The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1908-01-02

3 ~
fore any real life5hia6A is spilled on
either, side senafdE Foraker is re-
garded as too true2a party Inan to
allow such a thingaS personal ami
mostly or indiviauai ambition to
;1eopardize. the welfare Of the ma
tfonal organizations, Arid a peace pact
Is still hoped for BY tha conserya-
,tives. OF. both factions in the Buckeye
State. In any .etehtsMr. Taft has ain
abundance of sUppdrkers In kahsas,
Missouri, MichiganssNest Virginia,
Iowa and the south and is the Sec
'ond choice Of seFeEal states which
are NOW putting eoEEap1 "favorite
sons ., Negroes, ag. well ar their
white, fellow pahtfsssga, are rallying
TO. the Taft. standad And. there Is no
doubt that hist inteisfs viii be ably
cared for between nov and oonyen-
ton time. = $s5Hts p, att@
The legality OF th9 spresident's ab-
tion In dischax sins ssthe soldiers Of
the Twenty fifth thsRntry, on ,ae-
count Of the affrhY,s brownsville, ls
TO be- tested sinr he aietsurts; 1T seems.
The repose OF: The stass citiz"-ls af34he
nations capital given a decided
shock; Friday sapa by the sur
prisbtg ,intelIfgg cSSthat. Oscar w.
Reid ,at pSi va lie, is any G, st,f the
3bth .Feg gimept aea ,suft ins the
district; ID ia tttas
fbr tie southern district Sof = New
York, to rec covefSEback ~sa larry to the
amouhtfof sIt:gsg2 the sum alleged to
be due HIM fof services from the day
he was dismissed, November '8i 1906,
TO the day upon: which his enlistment
terminated, July 18, 1907. The ac.
ton Is brought under the Tucker act,
an almost, forgotten statute, passed
in 1887, which provides that q claim
ant, under certain conditions, may
she the United States government IN
a district or circuit court, Instead OF
presenting the matter to the coEt Of
claims, if the plaintiff so elects. The
law in question has been very clever
" searched out, and some folks are
wondering why 1t took every so
long to discover that thehalmost OH
so]ete statute could be made, to bear
upon the case. While the salary is
sue is made prominent, in the plea,
no secret Is being made of the fact
hthat the real point in the. controversy
Is to test the right of the president
to, discharge the, soldiers OF. the 25th
infantry, without the formanty Of a
court martial, which privilege, the
plaintiff contends, is an Inherent
right, In consonance with the articles
of war. The law>lrm of Ward, Mel
/. len & Woodbridge, Of New York, has
been retained as counsel for Private
Reid, and the information Is freely
given out. that a groupEof wealthy
and influential New England men,
whose identity must not be revealed
are behind him in this fght.( The
statute ". now. invoked~ by Private
Reid's counsel has been cited but
twice within the memory OF the best
posted practitioners, and the case has
set some OF the wisest baFristers to
guessing. The outcome will be high
ly significant, II 1t reaches a settle
ment In open court. as O. failure of
tffe court to sustain the president s
fright to dismiss without honor is
likely to mean the restoration OF the
entire battalion, without prejudice
to their former status In the United
States army. Other shrewd lawyers
however, have found a technicality
In the Tucker statute, which, they
claim, excerpts the pay Of government
salaries Of it's operations, and con
tend that the case must be thro WI
out of the district court and go auto.
matically to the court Of claims fot
adjudication. Be that as it may, the
final result will doubtless hTRge upon
the rightsof Private Reid to his mon.
ey, and will thus test the legality OF
| the discahrge without court martial
Dr.. W. T. Vernon, register Of the
United States treasury, Is doing 2
splendid work for the advancement
of the colored men employed in his
department. He Is not accSntuatjnt
the color line, nor can he be accused
OF undue favoritism for his race ir
so doing, for partiality based upor
artificial lines is bound to reac
harmfully; but he is wisely seeing t.
1T that his people are not being dis
Terminated against in the matter d