Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-02-24

The very frequent mention of the
name of Judge Henry Clay Caldwell.
of Little Rock, Ark, presiding Judge
of the Federal Court of Appeals, as
Vice Presidential candidate on the
Democratic ticket, has aroused much
favorable comment in all parts of the
country, but particularly in The Middle
Mississippi valley, where the distin-
guished jurist is so well known and adj
mired, while here, in the locality of
his nativity, the idea has met with
distinct approval.
Judge Caldwell is brother Of ex-
Mayor B. F. Caldwell, and was born
on the waters of Grave creek, Marshall
county, just east of the present town OF
Glendale, September 4, 1882, his par
ents being Van and Susan Caldwell.
In 1886 his parents removed to Iowa,
and the future Judge was reared in
that State, attending school at Keasau-
qua, Van Buren, county, and later
studied law in the office of Wright C
Knapp, in that town. When but twen-
ty years of age he was admitted to the
bar, and became member of the firm,
which thus continued until the out
break of the civil war. During this
period Judge Caldwell served two
terms in the Iowa Legislature, and was
chairman of the Committee on the
Judiciary, performing valuable SER
vice.
When the war commenced he enlist
ed and was commissioned major of the
Third Iowa cavalry, but for conspicu-s
GUS and gallant service he soon rose
to be Lieutenant Colonel and then Col
onel. His service was chiefly In the
trans Mississippi department.
In 1864 President Lincoln. appointed
him United States District Judge for
the district of Arkansas, and he held
that office until 1890, when President
Harrison made him Circuit Judge, to
succeed Judge Brewer, who had been
elevated to the Supreme bench. As
Circuit Judge he has presided over
many courts, in many notable cases.
and his popularity in the West is UNI
bounded, and justly so.
In speaking of Judge Caldwell the
st. Paul, Mimi, Despatch, of June 10,
1894, used this language:
He first became acquainted with st. Paul
on coming here to preside at the session OF
the United States Circuit Court of Appeals,
and his acquaintanceship has grown stead
lily on every side. Judge Caldwell, while
fully capable of maintaining the dignity
of his high judicial position, is easily APP
proachable, affable and cordial. In con-
versation he is always agreeable, often de-
lightful; as a raconteur and wit he has no
small reputation. His response to toast
at the Aberdeen in honor of Judge Walter
II. Sanborn will long be remembered as a
fine example of wit and humor. In regard
to his adJudcations ana order in railroad
receiverships it may be said, in popular
way. that Judge Caldwell inaugurated Q
new order of things-and that order was
simply that a railroad receiver must do
equity as well as receive equity. Honest
debts must be paid as well as interest on
blanket mortgages, and the railroad may
be prosecuted to judgment in State courts
and may be compelled to operate its lines
according to the terms on which they were
built. Railroad magnates and trust COM
panies were aroused almost to frenzy by
what they deemed the revolutionary meas
ures OF Judge Caldwell, and for twenty
years have been offering him battle. OF
late they have come to see the justice of
his position and the battle Is much less
fierce than formerly. Judge Caldwelrs es-
pousal of the rights OF common unincor-
porated creditors has made his name dear
to the common people of whom he is one)
and his name has been more than once
mentioned in connection with the Presi-
dency of the United States. Should he ever
receive the nomination ne would carry the
West and Southwest with the completeness
of prairie fire. Judge Caldwell lives at
Little Rock. Ark. He first entered the
town at the head of regiment of Union
cavalry and has been there ever since. To
the people of his city, and indeed TO the
whole Southwest, his name means respect
and reverence. the reverence which is Civ.
en- to a dear friend.
What was then said by the Dispatch as
to the Judges popularity. and the use OF
his name in connection with the Presi-
dency holds good now in the discussion OF
his undoubted fitness for the second place
on the ticket, and It is TO be hoped he may
yet find a wider field for the exercise Of
his undoubted talent than that he now oc-
cuples.
Judge Caldwell was all his life, until 1896,
a devoted Republican In the campaign
Of that year he quietly announced that he
was a believer in the free silver doctrine.
He could have kept silent. because his DO
sition on the bench was secure for life and
he was not expected to have political opin-
tons. But having arrived at the eonclus-
ion that free silver was right. IT was emf
nentiy characteristic OF him that he should
at once make his opinion public, in order
that there might be no doubt as TO his po-
sition.
In the same year he rendered an opinion
which was regarded at first as revolutions
airy. The opinion In effect was that re-
ceIvers Of railroads could not change wage
schedules without giving the employees a
hearing.
In arriving at this opinion Judge Cald-
well broke all rules and preccdents by rec
ognizing the authority Of the heads Of Ia
Dor organizations to represent the employees
OF the railroad IN Federal court. He took
the testimony Of the labor leaders that the
old wage schedule was reasonable. and.
reversing a lower court, ordered that tbs
old scf1edule be put In force again. The
receivers In this case were in control OF
the Union Pacific railroad The opfuiou fas