New-York tribune., 1911-01-02
u. S. SUPREME COURT
ENTERING NEW ERA
New Questions Before II and
New Justices to Pass
on Them.
FACES MOMENT0US TASK
Decisions Will Be Epoch Max.
ing in Movement to Regulate
Activities of Great Com
binations of Capital.
rFrom The Tribune Bureau.l

Washington. Jan. IA memorable month
IN the history OF the Supreme Court OF the
United States will begin on Tuesday. when
the court convenes after the holiday recess
10 take UP the work for the new year. The
two new associate justices, Van Devanter
and Lamar, will take the oath and assume
the robes OF office and will be seated at
either end Of the bench. For the first time
In many months the nine places will be
occupied. For the first time, also. Chief
Justice White will preside at the hearing
Of cases having acted in his new capacity
only few moments before the court adj
1ourned for the holiday recess. After the
new justices are sworn in and the routine
work has been disposed or the hearing OF
the important trust and constitutional cases
which have been held back, awaiting fun
bench. will begin.
In view Of the cases to be argued and the
change in the personnel of the court In the
year Just ending the work OF the court will
be watched with absorbing interest, espe-
cialIy in the early part of the forthcoming
session. II may he said that it enters
new era in both respects. A new class of
cases has been presented for decision, and
new men will decide them. The latecomers
on the bench now outnumber the justices
whose careers extend beyond the present
day questions and cover a phase of judicial
or legal activity which is entirely Of the
past The record OF Justice Harlan alone
goes back 10 the old days. He has served
as Justice for upward of thlrty-three years.
With him may be associated Justice Nc
Kenna and Chief Justice White, who were
appointed in the 90s The terms of the six
others began after 1900. Three of them will
have served less than year, and Justice
Lurton will have just completed his first
year, having taken his seat on January 8,
1910. II may be said therefore, that the
old order has passed, and, however well
tried the members of the present court
may be- they belong to the new generation
of iurists 10 whose lot it falls to decide
questions which were not thought OF at the
time Justice Harlan took his seat.
Great Constitutional Questions.
The task which Immediately confronts
them is serious one. The cases assigned
for hearing in January. which are at the
head Of the docket involve constitutional
questions and the scope Of recently enacted
laws Of vast importance TO the country at
large. In the order in which they will be
heard the list includes cases in which the
following points are at issue: The consti-
tutionality OF the state law of New York for
the preservation Of natural mineral springs,
;hc application of the twenty -eight-hour
Idw with respect to confning, feeding and
v:trring stock in transit, the dissolution
or the Standard Oil Company and the
.'ln.;ican Tobacco Company and their sub
.,s G.avv corporations as trusts or combina-
lions in restraint Of trade, the scope of the
.pure food law as applied TO patent med-
'cinos or alleged "cure-alls" and the con-
titutonanty Of the corporation tax pro-
vision of the Payne-Aldrich tariff law and
the SCOPE Of It's application to legal entities
created 10 transact business. Certain
uhascs Of the commodities clause OF the