Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-14
told Of his service for powerful corpor-

| atoms.
Senator La Toilette declared the is
I sue over the nomination goes to the
neart OF the question of the power
which the Federal judiciary has
! usurped.' He said that some OF the
greatest minds of the country, tnclud.
ing Thomas Jefferson. had challenged
the power of the Federal judiciary to
declare acts Of Congress unconstitu-
tlonal. and added that only in the last
few decades majority of the court
mad adopted the policy of declaring
acts OF Congress invalid, not only when
tney were contrary to the Constitution
but when disagreeing with the sound
ness OF the social or economic END OF
the legislation.
Senator Norris followed with his two
hour attack on the nomination.
To my mind" Senator Norris said,
the Senate is soon going to vote upon
the proposition that has more to do
IN the end in the upbuilding Of the
human race, with the advancement OF
civilization, with the happiness and
contentment of our people than any
question that has been tor years pre-
sented to it.
Some of us think that in the progress
OF the world We have reached the time
When some OF our sacred fundamental
institutions OF government are sadly IN
need OF relief, that there is danger, that
there are danger signs now along the
government pathway, and unless we
heed them our children and the genera
tions who follow will greatly suffer for
the mistakes We make here.
We are fearful against the encroach-
ment OF organized wealth upon our
civilization. We are fearful of combina-
~ Il
nave almost taken possession OF the
entire world. 1t is going on in all
human activities. We believe that 1t
will lead us to danger, that our lnsti-
buttons Of liberty and freedom are
liable to suffer.
There are those who do not agree
with us. They are those who feel That
there is no danger in combinations. IN
aggregationS of wealth. They make a
plausible argument along that line.
There are very few communities IN
the United States where local people
have not come in one way or another,
directly or indirectly, III contact with
the power trust over some little local
plant, which has been put out of bust
ness, or some little local election in
some community where the money OF
the power trust of Wall Street has been
brought across the continent to control
local elections. The trust wins very
often, perhaps most of the time. AT
any rate, they think they have won and
because the people were silent, that they
have forgotten about it, but in every
community there Is slumbering protest
in the hearts of honest men and women.
When this opposition started in re-
gard to the chief juSticeship OF the
Supreme Court of the United States the
people knew what 1t meant. They knew
that in one Of these contests,
when some community, some munich
pality, some county, some State, some
organization of people wanted to do
something, perhaps apply themselves
with water, with gas, with electricity
or with power, what did they find?
They ran up against a decision OF the
Supreme Court of the United States.
They know what Mr.. Hughes stands
for. They have nothing against Mr..
Hughes any more than / have. They
respect him; but they know that he
stands with that other crowd, with that
organized wealth crowd, and they do
not want representatives of that group
on the bench of the Supreme Court Of
the United States.
THE Senator from Massachusetts
(Mr. Gillett) said the other day that
Mr.. Hughes is the greatest lawyer In
the United States.
Nobody has denied the ability of
Mr.. Hughes. although he is not
superman; he has many attributes that
the common individual has.
But admitting. for the sake of
argument, he is the greatest lawyer in
the United States, should we, for that
reason alone, put him on the Supreme
bench? Are we going to consider
nothing but ability?
IT do not believe a man is fit to go
on the Supreme bench who has never
had any opportunity to Sympathize or
to associate with those who toll and
those who labor. The man who has
always lived life of luxury-and since
Mr.. Hughes went of the Supreme bench
and the answer he got through running
for President he has lived with those of
wealth; he has been surrounded by the
luxury Of combined wealth"
Two Historical Parallels.
The attack upon the Hughes nomi-
nation has two notable parallels in the
history of the Senate. The first was the
opposition to Chief Justice fancy, and
the second, that which developed when
Associate Justice Louis D. BrandeiS
was nominated.
For nearly four months the fancy
was denounced, as was Hughes, for his
economic views. With the slavery ques-
ton lying dormant behind the Missouri
compromise, but constantly threatening
to raise its head, Northern Senators
found objection in the fact that fancy
was a Maryland Democrat. There was
objection, too. for the reason that he
was a Catholic
Finally his nomination was confirmed
q a hA
came the author of the bred Scott de-
cision. which dissolved the Missouri
compromise and brought the slavery
question again to the floors of Congress.
BrandeiS. nominated in 1916 by
President Wilson, was attacked, too,
for his economic beliefs, but for a rea-
son quite opposite to that raised against
Hughes. His views we're considered too
liberal.
He, too, was confirmed. and since
assuming Office his views have proved
widely different from the body Of
opinion of the court. Holmes and
Brandeis dissenting" has become a
familiar phrase when decisions are an
nounced.
Gifted Statesman.
Hughes is known to the public as
stern, hardworking, studious and
gifted statesman and jurist.
His career began in New York. In
1907 he became governor of the State.
He resigned in 1910 to accept APP
pointment from President Taft to the
Supreme bench.
This he relinquished in 1915 to run
for the presidency. Defeated at the
polls, he returned to his private legal
practice entering public life again as
Secretary of State under Harding. He
served after the Chief Executives death
and left the cabinet when Coolidge
began his second term. In 1928 he was
elected by the Council and Assembly
of the League of Nations to an asso-
ciate justiceship on the bench of the
World Court, a post he is relinquishing