The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1914-06-25

Nashville. Tenn.-JCdge Sam c. Will
Jams, candidate tOr tNe Supreme Beueh
at the election, August 9th, ON the free
and Independent platform, has issued the
following address:
TO THE PEOPLE OF TENNESSEE:
1t is now apparent that the jackson
term vi the SuI,.r.ne court, Tor 'iia Vest
ern LAWSON, nln nOt De COucIu.vu until
I la &C uate in june; and Iuat In-S Tact
will llahe ii lmL sus,. y.e, Tor Me to CANVASS
Inc STATE and PERSONALLY sOIclt sdppoiI
il b-haH OF my Cauu. udcy to election "
the place / now hutd on the supreme
bench, About IOry Gays only wiH re
main before me date Oi the election N
Aus ust.
ms leaves me the alternative Of ad-
dressing the people III tAls manner.
i nave GeciIueu 10 visit the counties Of
line state Tor that purpose during Term
uIn", and the Court has been in almost
cUlluuUuS session since sept 6ih Last
it,l lLIt HtigantA and lawyers mad =
right to expect that my time Sloud be
devoted to The hearing, investigation ana
decision Of their cases. The result Is
that l have been able, to visit only SIN
Of the towns of the state those visited
being in Middle Tennessee during the one
week of vacation that interviewed between
the Nashville term and the Jackson term.
In January last l issued an announce
ment of my purpose to ask for an indorse-
ment of my record at the August cleo
ton, 1914, and in that announcement l
appealed to men of all parties and fac
tons. My hope was that by faithful and
unremitting effort there might be made
a record that would deserve and receive
Endorsement; a record sufficiently accept
able to the people Of the State to justify
all parties and factions in according me
the remnant four years. left of the I'M
expired term Of Judge John X. Shields, my
predecessor.
The record of service rendered during
,1,fAT,s 10
before the bar and the citizenship IN the
published law reports, official and unof-
fetal, and by that | am willing to be
tried Whatever lack there may be does
not come from want OF sincere desire
and purpose to give to the office the best
of my capacity.
Before going on the bench had never
been in public life; had never sought Or
held office. My appointment TO the bench
was due, as | conceive, to the fact tina
l was not a politician: because Of this
the recommendation for appointment was
well-nigh unanimous from the bar or the
First Congressional District, in which |
have resided for the last twenty-five
years. All elements of all political parties
and factions in that faction-tor district
combined in that Endorsement.
1t is submitted that, in fairness, 1t can
not be charged that since my appointment
l have mixed in political affairs even by
attendance at any one Of those meetings
of State Executive Committees or at any
one of the three State Conventions that
have had to deal with the succession to
the seat l now occupy.
Two State Conventions have given my
record and canSidacy their Endorsement;
but my appeal is yet to the people at
large, who. it is believed, have a desire
to save their highest judicial office from
political and, most of all, a factional
scramble. and who are unwilling to pro-
scribe judge because his political views
do not exactly square with their own
opinions.
In 1912 my associate in service, Judge
Arthur S. buchanan, who had been ele-
waited to the bench by Governor Patterson
as a regular democrat, stood for indorse-
ment by election. The republicans and
Independent democrats alike accorded hir
the race without opposition. | gladly SUD-
ported him on his record. Now, after the
lapse of but two years, If the situation
be fairly the same as to service rendered
can but think that there are thousands
Of regular democrats so fair minded az
not to withhold reciprocal treatment.
Is it argued that | have not the noni-
nation of a democratic convention? My
predecessor. judge Shields, was elected
without such a nomination. Despite adj
verse nominations by that party. he and
his four associates We're elected. The
seat I held was, as I conceive, thus dedt-
Gated by the people to INDEPENDENCE and
freedom from partisan test for eight years
not four. At whose instance. and for
what reason, is the position to be forced
back into politics in mid-term? I ask
for the fragment Of that term as a nom
partisan candidate. VIII it not he time
ennngh to apply partisan test after the
period Of dedication is passed?
The democrats Of Tennessee approved
and apnlauded the acts Of republican
presidents when Harrison appointed How
ell f.. Jackson Of this State to the bench
States, and when Taft raised Judge Lur-
ton, n Tennessee democrat, to the same
bench. Tennessee democrats, least of all,
have, reason to decry non-partisan
standard for the Judiciary. VIII they APP
ply stricter. a purely fractional test, and
disrobe a State Judge who has been
lifelong democrat on the ground that
he is not their particular sort of a demo-
believe that a vast number of them will
decline to depart from the Buchanan
precedent; that they have no desire to
take and not give, to ask and not yield
in return. To them I appeal.
To those who have been in the ranks
Of the indenendent democrats, whether
they be at this time thermometers or not,
l call attention to the fact that the indie
pendent democratic movement originated
In the campaign of 1910. the fundamental
principal of which was that Judges ofsthe
Higher Courts should not be made or i'm
made at the dictation or behest Of the
politician and that the Supreme Bench
above all should be freed from the de-
of any faction or boss.
Upon republicans my chief claim for
support lies. l repeat, in the pledge, duly
to be kept, that if am honored by the
people in an Endorsement of my record I
shall devote my best energies to the office
as a servant of no party. but of the whole
people, intent only on its duties and on
seeing that as little as possible Of the
politician shall appear in the Judge.
Eighteen months absence from home In
the service Of the State serves to dissi-
pate ones professional practice and to
give wrench to ones private affairs as
my brethren of the bar readily under
stand.
Any injustice that might be done to the
individual by refusal to so indorse would
be insignificant, however. as compared
with the harm that would be inflicted on
the Judiciary If the Buchanan precedent
should now be reversed and another es
that puts on apopintees to the
Appellate benches the expenses and strain
of campaign during and following a
year Of grinding court service Many
lawyers would hesitate to accept an ap-
poirtment under such conditions.e In all
fairness should any Judge If he has done
his duty be thus subjected?
1t is for the bar and the people to
decide. It is submitted to their arbitra-
ment.
cAxE ~ WILLIAMS