Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-01-19
CAPITAL CHAT.
How the Supreme Court De-
cides Its Cases.
Plans for a Grand Reception to Maine
People in February.
High Bids on Maine Star Routes General House
to House Deliver.

ian The enthusiasm of visitors to
Washington these days does not show
itself so much at one or the other end
Of the CAPITOL as in the vaulted hail.
where the supreme court meets. Even
though the arguments in the Porto Ri
can and Hawaiian cases are finisheds
the interest in the court is at high
pitch. 1t may not be generally known
that Chief Justice Fuller. an Augusta
man, will cast the last ballot in the
decision of those cases. Every Satur-
day at IL o'clock the justices descend
on a private elevator of modern cleo
trio pattern. which stands idle all the
rest of the week. to their consultation
room. IT is quite a large room. immedi-
ately below the supreme court room.
There they gather about the long
consultation table and when they have
talked over the cases before them sufii-
GENTLY, proceed to ballot. But there
are many traditions and customs of the
court, one of which is that the Junior
Judge on the bench must vote first and
then the balloting proceeds in the in
verse order of seniority. That avoids
the younger members of the bench be-
ing influenced by the votes of their
seniors. Mr.. Justice McKenna is the
Junior member of the bench and ac
cordins!y votes first. and Chief Justice
Fuller votes last. Thus he often has
the casting vote and his decision fire.
Quently makes the supreme law of the
land. for while the supreme court has
no power to write even line into the
law. it can annul laws and it can in
terpret laws which is to all intents and
purposes making law. 1t may happen
that Chief Justice Fuller will have the
deciding vote about the status of our
new possessions Nobody can tell.
Ex-Speaker Reed is such frequent
visitor to Washington that he seems
almost as familiar as in the old days
when he represented the 1st Maine dis
trict in Congress. His business here
almost always takes him to the Capt.
tol but he studOusly avoids going on
the floor of the House. He seems to
have some strange aversion to going
there. Not very long ago he wanted to
see one of the Maine members of the
House and instead of going in for him
he sent in one of the doorkeepers. Mr..
Reed likes to go into the committee
room of ways and means. His old
friends still hang out there. He appear
ed there officially shortly before the
beginning of the session to argue be
fore the committee about Il matter Of
tax reduction. Only a few days ago he
was here again on a similar mission
before the finance committee of the
Senate.
But there has been a notable lapse in
the fund of good stories that used to pre-
vail around the Capitol regarding Mr..
Reed, all of which indicates that he is
getting out of the channel of legislative
things. There used to be many excellent
bon mots current of Mr.. Reeds comments
on affairs. He is burying himself more
and more in his law practice and leaving
his old associates in legislation out of
his life.
strength and vitality wonderfully, is eX-
Gov. Sydney Perham of South Paris. Me.
For four or five years ex-GOv. Perham
has been familiar figure about the Cap
itol. He was once a member of the
House, which entities him to the priVi-
leEes of the floor and almost every day
he spends two or three hours listening to
the debates. which seem to have a pccu-
liar interest to him. He lives in WASH
ington during the winters with son who
is employed in the pension Office.
ed to plan for a reception to Maine people
in Washington. sometime in February
The affairs is under the auspices of the
Sons and Daughters of Maine Three or
four years ago such a reception was held
ut the Masonic Temple hall in this city
and proved quite a success. The late
REPRESENTATIVE Dingley ana Mr.. Reed
then Speaker. were among the notable
guests of the evening This time it is
proposed to hold the reception at Rau-
Schers hall. fashionable meeting place
on Connecticut avenue. There are nllmer-
Gus prominent Maine people in Washing
ton and If even portion of them attend
the reception will be Il success.
The Bowdoin College Alumni of Wash
1nGton. probably will not hold an annual
banquet. this year Heretofore the an,
nual banIuets of this alumni association
have been among the most notable of any
Of the many alumni banquets at the Cap
ltal city. The graduates of BoWdoin in
Washington are many and include some
very notable people. but il was thought
best for several reasons to postpone the
banquet till next year d
The post office department is having
considerable trouble with the bidders on
star routes in Maine. who are irving to
take advantage Of the officials and push
prices for carrying the mails up to the
top notch. Contracts have been awarded
for about 90 per cent. of these routes for
the period beginning July next The de-
partment has been letting contracts to
people living along the route instead of
to nonresident bidders but the prices
were so alarmingly high that il beca me
necessary to re-advertiSe on almost half
OF the routes. There was an instance in
the upper part of Somerset. county where
all the bids were three times as large as
Tor the present contract pay. the lowest
bidders asking 1914 for a contract that is
now costing the government $40 a wear
Ihe only difference in the service is that
the carriers of mail on star routes must
put the mail in boxes. whenever people
nNlng along their routes erect such boxes
But that requires little extra work for
off their wagons.
beginning July |. mail will be doIiv-
cred in this fashion along all the star
routes OF Maine. convenience which
Representative Bureigh had much to do
In bringing about. He saw the adyan-
tages of the plan. which the department
inaugurated in South Carolina some
months ago. and, last winter, urged the
inauguration of such a plan on a route
tnrough Nassalboro, as was told in these
dispatches at the time. The department
round mat the plan worked so well thai
they wanted to try it everywhere on the
star routes in Maine, and that is what will
ne done when the new contracts for tho
star route transportation have all been
let There is some danger that the con
tractors in Maine will hold the nrices If
their bids up so high that the det,a rtment
VIII nave to let the non-residents hid nv,
me routes that have not already hcen
let "s pceh
representative Alexander of RuffaIo ,
Maine man from Richmond. is tackJipo
d DIE proposition here in an effort To ae7
q s'oo,Nn appropriation from Congress for
inc Buffalo Exposition Col Alexandor
was largely instrumental two vcarS -
IN getting through Congress the hin -,
tle government : participation in tho ~