The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-12
A THOROUGHLY DIscREDITABLE
 SHOWING.

since he reached his present position. Be- fore he became the candidate and tool of the machine and the subservient ex- ponent of Quayism he was considered Q respectable citizen, but that can hardly be claimed of him as an ofFicial. His ate tempt to muzzle the press of his State would possibly have been looked on as the error of a man who had reached a posi- ton beyond his qualifications. had it not become patent that his desire to gag the press was in the interest of the Republi- can bosses who had been often and de- servedly flayed by the newspapers of all parties. That knowledge knocked ali the props of sympathy from under him and he has been excoriated by the press of the entire country in a way that must have been extremely galling, but which he had no power to resent.
 This act of Pennypacker's. however, is snowy white when compared with his course in filling a vacancy in the Supreme Court of that State. To this office he ap- pointed a Democrat, and much favorable comment was indulged in at the time be- cause of his non-partisan act, and because of his defiance of the Republican ma chine," as they expressed 1t. How un- called for was this recommendation is made plain by recent disclosures in The Phil adelphia Record, a newspaper of high standing and influence. That paper pub fishes a somewhat lengthy letter from "A Lawyer" whom The Record endorses and declares that its knowledge (the letter in question: ''comes from such a high and reputable source as to compel belief" Af- ter speaking of the mistaken idea pre- vaiiing about the appointment of Dem- ocrat, the letter says:
 Now, the truth of the matter is-as know 1t, and as the Bench and Bar es- pecially and the public generally should know it-that Governor Pennypacker's ap- pointment of Judge Thompson was prompted wholly by the selfish desire and indecent purpose of Governor Pennypack- CT to get the place for himself as soon as he can.
 1t would have been within his power to accomplish this by resigning the office of tainty of his appointment to the Supreme Bench from William M.' Brown, the Lieu tenant Governor, who would succeed him. It need not be said that such a barefaced Commonwealth would have excited a storm of indignation. Not only would Governor Pennypacker have gone out of the Executive chair discredited, but he would have gone upon, the Supreme Bench dishonored. Moreover, most likely he wolld have been disappointed in securing even the Republican nomination, and on January l. SO6, he would have been with out either of1ce.
 He. therefore, stopped to a plot that is absolutely without precedent or parallel in all the history of intrigue and corrup- ton in Pennsylvania politics. He has de- liberately conspired with Senator Quay, representing the Republican machine, to trade two years of his term as Governor for a twcnty-one year term upon the Supreme Bench. sUpon the assurance of his resignation, so that Brown, more pltable tool of the machine, can be made Governor. it has been promised Governor Pennypacker that he shall be nominated and elected, next fall. Judge of the Su- prsme Court for full term. He was quite willing to appoint a Republican to succeed Justice McCollum, if he could have found one so far lacking in self respect and common honesty as to give Pennypacker unobstructed right of way to nomination. When he failed to find such he resorted to the adroit expedient Of naming a Democrat, whom he felt as- sured the Republican State Convention would not nominate, and who. he confi- dently hoped, could not be elected in the year of a Presidential campaign.
 . There is a good deal more of the same sort. but this reveals the objects, the de- signs and the unscrupulousness of the Governor of one of the largest States in the Union. It may be asked why he is so anxious to give up an office paying $1O,- 600 a year for another which only pays the same salary? The reply is that if he can get the office of Supreme Court Judge he will be fixed for life" in an easy position with good salary. The term of the judicial office is twenty-one years, and as he is now 60 years old, it will be seen that the new office would carry him to a ripe old age. His posi- tion would be assured, and there would be no more fighting and scrambling for office. The lawyer from whom we have quoted winds up his letter with this scorching language:
 If the Governor of the State, or can didate for Judge of the Supreme Court were to be guilty of bribery, burglary or false pretense, convicted or self-con- IeSSeus He cOuiQ nave no nope to escape impeachment in the Executive Office and defeat for the judicial. But if this plot succeeds, the highest Executive official In the Commonwealth will have bought It's most elevated office; he will have broken into the sanctuary of justice in darkness and stealth, and he will have defiled the Executive chair by an unparalleled be- trayal of the public confidence.
 The whole business is so extraordinary and so thoroughly discreditable that The Record would not publish the letter until, as it states, Governor Pennypacker was given the opportunity to make denial of its truth" The Record held the lawyers letter a week. but as the Governor Ie- fused to plead, answer or demur," the document was published. Then, when the lawyers accusations had gone before the public, and all the shameless facts were known, the Governor writes a letter to The Public Ledger, in which. he virtually admits the truth of Lawyers" aIIega- tions, winding up with:
 If. however. as The Record predicts. the Republican State Convention should see fit in its wisdom to nominate me for the Supreme Court, and that should be fol- lowed by an election, l shall return to the Bench.
 The Governors entire letter Is a fine ex- ample of what the lawyers call a "plea of confession and avoidance" and leaves the Governor in no better plight than he was before. The Evening Telegraph.