The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-03
n lArnrn '. sTorER.

U LAEHED Is SLONkkkN.
 Washington. Dec. 2.-(Special JAS Congress is soon to meet the expeata- tion ia that friends and supporters of Acting Judge Oscar R. Hundley will do their utmost to have him confirm ed.
 The case has been dragging along for many months As is we'll known in Alabama there was last winter and spring a long~and somewhat sensa- tienal investigation by the Senate Ju- dietary Committee. Dozens of witness es for and against the acting judge were brought to Washington at gov ernment expense to be examined care- fully.
 According to what leaked out some tart things were said at those meet ings of the subcommittee conducting the examination. Hundley was cons stanfiy under a sharp fire of question: ing. Often he is said to have been placed in an embarrassing position, especially, it is common talk here. when he had to confess that ne en- tered into a deal with Capt. Charles H. Scott through which Scott was to be made clerk of the Federal Court at Birmingham in place of Mir. Allison in the event Hundley was confirmed and could see his way clearly to re- ward the man who more than any one else probably secured his appointment
 
 The President is not supposed to know the ins and outs of politics in a majority of the States Of the East much less in Alabama and other South ern States where there is decided tendency to impose upon a chief mag istrate when 1t comes to working him'' for the loaves and fishes.
 The Republicans have an- over whelming majority in the Senate. They also have eight of the thirteen mem bers of the Judiciary Committee. one of the five Democrats on this com nittee, Senator Clarke, of Arkansas, has favored Hundley right along. He ciains he did this to please Hundley's cousin at Little Rock. Indeed through out the investigation Senator Clarke is declared to have enthusiastlcally championed the cause of Acting Judge Hundley.
 stiII Sn the Air.
 But in spite of all this 1t Is well on toward the close of this Congress ana inc Hundley nomination is still hang ing in the air. Neither he nor nls closest friends can tell what the nnaI disposition will be.
 Fifteen months ago the acting judge openly boasted that he would be con. firmed early in January. He missed his calculation badly. Then hls Irienos and packers stated that mighty soon after the investigation was over the nomination would be taken up in the executive session, and while there might be a stubborn night he Would certainly be confirmed before the end of the last session. In that guess they were also mistaken.
 Acting Judge Hundley would doubt less have been confirmed many months ago but for the opposition among the RepubIieans in the Senate. If some of the most active and influential Re- publicans had not stood out against him the Democrats who are doing their utmost to defeat him couM not pos- sibly have held the case up until now.
 It should be borne in mind that when this nomination was reported to the Senate there waA no favorable recommendation with 1t. On the con- trary there was a string tied to it. To get it out of committee and place it on the hooks in the executive ses- sion some Senators merely agreed to permit it to be sent in. They special ly reserved the right to oppose con.