New-York tribune., 1911-12-03
THREE JUSTICES JUMP
ON ADELBERT MOOT
ouoht to Deal with Fiction, Not
Statistics, Seabury Tells Ex-
President of State Bar.
PRAISES WORK OF COURT
City Club Had Asked Buffalo
Lawyer to Tell How Judiciary
Might Be Kept from the
Control of Bosses.

7,b. first Of the City Clubs Saturday
,urcheons for this season was held yes
,erdav afternoon 1t had been an
,o,nCed that the discussion would be on
..v-bst is il that a political boss has 10
sou n judicial candidate, and how 1t
,6,,s he prevented. and how judicial con-
d{tions may he improved" with Adelhert
Moot. Of Buffalo. formerly president Oh
the New York state Bar Association. as
the chief speaker. But what actually
bannened was that Mr.. Moot was ar
rsipned severely by Supreme Court JUS
tiCcs. Sea bury. Goff and Page for his at
tack on the Supreme Court justices OF
this district in his address before the
State Bar Association last year
Mr.. Moot admitted he was wrong and
had done great injustice to Justice Sea-
bury and his colleagues when he said
they worked too few days, too short
ireurs and are altogether too incompe-
tent" i'm SO far as the hours and days
went. but qualified the last part Of his
charge saying:
Judges and lawyers in this city in
private converse tions say that one-half
Of the justices on the Supreme Court
should never have been put there. A
majority of them are nominated for pc
litical reasons
Il caused letters to he sent out to all
the county clerks asking for the number
Of days the courts sat" continued Mr..
Moot. "The general report was favor
allie 10 the courts. l found the only
Complaints were of the Supreme Court.
They came from tho city Of New York.
Ifound that it was impossible TO get
case before a jury inside of two years.
] found that there were over seven thou
sand cases awaiting trial, while the JUS
tices i'm this city took one month longer
vacation than those upstate. We have
altogether too much red tape in our
practice"
Mr.. Moot was the first to speak, at the
request Of Joseph H. Adams, chairman
Of the City Clubs committee on courts,
who presided IL had asked that he
speak last. The change in the arrange
ment, he intimated strongly when he
arose to reply. was due to a carefully
arranged plan. But Mr.. Adams denied
this. saying. There was no frame-up"
Justice Seabury was the first of the
judiciary TO discharge his guns at Mr..
Moot. lie said Mr. Moot's address had
caused editorial criticism Of him and his
brethren Of the bench under such cap
tions as AN Idle Bench" and "An Ease
Loving Bench"
Says Statistics Were False.
: rComparlsons were drawn between
, the work of the upstate justices and the
justices Of New York" said Justice Sea-
bury, and i'm every instance the COM
parison was adverse to the New York
justices II the statistics had been true
would not have objected 10 their pub
lication. but the statistics were prepared
i'm a slovcnly manner and were false"
After Justice Seabury had attacked the
figures i'm Mr. Moots address ne gave
summary of the work done by the Su
rreme Court of the lst District in 1909
the year referred to by Mr.. Moot-and
said that %. lS9 cases had been tried and
deposed Of, exclusive # about fifty
,lfpusand OK parte applications and GRIM
insl cases and mistrials
-This is record of achievement which
l believe is unsurpassed by any equal
number Of judges in the world con-
tinued the speaker And in quality and
quantity it Will compare favorably with
the work Of any other court.
All Of these figures were easily ac-
ccssible to Mr. Moot if he had cndeav-
orcd to obtain them I am compelled to
The conclusion that Mr. Moot was more
dcsirous Of making an attack upon the
New York justices than he was Of pub
fishing the facts concerning their work
Whether the ethics Of our profession
permit a president of a bar association
n publish such statements without first
informing himself Of the facts is mat
ter that leave 10 the determination Of
fair minded bar. Mr.. Moots statistics
remind me Of the conversations of the
characters in Sheridans School for
Scandal They omit no circumstance
except the fact In all other respects
they are fun and complete.
T.