The Alaska citizen., 1916-05-29
OPPOSING sRANDEls

PRIVILEGE OPPOSING eRANOEIS.
 When President Wilson sent [, .e senate the name of Louis D Brandeis fo~ Associate lust e. 'l he Supreme ,omt Special PINilc- and its servants had an attack of something that resembled heart fail ure
 The nomination of Mir BrandGs caused a quick lineup of he Sr' wants of Privilege. prominent among them being senator Weeks of Mass9 chusetts and Senator Overman. of North Carolina the former a Ke- publican and the latter a Democrat. It k rather fortunate for the cCun- try that the servants of Privilege SO hastily lined themselves uo in full view of the people
 The attacks on Brandeis by sena- tors who are much too close to ,lc reactionaues. and the assertion that all the power of Wall street would be used to defeat his nomination, are doing a great deal to arOUs" the country Such senators are be- ing told: If you are afraid 10 hay" this defender of the people on ;hr Supreme rench. you must be with the predatory interests that control Wall Street"
 While there vas no porular q" mand for the appointment Of Mr. Brandeis previous to the day the President sent his name 10 the senate. there is no sort Of doubt that the appointment is approved by the great majority of the peopl.' for he has made himself known d, the champion of the common pee pie. He has written things that show his opposition to the contrci of this country by few owners of special privileges, and tha- is why the Servants of Privilege were 'ineN- pressibly shocked" when tie PreSi- dent nominated him for the Supreme Bench.
 They say he is too radical for the highest court in the land. That court is composed of nine members. What harm can one radical dc against eight conservatives Tie court badly needs, and for man, years past has needed, inst such 1 man
 Brandeis became unpopular with the Big Business crowd in 1910. when he attacked Richard A Bal finger and helped to drive him out of the office of secretary O. the in terior. Later he aided in settling the constitutionality of the Oregon and Illinois ten-hour laws for wo- men, and was prominent in the in veStigation of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroads mo nopoly of transportation in New Eng land
 He has incurred the dislike of q certain portion of the American BaI by saying in an address some years ago:
 It is true that at the present
 time the lawyer does not hold that position with the people
 that he held fifty years ago,
 but the reason is, in my opinion
 not lack of opportunity. IL is because, instead of holding a po-
 sition of independence between
 the wealthy and the people, pre- pared to curb the eXcesseS of
 either. the able lawyers have
 to a great extent allowed them
 selves to become an adjunct of
 the great corporations. and have
 neglected their obligation to use
 their powers for the protection of
 the people. If we are to solve
 the important economic. social
 and industrial questions, which
 have become political questions
 also, it seems to me clear that
 the attitude of the lawyer in this
 respect must be materially
 changed The great oppor-
 tunity of the American Bar is
 and will be to stand again as
 it did in the past, ready to pro-
 tect also the interests of tine peo-
 pie.
 The first important public fight made by Brandeis was a struggle over the Boston traction system fight that lasted for seven years; and with the help of Brandeis tho people won But Brandeis did not charge a cent for his services. Or course, such a man on the Suprema Bench might be menace to certain interests that are always against the people.
 Brandeis has written q boo!, Other Peoples Money" that is nDt one of the best sellers in Wall