The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-25
NEWS IN WASHINGTON.
Announcement of Justice's Denth
 Causes Shock.

|
 Causes Shock.
 Washington, Oct. 24.-Ihe nouncement of the death of Justice Peckham, while expected, came as q shock 10 his associates on the bench and in official circles, and everywnere expressions of regret were heard,
 Justice Peckham was Democrs. and | .fore taking 6 seat on the pench. rave Transferable c> attention to politics s,, New York. He was born in Albany, N M. November &. 1888. and had been oy The bench, State and Federal TOT twenty-six years. He came from 'tne Court If Appeals of his native state. nosition which his father before nun had occupied. ..at
 MT. Peckham's first office was that of district attorney for Albany coun- Ity. He was elected to that posi''V,, ,,, in 1sss. He. afterward became III Succession. corporation counsel for the citv of Albany, member of the su- nreme Court of the State and assistant tustice of the State Court Of Appeals' Ire nae inc last of President Cieve- ia,,d,s Democratic appointees to the Tedaral supreme Court, Justice Fuier and Justice White being the other wv He took his seat in January leso.
 His chief distinction was that oi giving his time exciusiNey
 
 outside appointments and undertook uo ,,,orlr not connected with it. lie was married, but went little into so- | ciatv ITnlike other justices. ne ac- | cented no invitations to pupuc tuho lions and made no public addresses l after taking his seat.
 l Cases involving the rignts ot col porations received especial consioera | ton at Justice Peckhams hanus' anu | nf or the court,s most noteworthy opinions or recent date along this line. Among | tbem may be mentioned the case or inc Consolidated Gas Company, or l Naw york. in which he held that while rebates fixed by the Legislature must allow a fair return on invest ments. Federal courts could not ih- | terfere to declare them invalid unless | thev were so unreasonably- low as 10 Ha confiscatory. One result of that | decision was to cause the return or 1 several million dollars to New fork | consumers of gas.
 l Several of MT. Peckham's corpora 1 ton decisions dealt with the sherman | antI-trust law as applied to railroads. l These included the joint tramc ana l the trans Missouri cases, In botn or which he held the law to be applica- ble He also prepared and delivered
 
 of Attorney General Young. of Min
 nesota in which it was held that the 1 Federal courts could interfere with | the execution by the State courts or an unconstitutional State law
 When the news of Justice Peck hams death was broken to the sur
 viyIng members of the Supreme bench, all of them appeared to be deeply ar | fected, although the end of their fel- | bpI Innkad un0n AS merely a matter of hours
 Chief Justice Fuller had retired l when word was conveyed to him, but he expressed his sorrow and said that the passing of Justice Peckham was a severe loss to the American bench.
 Jutice Harlan was overcome ustice Harlan was overcome.
 Tt is a great loss to the country" | the ablest jurists who ever sat on the American bench.
 "He had strong political conYictions but when on the bench he cared noth- | ing for litigant's politics. Ills sole l desire was to administer the law as 1t was and to give each party his 1 just rights. had a great personal affection for him. He was one of the | purest men I ever knew"
 The other members of the tribunal spoke in similar terms of Justice Peck I are so closely bound by common ties that the passing of any one of them | Is sorely felt. | While none of the officials now here would discuss tonight the probable successor to Justice Peckham, each | declaring that it would be a viola tion of the propr!eties, the name of l Frederick N. Judson. of St. Louis; former Secretary of War Luke D. 1 Wright; the present secretary. J. NJ. Dickinson: H. M. Hoyt. counsellor for the State Department, and Solicitor General in the Roosevelt administra- ton. and Solicitor General Bowers have been prominently mentioned. Although there is no rule to govern the appointment. the vacancy on the bench by precedent, likely will so to | a Democrat. In this event, Hoyt and Bowers would be eliminated. No ac- ton in the matter will be taken, how | ever. until after President Taft's re- turn from his tour through the coun- l try,