Evening star., 1926-05-04

33 years all over the country, and
was a former president OF the Bar
Association, resigning from that Office
to go into service during the World
War. was the next witness. He was
questioned about the formal action
taken by the Bar Association in 1928
| in a lengthy document criticizing the
| judges of the Supreme Court. He
/, said that he was one of the committee
of 10 that drafted the report and said
! the committee included eight former
| presidents of the Bar Association and
represented careful, painStaking. In
duStrious investigation, covering three
| months, He said: Il stand now for
every word that is in 1t" He put
himself on record as denouncing the
present officers OF the Bar Association
tor submitting a copy OF that report
to the Gibson subcommittee and de.
clared that they did so in violation
| of unanimous agreement.
He put into the record that this re-
port lis improperly published, but I'm
not ashamed of any word In It," Mr..
Easily Smith read section Of the re.
port, which refers to the justices not
having in mind certain section of the
code which prohibits the appointment
of relatives or employees of the judges
of the court to positions as guardians
ad litem or other fiduciary positions
under the court. He declared EN-.
phatically that the committee drafting
the report had not given the slightest
thought to the propriety Of q judge
employing his own son or daughter as
private secretary. lie said that the
same judges are now on the bench who
were there at the time this report was
| made.
He called the attention of the com.
m1ttee to the fact that before this re.
port was written the court itself had
decided not TO take the suggestion of
lawyers for appointment oftentimes of
clerks in their own office as guardians
ao item to make perfunctory or
stereotype reports, but to name per
sons who would In fact serve g guard.
ians ad litem. He expressed his opin.
ION that this action of the Justices was
"one OF the greatest remedies of an
EVIL practice" He said that the ma.
Jority OF the attorneys practicing be.
lore the court were in favor of that
new rule. although some ranked un.
der it.
Opposes Naming Relatives.
In a colloquy with Mr.. Bowma n
Mr. Easby-Smith said that a ma.
JoritX of the committee drafting the
report OF the Bar Association thought
IT was bad practice for judges of
me court to appoint relatives or EN-
pioyes as guardians ad Item, or to
other f1duciary trusts. Some thought
ii violated the spirit, though not the
! letter. OF the rule, and all thought
that the justices should avoid even
the appearance of evil.
Mr.. Easby-Smith said that after this
nt>f stth
sociation to the justices he had a
conversation with Chief Justice Nc.
Coy, in which the latter said that he
and other members of the court were
deeply hurt" because they had been
condemned without hearing" Mr..
Easby-Smith said that he pointed out
that the position of the Bar Associa
ton was not in condemnation. but
10 call attention to criticisms current
among the members Of the bar
Mr.. Blanton questioned Mr. Easily
Smith regarding how matters have
been remedied since that report and
Mr.. E.ashySmith said; "A. ma jority
of the matters we complained about
have been remedied and / feel that
report has done an enormous amount
of good
Mr.. Blanton also questioned him
regarding the established fact that
the son Of Chief Justice Mccoy has
been appointed IS times as guardian
ad Item and one time as joint
trustee. It was emphasized that in
all of these cases his fee was small,
Mr.. Easby-Smith saying he knew of
cases in which such guardians re-
Ceived $1,000 and $4,000, and that in
each case the guardian earned every
nickel of it,"
Mr.. Gibson announced that he
wants to question the auditor of the
Supreme Court as soon as possible
The hearing will be resumed to-
night at 7:30 O'Clock in the caucus
roOil Of the House Office Building.