a mistake when he lie
waited Judge Shiras to the bench. There
were better jurists who might have been
selected, but while there was a spirit of
hostility MI SlIiras was Confirmed. In
all these cases State pride figured q
great deal and Senator'S regardless Of
political affiliaIion worked for the con-
firmation Of the men nominated, except
in the case of the two New Workers whom
we defeated, and it is no secret how
ex-senator Hill worked in those cases.
''State pride is having much to do with
the McKenna nomina tion. Although he Is
a Republican, both Senators, the one a
Republican and the other Democrat,
are working hand in hand for his Con -irina-
ton. He will be confirmed, but :,elieve
the President has made mistake. He
was warned against it by some IT the
best lawyers in the Senate, but Mt.
Mckinley insisted upon having his way.
I never heard anything against the IN
tcgnty OF Judge NcKenna; not in the
least. simply do not regard him as
brainy man, and those who know Lin
best say he is a Poor reasoDer"