The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-04-23

dCCOuIlC OI q ILlceLlIlS OA VI county agents, to obtain fiji ing the number of farmers conservation plan.
 'Now men," said the director, "you know what this program is; also you have talked to the farm CTS. I want you each to jot down for me the number of farmers in your area that you are sure will comply"
 The answers revealed that out of 170,00O California farmers eligible to participate, only 13,000 were definitely known to plan to take part in the new acreage re- duction program.
 The Court Laughed
 The black-gowned Justices of the U. s. Supreme Court, so solemn and forbidding on the bench, enjoy 8 good joke-even at the expense of one of their number.
 Arguing a recent tax case before the court, Robert Jackson, able young assistant attorney general, claimed that the defendant had sought to evade the estate tax by transferring his property to rela- tives prior to his death.
 Jackson held that the defend- ants advanced years justified such contention; that he obviously had his demise in mind when he gave away his wealth.
 But" snapped Justice Me- Reynolds, a dour Scotsman, didn't you read the opinion of the lower court? It is shown there that this man was a hale and hearty Scotsman in his seventies"
 "Yes, Your Honor" shot back Jackson, "that is exactly my point. He was a Scotsman. That is why I say he must have de- sired to transfer his fortune by making these gifts"
 The entire court, including Me- Reynolds, broke into laughter.
 NOTE-Jackson won the case; the court agreed with his req soning.
 Willy Prosecutor
 In the senate, chief credit for the conviction of Judge Halsted L. Ritter is given to Sam Hobbs, a rookie congressman and former circuit judge from Alabama.
 The irnpeachement charges against the Florida jurist were prosecuted by four members of the House Judiciary commAttee, headed by Chairman Hatton w. Summers. Hobbs, the junior men- Der of the managers, as they are known officially, was the "trial lawyer.
 Illustrative of the fast-think- ing Alabama's methods was the, dramatic manner in which he managed to introduce as evidence certain private letters written by the impeached judge. Ritter's law yers objected strenuouSly to read- ing the letters, but were overruled.
 Hobbs then began to read one letter. The first several para graphs were unimportant. Sena- tors sat back in their seats. Sud- denly he stopped, stammered, fin- ally said: "I would rather not read the next paragraph =" Legal K.O.
 Ritter's lawyers leaped to their feet. The entire chamber became tense. We demand the paragraph be read" the attorneys shouted. We insist that if part of the let ter is read, all of it should be read"
 "Very well," said Hobbs, If you insist" And then, while the entire senate listened in- tentIy, he read as follows: T can recommend him (Ritter's former law partner) very strongly for appointment to the vacancy Ia federal judgeship), for as you know he is Hoover Democrat. ...."
 Shorts from the democratic side were so loud they could be heard in the galleries. Among old-line democrats, traffic with g Hoover Democrat still is an unforgivable sin.
 By his willy maneuver Hobbs had hung" this damaging bit of evidence on Ritter whiel appear ing to be forced to do so by Rit- ter's own attorneys.
 Talmadge Trick
 Governor Gene Talmadge may yet be a delegate to the democra- tic national conventoin, even though the buzz-saw-voiced Geor- gian does not have the courage to enter the presidential prefer ence primary he was recently forced to call. This is so because of an adroit political trick.
 The red gallus-wearing gover- nor controls the Georgia State Central Democratic committee, through it rules the states elec- tion machinery.
 So in drafting the rules for the Georgia presidential pri- mary, he slipped in a provision that any vacancies in the slate of delegates chosen to go to Philadelphia should be filled by the chairman of the Central Committee. Even though a complete Roosevelt ticket was elected, it would thus be pos