Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-08-23
"|NSULAR CASES"
Discussed by Hon. c. A. Little
field at Denver, Co..,
In Annual Address Before the Ameri-
can Bar Association.
Chicago Lawyer Registers Protest Against
Attack on Supreme Court.

Denver, Col, Aug. 22.-It has been
decided by the general council of the
American Bar Association that women
are ineligible for membership in the
association under the present constitu
ton.
This decision was reached in the case
of Mrs. Jane b. OFT of Iowa, who had
applied for membership. The council
was almost evenly divided on the ques-
ton.
Ii was decided finally to let the sub
ject go over for a year and then take
up the question of appointing com
mittee to draft an amendment TO the
constitution which will make women
eligible.
A feature of the morning session was
the annual address, which was de.
livered by Congressman Charles r..
Littletield of Rockland. Me. on the
"Insulur Cases.
These cases. he said. considered in
the manner in which the results were
reached, the ircongruity of the results,
and the variety of inconsistent views
expressed by the different members OF
the court are without parallel IN
our judicial history
Taking up the first case. known as
De Lima VS.. Eidwell. stating the opin-
ion OF every member of the supreme
court on the same. the speaker said:
Justice Brown did not announce the
conch.slou of the Judgment OF the
court. affirming the Judgment OF the
court below. but rendered one OF ms
own.
tao IN nnlnlOnS d
,ices White Shiros and McKenna. in
the same case. the speaker said;
"Technicaly speaking there IS no
cniniou Cf the court TO sustain Inc
Judgment.
IF the Dooicy case Oknown as Do"iev
We United States) IS controlled by the
DowncS cases" said MI. Llt'iehei"'
..tho,e would seem to be no good rea-
son why il should not nave been ueciu-
ed. That it was not raised the inference
that il would be decided adversely 10
the government or that there was y
greater difference Of opinion than usual
with reference to it. Mr.. Justice Gray
is the only one who indicates his posi-
ton in this case.
Nj. Littletield considered the other
cases which had been passed upon ana
said that in the unsettled condition OF
the court it was hardly worth While
10 speculate as to the result OF those
cases.
His conclusion as to Porto Rico's
status is. briefly: so far as the oper-
alton Of the constitution was concerned
this territory was to all legal intents
and purposes a part of the United
States 1t matters not how the consti-
tution reached the territory. so far as
This case was concerned so long as it
Was there"
Mr.. I.ittlefied next discussed the 18th
amendment to the constitution as ii has
been construed by the supreme court il
Porto Rico and the Philippines. Hl
quoted the amendment and gave his
tory of the same. Then he said. referring
to slavery as ii existed in the United
States:
The negro cannot be driven out of the
South. Tie is vastly the superior of the
Filipino physically, and until the Philip
pines produce a Fred Douglas and ;
Booker T. Washington. ne has nothn:
to fear in an intellectual comparison.
Adolph Moses of Chicago. created
sensation at the close OF Congressman
t.ittlefeld's address by registering
strong protest Said he:
| wish to record my note of dissent L
the general applause which followed tn
pres, ntation of the insular cases by Nh
l.ittle;icld | regret to have listened Il
what / consider an unwarranted attacl
upon the supreme court of the Unite
States, and as member OF this associI
lion, | wish to raise my voice in prOtes
AGAINST the use of this platform for
PURPOSE of this kind"
The speaker was declared out of orde
by the president.