The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-12-11
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Those who are familiar with the
names Of the men who have attaiheu
distinction nj the bar and on the
bench throughout the nation VIII agree
that the list OF names from which
President Taft is said to have declared
tha. he will select appointees ior the
vacancies on the Supreme Court taiis
10 contain the name of any lawyer Oh
national reputation. There arc saVor
i+o CONS on the list and there arc men
~, a. who could doubtless fill the posi-
ton with as much ability as some Oh
the men who have been on the Supreme
Bench; but the really great lawyers
arc not on the presidential rhcnorah-
DUN, and perhaps will never be. IL
has been thus from the creation OF 'ho
Court, and it is true of the suprci''o
Bench as at present constituted.
From the beginning mediocre men
have occupied seats on the hisheae
court of this nation. IT Is propapic
that they Will do so until me eno'
Politics and geographical consiaeraIohS
are accomplished In the selselioii
OF Supreme Court Judges. No one mas
ever had the hardihood to assert that
the lawyers on the Supreme Court
were the best in the country, NO one
will ever make such an assertion.
Msrshalls have been few and Moodys
many in that dignited little room be-
meath the dome of the National Cap
.tol. This has been due to two reasons:
the scst lawyers make too much money
to accept Supreme Court judseship
and the best lawyers arc retained BY
special and private interests to sucn
an extent that such lawyers cannot be
appointed because of their corporate
connections In the past.
Look at the American bar to-day.
There are Joseph III. Choate and WI
liam s. Hornblower- of New York; John
Chipnan Gray, of Boston; George H.
Earle. of Philadelphia; Amasa NJ
Eaton. OF Providence, and hundreds Oh
Others WHO are generally and indispu-
tably recognized as leaders OF the
American bar. None of these viii be
considered, because at some time or
other in their practice they have been
connected with corporations as counsel,
II any one of these were to be offered
Supreme Court position, and were
to accept, he would do SO at a financial
sacrifice.
President Taft, in our Judgment, has
a ut br
names of some OF the professors of law
in the various law schools scattered
throughout the United States, teachers
of schools that are doing more for
progress and for scholarship in the law
than the judiciary can hope to do.
Such men as Henry Wade Rogers, Of
the Yale Law School; Eugene Wam-
baugh, of the Harvard Law School,
George NJ Kirchwey, of Columbia; John
H. wigmorc, of Northwestern Univer-
s,ty, or some. of the professors in
Southern law schools. are versed in
the law to an extent rarely reached by
practicing lawyers. and are just as COM
potent judicial material as can be found
in the United states.
II President Tai, is to maintain the
standard which he has set for himself,
he Will select men for the Supreme
Court vacancies because of their learn
ing in the Law, and not because they
come from any section or State and
are acceptable to this or that political
leader. II the Chief Magistrate shall
select impartial and able members Of
the National Tribunal In his term OF
once, he will thereby erect for him
self a memorial more lasting than al
other things that he may do In hi:
administration. If politics shall dom
mate President Taft in his appoint
1nent of Supreme Court judges he vii
forfeit his last claim to the favorable
judgment of the American people.