The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-02-01

his solicitor generaI-the most important legal post in the de- partment--J. Crawford Biggs of North Carolina, merely because kind-hearted Josephus Daniels had asked it. As attorney for Daniels newspaper in Raleigh, Biggs may have been g conn pete1t operarg., but before the supreme court of the United States where he pleads the cases of the federal government, he is like a Kentucky mountaineer on his first trip to Manhattan.
 BEGINNING
 Biggs' initial case was eagerly awaited by the nine distinguished gentlemen who sit on the dais of the supreme court. He had chos- en for his debut 8 murder case. This in itself was q shock to the court. Such cases rarely come before the tribunal, are usually of minor importance, are always argued by one of the bright young men" in the solicitors office.
 This case was that of the army doctor, Major Charles A. Shep- ard, convicted by jury of pOis- Oning his wife. He had appealed, and the conviction had been set aside. The government was ap- pcaling from this ruling. The is- sue centcred entirely on the question of the admlssibillty of death-bed statements.
 Biggs began with a redundant Reclamation to the effect that he would discuss two points. With this weighty pronouncement out of the way, he then proceeded to crate at great length, ardent fervor, and extraordinary aim- lessness. After a half hour of rhetoric, the court began to squirm and fidget. Finally, Chief Justice Hughes leaned over the green baize-covered tribune and interrupted:
 "Mr Solicitor, you said you would discuss two points. You have used up A minutes and so far have tnly touched on one. Do p,, you plan to discuss the
 Certainly, MT Chief Justice, ply. How much time have I left?"
 "Y0u have two minutes. We will give you three ln addition to that. You will please finish in that time."
 THE RErORn
 With Biggs as solicitor general, the government for the first time in years has lost more supreme court cases than 1t has won. The odds in favor of the government always are high. For one thing. the solicitor usually does not contest a case unless the gov crnment's stand is reasonably sound. From October to March ] last year therefore, the Hoov- erized justice department won 39 of it's cases and lost 19--- a percentage of two to one. But with J. Crawford Biggs as government pleader, the U. s. A. has lost 10 cases and won 2.
 Offsetting these, Cummings has made one or two excellent ap- pOlntments. He retained Sanford Bates as director of prisOns--One Of the best men in the country. He also retained as assistant die rector, Austin H. MacCOrmick, until Mayor IAGuardia brought him to New York in charge of the corrections department which recently staged the sensational Welfare island cleanup. An. other Cummings appointec, JO- seph B. Keenan, named to clean out Kidnapping, also has turned out to be n find.
 Justice now Is functloning much more smoothly than it did at first. General" Cummings has lost some of his amiability, some !, times actually gets hard-boiled. According to White House at- taches, he has gone up 8 great deal in Roosevelt's estimation because of the legal opinions he offered on the monetary experi- ments. But his department still needs lot of pruning plus the injection of new life before 1t reaches the high standard set by other branches of the New Deal.
 (Copyrlght, 1884, by United