Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-12-14
SUPREME u RELAXES
HASKIN SAYS TODAY
Daily Letter by Frederic ]. Haskin
WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1.-THE
most austere and dignihed body IN
the United States unquestionably IS
the Supreme Court. From the days
of Chief Justice John Marshall down
to the present this great tribunal has
represented to the American peo-
Pile all that is solemn in govern
ment affairs.
The popular conception Of this
august body is of a grave group Of
elderly gentlemen who think only in
terms of law and who speak a good
deal of the time in obscure Latin
phrase. The supreme court is Wis
ualized by the average American
as a remote realm where technical
tiles of torts and trespasses, of writs
and injunctions. held sway to the
exclusion of the homely every day
affairs with which the ordinary NOR
tai must deal.
But occasionally something occurs
to emphasize the TACT that after all
the members of this high court are
like other men and that the techni-
calities of the law r built up very
largely on common sense-in a
word. that the supreme court Of the
United States is O. part of the every
day world.
Such an occurrence was furnished
the other day when the justices of
the supreme court, dressed in flow
ing black robes of office and in
vested with all the dignity and So
lemnity that officialdom can mus
ter, handed down their opinion in
the case of the New York, New
Haven and Hartford Railroad Com
~-- Dzft,@-~ yo-ct M xtd
Fruchter, his guardian ad Item
York, New Haven and Hartford
Railroad Company, Petitioner. YER
sis Sam Fruchter.
With all this imposing title, gar
nished gravely with Latin terms,
the opinion is nothing more than
the rather pathetic story Of a little
boy who wen birdnesting and got
hurt, The grave, juridical opinion
might be printed on the children's
page of a daily newspaper. a mag
g. child's book for it is just a simple
story. No one could tell it more
simply than the digniied member of
the court who write it-Mr. Justice
McReynolds, former attorney gen.
eralof the United States.
Opinion Tells Story Graphically
Dispensing with any legal or 9TH
erwise involved ~phraseology, the
justice begins his opinion. just as
he would if he were writing the SIM
plest story.
Since 1908. he says. in the off,
cial opinion, One Hundred and
F~ortyninth street, New York city,
has been carried over and across
the tracks of the New York, New
Haven and Hartford railroad by a
public municipal steel truss bridge
Of a standard construction. The
bridge Is 81 feet wide, 270 feet long
ders, ct cetera connected and
strengthened by trellis or lattice
work. The top girders, or beams.
are 20 feet above the street. The
local law imposes upon the rail-
read the duty of maintaining the
framework; the municipality is re-
quired to keep the roadway in re-
pair.
Fastened to the top girder at the
end of the bridge are two upright
steel lattice towers, posts or struts.
Cross arms attached to these six feet
above their bases support bare wires
carrying electric current used for
operating trains. The nearest wire Is
10 inches from the strut.
with considerable difficulty and
some danger active boys can climb
to the highest parts of the bridge,
They did often climb upon it; some
reached the struts"
One can imagine the grave jus
tice writing this opinion and think
ing bacy half a century to his OWE
lboyhood. when to be an active boy
perhaps the most ''active boy" in
the neighborhood-was his ambition
| One can read much between the
lines of the opinion. The justice
says. They did often climb upon it
some reached the struts" One
can imagine the justice saying te
himself of those particularly active
boys who were strong and fearless
enough to reach the struts, GOOD
kids!' The official opinion contin'
ues:
They were frequently chased
away by a policeman and the rail
road guard, and seem generally Il
have understood that to clay there
was forbidden: when an officer cam,
in sight they kept of. At each cor
per of the bridge there was a no
tice board displaying the words
Live Wires Danger. Keep on