The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1908-02-18
FITCH TALKS OF
THE FAMOUS SAKE CASES.

Lares and Penates, to dwell once NOR
in Paradise and eat papayas and pine
!: apples, and drink poi cocktails anC
Kona coffee, and disport me in the sur
at Waikiki, and reopen my law office
and help to relieve Magoon of spend
thrift trusts.
81 have been delayed by Specia
Counsel J. c. McReynolds. He is al
affable gentleman distinguished law.
yer and a successful trust buster But
he is also the most dllatory, procrasti
mating, put the case off until the mex
term disciple of niahope that ever wor-
ried an opponent into premature
grave. He resembles the Angel of the
Apocalypse to whom a thousand years
were as one day. He follows the ad-
vice of Judge Baldwin to young law
yers: when youshave bad case post
pone the trial of it as long as you can
something may turn up.
"This sake case was Just as ready
| for final hearing before the United
States Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco in October, 1906, when it was
set for hearing, as on the third day of
the present month whe,. it was heard.
But in October, 1906, Mr.. McReynolds
said Il am not ready. You stipulate to
put this hearing off until February, or
| will dismiss the appeal and bring
another test case.' A new test case
would have set us back three years and
therefore we 'agreed' to the continu-
ance. In February, 1907, Mr.. Mercy
nolds said, / am not satisfied with the
record; it is too voluminous, and l am
I,,lc 1c 1a
| cision. 1t appears in the report of it
az being on the merits, when in truth it
was pro forma. You must stipulate to
condense the record and agree that
Judge Morrow's decision was merely
pro forma, or else L will dismiss the
appeal and bring another test case. ,
We yielded to the exactiOn and said to
McReynolds, Prepare the stipulation
you want >and we will sign it and be
ready to try the case in April We
waited in vain for him to present us
with stipulation until April, and then
he informed us that he intended to
bring another test case anyhow.
"Then, supported by petitions from
the Chamber of Commerce, the Board
of Trade, and the bankers and mer-
chants of Honolulu we appealed unto
Caesar, through the Treasury Depart
ment, for fair play, and Caesar
(Which his name is Roosevelt)-God
bless his strenuous, fearless, justice
loving soul-after reading the petitions
and listening patiently to our state
ments, wrote the following note:
" Department of Justice: The Treas
ury Department thinks that this case
should be heard where it is. Please in
vestigate and report to ME. Theodore
Roosevelt
"And on receipt of this highly sug-
gestive communication, Solicitor Gen
eral Hoyt did something for we
heard no more about a new test case.
"Then we went to work condensing
the record along with Assistant Special
Counsel Kemp. 1t was completed early
in June and ready for submission for
the approval of Mr.. McReynolds. But
that gentleman was not available. He
was taking an outing somewhere, and
for two months he continued to take
his outing, and when he returned he'd
took an inning on us for about a
month, until it was August before the !
condensed record and stipulation were
signed.
"'Then Mr.. McReynolds insisted that
the record must not be printed until i
the stipulation concerning it should be
by the U. S. Circuit Court of |
Appeals in San Francisco That Court |
would not meet until Oct. 9TH, but the
record could be printed in San Fran |
cisco where the former record was |
printed, in week s time, and the case !
then be ready for argument at the
October term in 1907. The stipulation
was approved by the Circuit Court of
Appeals Oct. last, and the case was
set ror hearing Oct. 30. Then Mr.. Ne
Reynolds changed his mind about hav-
ing the record printed in San Francisco
and concluded to have it done in the
Government printing office at Washing
ton, where it would take twice as long
and cost twice as much as in San
Francisco.
"And so when October 80 came, there
were no records ready and the ease
went over until Feb. 3, 1905. In De-
cember, 1907, the printing was finished
and we succeeded in obtaining few
copies from which to prepare our briefs.
But the twenty copies required TO be
fled in the clen Is Office in San Fran
cisco were not hhd until late in Janu-
lry, and only then after repeated urging
and tolegraphing by us.
"And after all these delays for the
accommodation of Special Counsel Me
Reynolds that gentleman, when the hour
Of battle came, was not ON hand, but
he left to U. $. District Attorney Devln
of san Francisco the labor of the com
bat and the renown-of defeat,
"The rule of court which limits argu-
ments 10 one hour on side was sus-
pended; we were allowed two aud one
half hours each and the case was finally
on Monday, Feb, 3, Aftor-
wards the District Attorney was allow
ed fifteen days in which to file an addi-
tional brief. The decision ON the case
may possibly be handed down the third
of March. but will probably not be
delivered until the 9TH of April next.
"The RESULT We could not lose the
ease ii we tried. There never was a
time from the beginning when the
Government had any chance to win out.
The Board of United States General
two United States Circuit
Courts, and one United States Circuit
Court of Appeals have decided in our
favor, and there is no good reason
to suppose that the tribunal which now
has the case under advisement will
reach any different conclusion.