Evening journal., 1913-10-30
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
President Grants Choice of
Morrison R. Waite
BY Holland.

DO you remember my showing 20
you dispatch which had received
from Washington only an hour be-
fore, announcing that President Grant
had nominated Morrison r. Waite, Of
Ohio, for chief justice OF the Supreme
Court at Washington? II you do you
wiz recall my own excitement and
expression Of qualification that this
nomination was made"
This question was put 10 me By
Colonel John Turner Wait. who at
that time represented the Eastern
Connecticut district in Congress. as
he had done for several terms before
and did for several terms after this
conversation took place
" WIS insthe summer OF 1894, and
al time when Colonel Wait was
guest at my house, that he asked
me this question.
I recalled the Incident wildly. al
thuogh il had occurred twenty years
earlier. said 20 Colonel Wait tha,
7 remembered having thoughtlossly
asked him who Morrison r. Waite
was. and that ia reply he said: "He
is a great lawyer. and he is my first
cousin once removed although ne
spells his name with q final e, while
7 DO not He was born. as | was
nj Lyme. Conn
"f recall having said Go you" Col
oncl Wait continued. that the nomi-
nation Of my cousin as chief justice
was n perfect surprise to me. and that
the offer OF tho appointment by Gen
cral Grant came as surprise to
Justice Waite himself.
~ was not annoyed that you should
have asked me who Morrison Il.
Waite was. That question was asked
by almost everybody in the United
States excepting the people Of Ohio.
They knew him as very able lawyer
and man of very high personal
character I knew him as man who
had all thees qualities and. in ad-
dition 60 that, singuarly modest,
kindly ana unassuming disposition.
~ WAS trying to think on tho day
I met you how President Grant hap
pened 10 select Judge Waite. I knew
that the President had made two
other appointments for that Office
prior 10 the nomination of Judge
Waite. Both of these appointments
failed of confirmation
Suddenly il occurred to me that il
was probably due to the very import
ant part which Judge Waite played
as one Of the three counsel for the
United States before the arbitration
court of Geneva. Switzerland. which
was TO pass on. tho claims of the
United States for damages from
Great Britain by reason of the havoc
wrought upon the high seas by the
steamer Alabama.
Several years later ! met my
cousin and ! venmred to suggest to
him that in all probability IL was his
work as one of the counsel for the
United States before the Alabama
claim tribunal which liked President
Grants attention upon It. He was
careful about his reply, but ! saw
from his manner that had guessed
with accuracy.
81 was talking afterwards during
my first term In Congress with sew
cral gentlemen i'm Washington who
know much OF the inside history of
tho nomination of Judge Waite by
President Grant Who do you sup
pose was really accountable fori the
suggestion Of Judge Waite's name
II was none other than Senator Allen
G. Thurman, that superb type of
rugged. honest intellectual American
citizenship. strong Democrat, who so
ably represented the State of Ohio
in the United States Senate
Judge Thurman had long acquaint-
anco with Judge Waite, He had pro-
found respect both for Judge Waite's
character and for his ability Al
though they differed upon party mat
tors. they we're very warm. personal
friends After the nomination. first Of
Caleb Gushing for chief justice and
then of George II. Williams, had
failed of confirmation. Senator Thur
man said to senator who Was a
warm personal friend of President
Grant tand ] have always thought
that was Senator Roscoe Conklingl
that the President could not do better
were he to search the country through
than to nominate Morrison r. Waite,
of Ohio. for chief justice. Whoever
the senator was. he ventured to make
the suggestion to President Grant
who instantly approved of It.
i was told that i'm Washington and
in many parts of the country a good
deal of disappointment was expressed
over President Grants nomination oi
an unknown man as chief Justice. and
was also told that before Judge
Waite had been In service as chiel
justice three years there was unit
versal reception OF the pre-cmineni
qualifications for that great post