Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-05
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS

The speed with which Mr.. Hoover put
over the nomination of Charles Evans
Hughes for the Supreme Court caught
most of the Washington newspaper con-
tingent on first base. Associate Justice
Stone, for a variety Of plausible reasons.
not the least of which was his personal
intimacy with the President, had been
Immediately and almost Unanimously
touted as the sure winner, with Senator
Borah rated as dark horse, and Calvin
Coclldge as an outside chance. A host
OF powerful speculative news dispatches
anent Chief Justice Taft's prospective
successor died aborning when the
hughes nomination was sprung within
so few hours of the announcement of
Mr.. TattS retirement. In retrospect it
Is perfectly obvious that the President
with advance notice of the Taft resigU
nation had picked Hughes, secured the
iatterS acceptance and had calculat-
lngly acted to head off the welter of
representations certain to ensue so long
as the appointment remained open. and
to preclude the. bandying about of many
distinguished names.
r X
The Taft resignation directs attention
10 the fact that in the span of lao
years OF the existence of the Supreme
Court there have been all told only 10
tlce. In the past AZ years there have
been but three, Melville w. Fuller, Ed
ward d. White and Taft. Justice Oliver
wendell Holmes. nearing 80 years. serv-
ice In the court who will be 80 wears
olo In March, has served under ali
three. Justices may come and justices
may go, but this grand old man goes
on apparently forever. In a court of
members, Is justices have come
TIC
was appointed in 1902 OF the six
Presidents who preceded Mr.. Hoover,
Coolidge made one appointment to the
supreme bench, Harding four, Wilson
Three, Taft five, Roosevelt three and
Mckinley one.
II Congress enactS the Tess bill. in
troouced last week by the Ohio Senator.
i who Is chairman of the Washington Ri
Centennial Commission. CHARGED with
preparations for the 20Oth birthday
celebration in 1882, the photographers
OF WaSh1ngtoniana will have a host of
new books and documents to catalogue
Senator Tess seeks authorization To
publish "definitive edition of ali the
essential writings of George Washing
ton In Is Volumes" to print and dis
tribute a portrait Of Washington. to
issue a washington Atlas. with maps,
|
Washington's career, and the printing
and distribution of a hundred thousand
copies each of two pamphlets to be en-
titled, respectively, Honor to George
Washington" and Reading AboIIt
George Washington" To employ the
necessary staff, director, historian, sec
rotary and clerks to start this and other
features OF the celebration, the Tess bill
proposes authorization of an initial APP
! nrO0riQtinn IF eO0n mn -
X 4 X
Every session of Congress brings
many freak bills, but the following res
olution filed in the House by Repre-
sentative Hartley of New Jersey and
duly referred to the committee on mill
tary affairs takes first prize: Whereas
the records of the War Department
certify. that Nicholas Casale of 228
Highland avenue, Newark, N. j.. who
served in Company c, 1st Battalion,
148th Infantry, 37th Division, enlisted
with patriotic desire to serve his coun-
| try, although he was only 4 feet 10
inches in height and but 1O4 pounds in
weight; and whereas the said Nicholas
Casale served with conspicuous bravery
| in Bots Emmont, in France; and where
as the cost of examining the records of
every enlisted man would be out Of pro-
portion to the benefits derived there
from: Now. therefore, be it Resolved,
That the House of Representatives does
hereby designate the said Nicholas Ca
sale as the smallest fighting soldier OF
the American EXpeditionary Forces"
| X X X
DR.. Clarence True Wilson, secretary
of the Methodist Board of Public Morals
diverts momentarily from the prohibit
ton theme to turn his guns upon the
cigarettes and allied smoking mediums
He pays an unconscious tribute to the
potency of advertising. Upon the thesis
that the use Of tobacco Is perYe.diS-