The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-07-03
APPOINTMENT OF TAFT SETS A NEW
 COURT PRECEDENT
Only Man Living Who Ever Held Both Office of PreSi- dent and Chiei Justice
 of Highest Tribunal
Special Correspondent of Hhe Age-Herald tCopyright, 1891. by The Are-Hcrald)

WOpSrlgnh lSSl, by The AGe-Hcraid)
 New York, July 2.-For the past As hours Washington has been try ing to figure how many national pre- cedents will be broken whom William Howard Taft takes the oath as chiof .zstice of the supreme court.
 Not only is he the first man to be honored with the highest executive and judicial office In the land but he is one of the very few ex-Presi- dents ever to be called back to puo- lie life.
 That Mir. Taft should regard the chief justiceship as the attainment of his lifes ambition is not remark able. There have been 2S Presi- dents of the United States. MT Taft will be the tenth chief justics. He was the twenty sixth President.
 While there are notable names in the long list of Presidents, the roll of chief justices also is a notable one. This post of highest Judicial honor has been held by John Jay, John Rutledge, Oliver Ellsworth John Marshall Roger B. Fancy, Sal mon P. Chase, Morrison K. Waite, Melville W. Fuller and Edward Doug- las White.
 Mir. Taft as President had an ex- perience which was unusual for a man so brief a time in executive of- flee. Of the total of nine men on the supreme court bench he was, called upon to name six He promoted Mir. Justice White to the chief justice and named five associates, only two of whom remain, however, to serve under him as the presiding judge.
 Taft Appointed Hughes
 Mir. Taft appointed to the supreme bench Charles Evans Hughes, who resigned in 1916 to run for President of the United States against Wood row Wilson, missing his goal by narrow margin of California's elec- toral votes. MT. Taft also named Justices Lamar and Lurton, now de- ceased, and Justices Van Deventer and Pitpey, who are still upon the bench.
 person to hold the two high offices of President and chief justice, a for mer chief justice made the attempt to reach the White House as did As sociate Justice Hughes. This was Chief Justice Salmon Chase.
 In addition to serving with two men whom he elevated to the bench, MT. Taft will serve with one McKin- ley appointed, MT. Justice McKenna,
  tices Holmes and Day, and with three Woodrow Wilson appointees, Justice McReynolds, Brandeis and Clarke.
 It is rather an unusual circum- stance that MT. Taft should be thrown in the judicial cloister with Mir. Justice Brandeis, the man who did so much to help cause the chasm in the republican party. which brought overwhelming defeat when he sought to succeed himself.
 Succeeds Own Appointce
 Succeeding his own appointee as chief justice, MT. Taft also will have the unique experiences of administer ing the oath of office to those future Presidents who may be inaugurated during the time he Is actively on the bench. MT. Taft Is GA, within six years of the age he will be entitled to retire from the court. Few mem- bers of the bench ever have elected to take advantage of this law. MT. Chief Justice White at the time of his death was in his seventy-seventn year.
 As to other Presidents who have returned to public life after leav- ing the White House, 1t Is recalled here that after the expiration of his term, George Washington was com missioned lieutenant general com
 
 after his tenure of the White House, presided over the Virginia constitu- tional convention and served as justice of the peace in his home coun. ty. John Quincy Adams served nine terms in the House of Representatives after he had been President. and An drew Johnston was elected to the United States Senate, but died soon after taking office.
 Decides on Presidency
 While President Roosevelt Eener- ally credited with having induced MT. Taft to stand for the presidency in 1908 instead of going on the supreme court bench at that time, as a mat ter of fact. 1t was MT. Taft's broth- CTS who made the decision for and with him. Mir. Roosevelt gave MT. Taft the choice. There followed a conference of the Taft brothers in New York--Henry W. and Horace D. Taft. full brothers and Charles H. Taft. half brother. After an all- day consideration of the situation the decision was made in favor of the presidency.
 In after years, during the turmoil of his term in the White House, bringing as 1t did the break with Colonel Roosevelt, MT. Taft thought many times that his ambition would better have been served upon the bench. to which now at last he goes with the highest honors
 As chief justice MT. Taft will re- ceive a salary of $15,00o a year. He Is giving up an income. much in ex- cess of that sum to take the office to which he so long aspired.