Evening star., 1937-02-15
NJ the Associated Press.


The text of Attorney General Cum
minss' address on judiciary reorgani
cation follows:
Only nine short days have passed
since the President sent to the Con-
gress recommendations for the
reorganization Of the Federal judi
eiary. Yet, In that brief time,
unfriendly voices have filled the air
with lamentations and have vexed
our ears with an insensate clamor
calculated to divert attention from
the merits OF his proposal. Let us,
therefore, disregard for a moment
these irrelevancies and direct our
attention to q dispassionate con-
alteration Of the reasons for the
action taken by the President and
the remedy he suggests.
From the beginning of President
Roosevelt's first administration l
have been in intimate contact with
him with reference to ways and
means of improving the admins
tration of justice. Literally thou
sands Of proposals have been con-
sidered. In addition. the critical
literature of the law has been
searched, and the lessons of expert
ence have been canvasSed. Out Of
1t have come certain well-defined
conclusions:
|. In our Federal Courts the laws
DELAYS have become intolerable.
Multitudes of cases have been
pending from to 10 years.
Sees Many Forced
To Permit Injustices.
Rather than resort to the courts
many persons submit to acts OF
Injustice. Inability to secure a
prompt judicial adjudication leads
to improvident and Unjust settle
ments. Moreover, the time factor
Is an open invitation to those who
are disposed to institute unwar-
ranted litigation or interpose un-
founded defenses in the hope OF
forcing an adjustment which would
not be secured upon the merits.
Furthermore, the small business
man or the litigant of limited
means labors under a grave and
constantly increasing disadvantage
because of his inability to pay the
price of justice. I do not stress
these matters further. because the
congestion in our courts is mat
ter of common knowledge.
2. Closely allied with this prob
lem is the situation created by the
continuance in office of aged or
infirm judges.
For 80 years Congress refused to
grant pensions to such judges.
Unless a Judge was a man of in
dependent means there was no al
tentative open to him except to
retain his position to the very last.
System of Pensions
Prove Ineffective.
When in 1869 a pension system
was provided. the new legislation
was not effective in inducing re-
tirement. The tradition of aged
Judges had become fixed, and the
inflrm judge was often unable to
perceive in his own mental or
physical decripitude. Indeed. this
result had been foreseen in the
debates in Congress at that time.
To meet the situation the House
Of Representatives had passed a
measure requiring the appoint
ment of an additional judge to
any court where a judge of re-
tirement age declined to leave the
bench. However, the proposal
failed in the Senate.
With the opening of the twen-
tieth century similar proposals
were brought forward The JUS
tices Of the Supreme Court, how
ever, protested, and the project
was abandoned. when William
Howard Taft, a former Federal
judge, left the presidency, he pub
lished his views.
There is no doubt" he said,
"that there are judges at 10 who
have ripe judgments. active