Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-15

it has made some mistakes that the
supreme Court has rectifed.
| Lower courts especially when eXer-
1 clSlng new jurisdiction are likely to make
errors TO be corrected by the Supreme
Court. The presiding judge Of the Com
| merce Court was the chairman Of the
| interstate commerce commission for a
great many years.
Three of the Commerce Court judges
before their appointment to the Com
merce Court had been United States dis
trict Judges of long experience. and one
had been a state judge of standing and
experience. The personnel of the court is
to change from year to year by the as
signment of one of the Commerce Court
Judges TO a circuit court of appeals and
the designation of another circuit judge
to fill the vacancy thus made.
Good Reason Not Found.
Il have read the arguments upon
which this proposed legislation is urged,
and cannot find in them a single rea-
son why the court should be abolished,
1t object to certain of it's decisions. Some
OF those decisions have been sustained
and others have been disapproved or mod
flied by the Supreme Court.
am utterly opposed to the abolition
of court because its decisions may not
always meet the approval of majority
OF the legislature 1t is introducing re-
call OF the judiciary which in it's way is
quite as Objectionable the ordinary
popular method proposed. Next to i'm
partial and just judgment. the great
desideratum in judicial reforms today is
the promotion of the dispatch of bust
ness and the prompt decision of cases.
1.-The establishment of the Commerce
Court has brought this about in a sub
stantial way by reducing the average de-
lay from two years to six months, and
doubt not that as time goes on and
the procedure becomes better understood
of S.ixr h.
reduced. 1t is greatly in the interest of
the shippers, and. therefore, of the pub
lie, that this means of reducing the time
of effective remedial litigation against
WIN H. TAFT
s'The White House.
August Is. 1872
Cabinet in Session.
In a special session Of the cabinet to-
after midday, President Taft's veto of the
legislative, executive and judicial apprO-
priation bill containing the seven-year
tenure for clerks proposition was consid-
cred in every phase. The President fin
ished his rough draft of the veto last
night and had a copy ready for each
member of the cabinet when they arrived
this morning. Paragraph by paragraph
the veto was read and revised in accord
ance with suggestions that commended
L
Unusual Thought Given to the Veto.
The President has given more thought
to this veto than he has to any one he
has prepared at this session of Congress-
AS to the seven-year tenure clause In the
bill, the President has never had the least
doubt that his disapproval would be ap-
proved by the whole country It has not
been necessary for him to take much time
in the phrasdng Of his veto where it per-
tains only to that clause. AS to his OBJ
jections to the abolition of the Commerce
Court, he has desired every argument to
iortify his position. The Commerce Court
has been unpopular in many quarters
It's abolition was favored by both houses
platform of the progressive party at
Chicago urged that the court be done
away with. Representative Fitzgerald !
chairman of the appropriations commit |
tee of the House. has threatened that !
Congress will stand by this provision of |
not so sure as to the temper Of the House |
on the Seven-year tenure proposition
AS to the Commerce Court therefore, |
the President wished that his veto shall |
go to the country with the strongest pos
sible arguments supporting his position, |
will be directed at him for his course. |
practically all Of it political |
Inc language of the veto as it applies to |
the Commerce Court was revised several /
times. that applying to the seven-year |
plan meeting with general satisfaction in |
The President and every member of his |
cabinet is satisfied that Congress must |
change front as to the change in the civil |
service laws affecting clerks but 1t is |
q disposition to retreat in the Commerce |
Court fight.