The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-23
SPOKE ON NSULAR CASES
Members of Bar Association
 Applauded His Words.
tA Considerable Minority, However, Resented the Speech-Report of Committee Urges Change in
 Bankruptcy Law.

Denver. Colo, Aug. 22.-A sensation was caused at today's session of the American Bar Association by the ad dres of Congressman c. E. Littlefield of Maine on The Insular Cases"
 MT. Littlefield's address drew forth loud and long g-continued applause, and a motion was made to tender him vote of thanks for it. but this was de- clared out of order by the President, on the ground that the speaker Is a member of the Association. The view of the mayer was not, however, univer- sal with the members. for just before recess was taken, Adolph Moses of Chi cago made a vigorous protest against what he characterized as an unwar- ranted attack upon the Supreme Court of the Unsted States. His remarks were cut off by a point of order. but his words were greeted with applause, in which a considerable minority of the convention jointed.
 The convention met at 10 o'clock and President Wetmore at once introduced Charles E. Littlefield of Maine to speak on the United States Supreme Court decisions in the insular cases.
 These cases, he said, considered in the manner in which the results were reached. the incongruity of the results and the variety of inconsistent views expressed by the different members of the court are WlCHOuI d pdfdLCl th our judicial history"
 The Delima Case.
 Taking up the first case. known as Delima vs. Bidwell. stating the opin- ion of every member of the Supreme Court on the same, the speaker said Justice Brown did not announce the conclusion and Judgment of the court, affirming the judgment of the court be- low. but rendered one of his own. He- Serring to the opinions of Justices White, Shiras and Mckenna, in the same case. the speaker said:
 technically speaking, there is no bBfnfon of the court to sustain the Sudement If the Dooley case. (known as Dooley vs. United States) Is con froiled by the Downes cases" said MT Littlefield, there would seem to be no good reason why it should not have been decided. That it was not, raises +he inference that 1t would be decided adversely to the Government or that 4here was a greater difference of opin- aon than usual with reference to it.
 "Mr. Justice Gray is the only one who indicates his position 'n tnis case"
 nases which had been passed upon ana said in the unsettled condition of the court it was hardly worth while to eneculate as to the result of those cases. His conclusion as to Porto Rico's status Is, briefly:
 50 far as the operation of the Con statution was concerned this territory was to all legal intent and purposes part of the United States. It matters not how the Constitution reached the territory so far as this case was con- cerned, so long as 1t was there"
 Thirteenth Amendment.
 Mr Iittlefield also discussed the thirteenth amendment to the Constitu- tton as it has been construed by the Supreme Court in Porto Rico and the Philippines. He said, referring to slav- cry as it existed in the United States:
 tThe negro canont be driven out of Ahe South. He Is vastly the superior of the Filipino physically, and until the Philippines produce a Fred Douglass or a Booker T. Washington. he has nothing to fear in an intellectual com garrison"
 At the conclusion of MT. Littlefield's address, reports of the following stand ing committees were submitted with out being read:
 Jurisprudence and law reform, legal education and admission to the bar, commercial law, international law, obit- uary, and law reporting and digesting.
 The Commercial Law Committee in its report expresses dissatisfaction with the new bankruptcy law and declares that it has made strong efforts to se- cure amendments, but in vain. The Committee is still of the opinion: 1. That a bankruptcy law is wise and ben ef1cial legislation; 2. That the ideal bankruptcy law is one that (a) allows every honest debtor to procure speedy discharge from his obligations upon the surrender of all his property; (b) gives every creditor a complete remedy
 DTt nr f0oo oV1lo tod on the part of the debtor; Co punishes all fraud on the present creditor or debtor with relentless severity. 8. That our present bankruptcy law to fulfill these conditions needs careful and trenchant amendment on the lines that this association has approved. f. That the association should, through it's Com mittee on Commercial Law for the en- suing year. continue it's line of work looking to the perfecting of the bank . ruptcy law
 At this point MT. Moses got the floor and said:
 Moses Enters a Protest.
 "I wish to record my vote of dissent to the general applause which followed the presentation of The Insular Cases by MT. Littlefield. I regret tn have listened not to a piece of information, but rather to what I consider an un- warranted attack upon the Supreme Court of the United States and as a member of this association 1 wish to raise my voice in protest against the use uf this platform for a purpose of this kind. I remember to have read that when the celebrated case of Coher vs. Virginia was decided by Chief Justice Marshall he was burned in efigy in the city of Baltimore He was denounced in every court house in Virginia and yet we look upon that great decision as one of the vindeca- tions of the government. And that is not the only instance where denuncia- tion has followed the action of the Supreme Court of the United States.