The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-12
Answers Remarks Made By Former Governor Upon
 His Retirement
"NOTHING LIKE TT IN
 COUNTRIES ANNALS"
Federal Judge Says Message "Spurns All the Rules of Official Good Breeding Made in
 Court Yesterday

l Montgomery, March. 11.-tSpecial)- l5In the form of minutes recorded to- day in the United States circuit court Judge Thomas G. Jones has replied tc Governor Corners message sent to the l legislature Just before his retirement from the executive office. Judge Jones | language is very caustic. The minutes l spread upon the records of the cour are voluminous and his review of the
 railroad rate litigation Is somewhat ex' l haustive.
 Extracts from the minutes follow:
 Present and presiding. Hon. Thomas c. Jones, United States district judge for the Northern and Middle district l of Alabama, before whom the follow ing proceedings were had:
 Whereas. Hon. B. B. Conner. then gov | ernor of Alabama on the. 10th day ol
 January, 1911. sent to the legislature l of Alabama a message which purports to give history of the proceedings oi I this court in the rate litigation, which message Is not based on the facts, ant by innuendo, and otherwise, attacks the motives of the judge in the orders
 so far made;
 And, whereas. 1t Is due to the court land the truth of history alike, that
 
 matters and things, many of which dc not otherwise appear on the record upon which the then governor of Ala bama bases his assaults upon the court
 and it's presiding judge. It Is thereupon
 ordered that the clerk record upon the minutes of the circuit court the fol- 1 lowing:
 | On the 10th of January. 1911, one
 week before he retired from office. | after four years service, the then gov ernors of the state sent a message to
 the legislature, a large part of which l is devoted to the proceedings insthe cir cult court of the United States, in a case still pending, wherein certain car l riers contested the reasonableness oj
 rates prescribed by statute for the transportation of passengers and l freight.
 Nothing Like Unto It
 l It is difficult to speak with fnodera- l ton of this message, but it Is only us- | ing the language of soberness and truth 1 to say that in tone and temper, as we'll
 as matter, it has no parallel in it's bad
 eminence in the annals of the United l States. It scorns all the rules of off l cal good breeding, and spurns the re- lstraints which even the savage chiefs of Astate always observe in speaking of the acts of high officers of other govern l ments. Not only the particular court l which has incurred it's authors hatred. but every one of the great departments
 of the government of the United States lis brought under review, and none of l them escape it's criticisms or insinua- l,tions Like the village tattler. the author | peddles out the tales of the hour with | the old excuse. "I have heard" In one 1 breath the author of the message would | have the reader believe that he referred | to the judge only ''as strong conserva7 | tive man that would be environed along a given line of property holding" and was so .'environed" and in the next pro- ceeds to comment upon things that he cites mot in any prejudice towards Judge Jones'" to the effect that his "acts were | travesty on justice" that he stunned | and humiliated the people and alienated | their love and respect,'' and showed no 1 reconsideration whatever for the interest of the state,'' and the like. Not know | ing that the circuit court Is court of superior jurisdiction, he even sneers at | 1t repeatedly as. "our inferior federal court in ignorance that the term is a technical one, and applied in our juris- prudence to every court, no matter what Fits rank or dignity, whose judgments can be revised by a higher court. It even charges the judge with helping 'to
 bring about the too common and too easy contempt of state laws The mes sage must be read in extenso to appre- | ciate iss offenses against good taste as well as it's graver vices.
 The message in It's last analysis Is q desperate effort of it's author, after years of vain bawling on the stump, to de- l stroy the character of the judge, super l induced, it may be by the hallucnation Il | that the fathers placed an usurper in our | midst when they framed the constitution and created courts in which the citizen | may challenge legislation affecting his l liberty and property, or that the court must either be very ignorant. or It's fudge actuated by unholy motives when | he makes orders, on the supposition that | the constitution of the United States
 has any application whatever when "1o- cal, affairs are concerned.
 Why It Should Not Be Left Un- Where private persons and private in | tesests are alone concerned. a judge does we'll not to take notice of attacks upon | him, and may well leave them to the judgment of a just people. When, how ever, a governor assuming to speak in l the name of the state, places on record l in solemn message. an assault not only 1 upon the judge, but upon the institutions 1 he represents, and seeks to pervert the popular judgment as to both by vicious 1 misrepresentation. something more than l the individual judge is concerned, and It l Is alike fine right of the judge, and | duty he owes to the court. to. make known | the facts in any legitimate way open to | him, that the people may know the truth 1 and judge accordingly The dignity of l the court is not lessened by taking the
 public into its councils by giving them l the truth, nor Is Its moral influence l among the people weakened by the
 avowal, which necessarily follows from such a course, that the court values their
 esteem and good will If it be said that precedents are lacking for such course. l it is an all-sufficient answer to say that l never before did the governor of state | so outrage propriety by putting such at- tacks upon a judge in a state paper. l Most of the things Governor Conner | brings forward, are entirely outside the l record of the case as made up in the court, and were never involved in It's fs-
 sues, and the judge has never had, and
 can never have; any opportunity to speak about them in a judicial opinion Though the task will necessarily be tedious, since aii answer must deal with many mis- statements, half truths and rumors about which the author of the message mas heard" the judge will take up and dissect one by one it's misrepresentations and comment at length upon the several acts which 1t criticises and denounces
 j. - ~ .f ! After reciting facts relating to the first Judgment confessed the, minutss
 Governer Conner atSthat time was svif' Y y < s.ss fl f' 7is -',s sf