Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-01-18
GOVERNOR PENNYPACKER REFUSED
NOMINATION FOR SUPREME COURT
Declined to Accept Offer rendered by Committee
Headed by David H. Lane, Disposing Finally
of All Rumors to the Contrary
pENNYpAcKER AuroBIOGRAPHY-NO.5 So


VNIIE convention met on the fifth Of April
l. None Of the men around me, save Carson,
had any intImation Of what I was going to
do. I doubt whether the political leaders
save Quay, we're any better Informed. On
the second of April the committee OF Jaw
yers published another long pronunela'
mento. On the fifth the headline OF the
Record said, "Pennypacker's Excuse TO
Run Is Made to Order and the headline
of the Press said, "Pennypacker VIII Ac'
cept Nomination" In the morning the
eighty.six delegates from Philadelphia met
and unanimously indorsed my nomination.
At 4 p. m. David II. Lane, with commit
tee. came to the department and othcnliy
rendered TO me the nomination. The time
to speak had come. My response had been
roughly written on u loose sheet Of office
paper. Lane made Il neat and sensible
speech, and then read:
Pennypacker Refuses
In view of the possibility OF some such
action as you have taken l have gwen
careful consideration 10 the suDJecl III u
conscientious effort to reach correct
conclusion I have examined the matter
I'm all Of its relations, so far as l nave
been able to understand them, ana
have concluded not to be candidate ana
not to permit my name to be presented
to the convention. In so doing want
further to say to you that this expression
Of consistent confidence, coming from
the people OF the city which you repre-
sent and wherein my judicial work was
done, will ever be one OF the sIaIelul
memories of my life.
All had the feeling that they were par:
ticipatng in an event Of solemnity. Lane
aided by David Martin and Henry f. wal
ton, tried to persuade me, but the die was
cast. My last chance of completing the cur
rent Of my life, as l had chosen it for my
self had departed forever. Never Tor an
instant have 1 since regretted the decision.
To have accepted the nomination would
have been to have done not wrong, but
weak thing, and it remains satisfaction
to me to know that when tested again, as
l had been in youth, when most OF my
friends went home and left me to go alone
to Gettysburg. the inherited instincts which
constitute character were not found
wanting.
Walton besOught me to let him have tho
scrap Of paper from which had read. lie
framed il and hung it in his home. a good
speaker, stout and agreeable, he had par
ticipated in many campaigns; good law
yer, he had q considerable practice; he had
several times been Speaker Of the House
and now is Prothonotary Of the Courts OF
Common Pleas in Philadelphia. When the
bill for an appropriation to build fire.
| proof building for the Historical Society OF
PENNSYLVANIA was under consideration he
had come to me and said it would be passed
or not. as I wished, and it was passed.
After my declination had been received
John p. Elkin was nominated without op'
position These events, which 1 saw from
the inside, have been narrated in detail
! partly because they illustrate the character
| and methods of Quay, who, Senator Thomas
| c. Platt, Of New York, himself an expert,
| says was the ablest politician the country
has ever produced A review Of these
| events shows with entire plainness the fol-
| lowing facts:
Political Incidents
A vacancy in the Supreme Court, i'll
| which. professionally and otherwise, took
! a great interest was filed, while was Gov
ernor for twenty.one years by the selection
Of a man whom 1 had declined to appoint.
| The committee Of the bar We're so wearied
| with the chase after an ignis fatuus and
| their feet were so clogged with the mire of
the swamps that they accepted without a
| murmur the selection of a man whom most
Of those they represented had denounced
as a ring politician of such type that he was
unfit even for executive Office. The press
which would have opposed anybody, good
or bad, favored by Quay, had been kept
for four months upon trail that led no
where. My effort to be decent, the pathos
of the committee of lawyers and the malice
of the newspapers, had each contributed its
| part toward the completion of the plans OF
this master in the manipulation OF men
| II this be not genius, where will we tind
il? It ought to be added that Elkin was
elected by large majority, as I would
have been, and has made an upright and
unusually capable Judge who has won the
approval of the entire profession. The
lawyers over the State who signed the
protest numbered log, a small percentage o.
the Whole bar. The newspapers after tn,
close of this episode were, think, rather
more cautious about telling their readers
what intended to do.
In a vein of playfulness Quay sent m,
from Florida these excerpts:
"Et interrogatum est alb omnibus 'ubi
est lille 7. Hay Brown"
Et respondum est alb omnibus non est
inventus.'
"Et interrogatum est alb omnibus 'ub
est lille high and reputable writer?"
"Et respondum est alb omnibus non est
| inventus.'"
"Et interrogatum est alb omnibus 'ubi
| est lille high and responsible writer'?"
"Et respondum est cum cachinno non
est inventus.'"
'Deinde iteratum est alb omnibus cum
cachinnatione undulante trepidante non
sunt inventi.'" Murder as a Fine Art)
Rudolph Blankenburg in Philadelphia
and Henry Watterson in the Louisvill
Courier journal both made efforts 20 repl
to Quay's letter The platform adopted b
the convention set forth
1--WE heartily indorse the wise. bold feai
less, honest, economical and efficient az
mInistration of Governor Samuel w. Per