The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-11-07

| expenses shall be expended by the Sec
rotary of the Territory. There is n.
such special provision as to the SUM
appropriated for the legislative ex
penses of the Territory of Hawaii. II
the absence of such a provision there
can be no legal objection TO the ap
pointment of the Secretary of the Ter
ritory or some other suitable person a:
a special disbursing agent to disburst
said appropriation, he giving the re-
Quired bond.
The enclosures are returned herewith
Respectfully,
r. j. TRACEWELL,
Comptroller.
Mr.. Clifford Pinchot whom the Presi-
| dent asked several months ago to make
! a personal inquiry into the land laws
! of Hawaii, stated today that he had
! not completed the report which he will
! hand to the President. He thought,
| however, that it would be completed
| at an early day.
THE PRESIDENT AND TAFT
Inc selection of an associate justice
| for the Supreme Court of the United
States has figured somewhat in the
Washington doings of the past week.
rotary Taft has declined the Presi-
dents offer, made last spring, to nomi-
| nate him to the vacancy caused by the
retirement of Justice Brown. The in
teresting thing about it is that the
Gently but some five months ago and
about the time that the President
made it.
Both the President and Secretary
Taft have been very secretive about
the matter and for obvious reasons AS
soon as it became known that the offer
had been made the Secretary, the view
was heralded over the country that it
meant Secretary Taft must decide
forthwith whether he would become a
candidate for the Presidency. There
was substance in that view for the Re-
publican party will not likely go to the
Supreme Court for a candidate. Should
it nominate a Justice for President, he
would have to resign and life posi-
ton worth 500 a year is not to be
lightly discarded. Then there is an
aversion to involving the Supreme
Court even indirectly in politics.
Soon after the Secretary went over
to New York to consult with his BROTH
ers on the matter, he made his reply to
the President. 1t has been no secret
that the Secretarys brothers want him
to enter the presidential running and
that the family is willing to stand
some of the expense, the Secretary i
having saved but little from his Off
cial salary. He is now undoubtedly /
keeping a lightning rod up. but during |
the next two years the political devel- !
opments will indicate better what his !,
prospects are. President Roosevelt
will have the nomination of more Su-
preme Court Justices, before March +,
1909. 1t can not be doubted that he
will give Secretary Taft one of those
appointments should the Secretary
want it. When the latter left the cir
cult bench during McKinley's admin
istration, it was with an understanding
that he should be appointed to the Su-
preme Bench, after he had served as
governor general of the Philippines. 1t
is worth while noticing that the talk
about nominating eecretary Taft for
Chief Justice has ceased. 1t never had
any warrant, except the desires of the
to get Chief Justice Full
Ter. a Democrat. appointed by PreSi-
dent Cleveland in 1888. out and one o.
their own men in. The Chief Justice.
although eligible for retirement has
never had any intention of retiring He
expects to live up to the traditions of
his predecessors, that a Chief Justice
dies in active service. It now appears
that Attorney General Moody is to be
appointed to the vacancy. which was
offered to Mr.. Taft.
ANNUAL REPORTS.
There is a vast deal of pen scratch
ing and clatter of typewriters in the
nine departments of the government
and the bureaus thereof just now This
is the annual report period. Clerks,
bureau chiefs, and even heads of de-
partments are wrestling with the SIM
plified spelling. for the manuscript
must conform to executive orders as
to three hundred selected words, and
the printing office, where the manu-
script is put into type. is very careful
that all it's product be up-to-date.
Tons upon tons of white paper are
used in these annual reports. 1t re-
qures an enormous amount of work to
write them. With the exception of re-
ports for few independent bureaus.
these reports go to the respective cabi,
net officers and, after being printed.
are distracted for insertion in the de-
partmental report, which in turn is eX-
pected to reach Congress by the be- )
ginning of the session. The Secretary
of State is the only cabinet officer who /
does not report to Congress and thus !
he escapes an exacting stent. A de- |
partmental report is two or three