The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1916-02-12
MAKE ODD CHARGES
AGA|Ns! %?ANDE|s
%%
Opposition of senat> ~ %p-
pointment Really Bas> *A
His Virtues. VI
FEAR GREAT LAWYER
IS FAR TOO HONEST
Senator Knute Nelson of Minne-
sofa Is One Of His Most
Bitter Opponents.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10.-The
charges against Louis D. Brandies, on
which the special privilege senators
rely to oppose his confirmation as
justice of the supreme court, are
learned on good authority to be SUBJ
stantially these:
I. That Brandies has spoken dis
respectfully of constitutions and flip
PANTY of the mental attitude Of the
courts.
3 That he has been on both sides
Of the shoe machinery trust, first as
counsel for the trust and then in op-
position to it.
3. That he lost the public's case
against increased freight rates be-
fore the interstate commerce COM
mission by admitting that the rail-
roads needed more revenues.
A. That he did something in the
famous Ballinger-Pinchot investiga-
ton which members of the senate will
try to characterize as "unprofessional
conduct"
Fear Virtues, Not Faults.
llc DdSlS VI tl1C III oL NAoA So AS
Brandies' public statements that
many courts do not view modern
economic problems in a contempor-
aneous way: that they are benighted
and uninformed as to industrial con-
ditions, and that the constitutions are
made to serve and not to bind a
people. TO 80 per cent of the people
this attitude is one of the strongest
reasons why Brandies ought to &c
on the court.
The second charge amounts to this
That Brandies is honest. Finding
that the shoe machinery trust was {
menace to the public, he resigned a.
it's counsel and afterward did MOI
hesitate to denounce it's monopolisti<
practices.
The charge that he lost the case
against increased freight rates rest:
on q personal feud between Brandeis
and Clifford Thorne. Brandeis dis.
agreed with Thorne in the last rate
case and agreed that the railroads
needed more revenue, but he said the,
ought to get it in some other wa,
than by taxing the people in addi
tional rates. This is an insincer,
charge.
Exposed President Taft.
The fourth charge is instigated b.
Senator Knute Nelson, who was chair
man of the joint committee which in
vestigated the Ballinger matter. Mel
son early demonstrated his bias il
favor of Ballinger. The great offens
of which Brandeis is guilty in Nelson
eye was the exposure of the fact tha
President Taft had not told the trut]
when he said that he (Taft) had per
sonally considered and passed upol
all the evidence and had himself writ
ten the letter of exoneration Of Sec
retary Ballinger.
The facts, as they finally wer
brought to light, showed that the Bal
linger exoneration, which appeare
over Taft's signature, had, in fact
been largely dictated by Oscar Law
Ter, Ballinger's subordinate, in Secre
tary Ballinger's private office, and ha
been gone over by Ballinger himse]
before Taft saw it.
The document was known in tn
case as the ''Lawler memorandum
Frantic efforts were made by Balm
ger and his friends to prevent it's in
PRODUCTION into the hearing. In re
sponse to calls made by Brandeis fo
it, officials of the department denie
in writing that any such document ex
listed.
Brandeis Proved Case.
Finally, the stenographer who too