The National tribune., 1910-04-28

BILE for 1915 should the party want him.
His acceptance of the JudgeShip. how
ever, shows that he abandOnS any ambi-
tion in that direction.
! The Governor hesitated largely for
| financial reasons. He is not a rich man.
The small sum he had saved before he
| became Governor has mostly gone. 1t is
understood, for extraordinary expenses
| he has had to incur since he entered
politics. The salary of an Associate
Justice of the Supreme Court is S12,-
| 0OO, less than is paid to the Judges of
! the New York Court of Appeals. While
Gov. Hughes can live comfortably upon
that sum in Washington, he cannot
hope to save. much from it, and must
abandon the idea of saving much of a
competence for his family
He had had it in mind to return to
his law practice after Jan. l next. and
at that could have earned from $4,000
| to $4,000 a year There is a big at
| traction in such a financial prospect,
and ii is easy to understand that the
Governor took some time in choosing
whether to resume the practice of his
profession and take chances on getting
| a Presidential nomination or to accept
even such an honorable position as As
sociate Justice upon the United States
Supreme Bench.
Foolish Stories.
Since the President began to give
consideration to the selection of JUS
| tice Brewers successor a number of
| foolish stories have been published in
that connection. One is that the Presi-
dent looks forward to- becoming Chief
Justice himself, and would retire from
the Presidency at the close of this term
with the idea of being nominated to the
head of the court-whenever vacancy
occurs there. Tt has even been sug-
gested that if there should be a va
cancy in that position within the next
three years the President would resign,
and that Vice President Sherman, sue
ceeding him, would make the nomina-
ton. That is most improbable. The
Constitution provides for the resigna-
ton of a President, but no President
has ever resigned, and it is far from
probable that any President of the
LUnited States will resign during the life
of any person now upon this earth, and
certainly no President of the United
States who would resign to accept il
would be big enough for the Supreme
Bench.
The suggestion of such a thing has
stirred considerable unfaVorable COM
ment in the Senate, where it has been
remarked in recent days that if such Il
thing were attempted it might be
doubtful whether the nomination of a
Chief Justice under such circumstances
would be confirmed. 1t would be too
much like collusion in high office to go
unrebuked, and it is only fair to the
President to say that he has never
thought of it. Washington we'll under
stands that President Taft likes judi
cial life. and had he not been elected
President would have welcomed nomi-
nation as Chief Justice. President
Roosevelt, as is well known, offered him
a position as Associate Justice, which
he would have accepted had not Mrs.
Taft urgently pleaded with him to the
contrary.
The President is understood to have
offered the position of Associate Justice
to Gov. Hughes some time ago, and if
the latter had declined 1t is believed
the nomination would have gone to
Lloyd w. Bowers, Solicitor-General of
the Department of Justice. He has had
Mr.. Bowers in mind for some time for
a place on the Supreme Court. Many
other names have been pressed upon
the Presidents attention, some from
the New York circuit, unrepresented
upon the Supreme Bench since the
death of Mr.. Justice Peckham last Au-
tumn. and some from the big Eighth
Circuit, extending up and down the Mis-
sissippi Valley.
he ulSCuSSlOI dDDut lIle health VI
Justice Moody, who has been i'll for
more than year at his home in Mas
sachusetts, has quieted down For a
time there was talk about Congress pro-
vidng him a pension, so that he could
retire. AS he has not served 10 years
and is not yet 20 years of age he could
not retire or resign and still draw pay
Justice Moody not only has resented
talk about a pension for him, but he
has taken pains to show the authorities
here that he is improving in health, is
able to eat three good meals a day and
is thoroly convinced he will be able to
resume his place on the bench when
the court reassembles next October.
While the work of the Supreme Court
for the remainder of the session is OF
great Importance, there is practically
little which will attract the attention of
the country Apparently a decision on
the constitutionality Of the corporation
tax provision in the tariff law is to be
handed down before the court adjourns
in early June. AS the court now con-
sists Of seven Justices, considering the
absence of Justice Moody, who did not
sit in the corporation tax argument,
there is no danger of its being evenly
divided on that constitutional conten-
tion.