Evening star., 1939-11-16

Justice Butler Dies
Suddenly in Hospital
Of Old Ai|ment
Jurist Had Been
Suffering From
Bladder Trouble
Continued From First Paee.)

AOlLl Z SU Z 06C.I
American success story-a farm boy
rising to wealth and high place
through his own energies and
initiative.
He was born in a Minnesota log
cabin, worked his way through COL
lege, became the leading railroad
attorney of the Northwest and
amassed fortune before his ap-
pointment to the Supreme Court at
the age of 56.
His background of rugged individ-
ualism was evidenced in his judicial
philosophy. AS a Supreme Court
justice he was staunch defender
of the individual and property rights
which he held were guaranteed by
the Constitution.
There should be no legislation, he
once said, which would hamper any
poor youth from making his way te
the top.
Justice Buffers views on the Con-
stitution aligned him invariably with
the conservative wing of the court
He, with Justices Sutherland, Var
Devanter and McReynolds, voted tt
invalidate most of the New Dea
laws of President Roosevelt's first
term that reached the court, ane
after the retirement of Justice.
Sutherland and Van Devanter, he
consistently stood with Justice Nc.
Reynolds, another Democrat, in dis
sents that not infrequently wer,
caustic in vein.
Opposed "DOle" Law.
He wrote an outSpoken dessen
to a majority opinion holding con
stitutional the unemployment insur
ance provisions of the Social Sc
surity Act.
"The Constitution" he said
grants to the United States n,
power to pay unemployed person.
or to require the States to enac
laws or to raise or disburse none!
for that purpose"
Because of Justice Buffers knowr
conservative views, his. appointment
to the Supreme Court in 1922 b,
President Harding aroused bite
opposition. The Progressives of tn,
Northwest attacked him as a "re
actionary"; the City Council O
Minneapolis adopted a resolution
criticizing the selection.
None, however, charged that tn,
new justice lacked legal learnin,
and skill. He held high rank ane
respect in the Minnesota bar ane
numbered among his clients tn,
Great Northern, Northern Pacific
Burlington, New York Central ane
Chicago, st. Paul, Minneapolis &
Omaha Railroads and the St. Pau
Gas & Light Co.
He had won national reputation
IN 1907 for his handling of the
Minnesota rate case for the North.
west railroads. This case attracted
attention because it was the frs
real test of the power of a State tt
regulate intrastate rates. Justic,
Butler won in the lower courts, bu
lost in the Supreme Court,
But Justice Buffers talents as
lawyer were not confined to railroads
The Government utilized his skill il
the 1909-10 bleached -four cases undel
the Food and Drug Act and in thu
first prosecutions -.ander the Sher.
man Antitrust Act, the defendant.
being Armour's, Swift's and othe,
Chicago meat-packing concerns.
H1x, 4.
Canada retained him as its coun.
sci in arbitration proceedings to de.
termlne the price it should pay in
the purchase of the Grand Trunk
Pacific Railway.
The packers and the Canadian
cases brough him under the obser-
vation of William Howard Taft
with whom he later was to serve on
the highest court. The packers
were prosecuted while Mr.. Taft
was President, and in the Grand
Trunk Pacific arbitration he was
one of the commissioners. Justice
Butler won his points in that pro-
ceeding over the dissent of Taft.
Justice Butler was a member OF
President Wilson's conference COM
mittee on Federal valuation of rail-
ways, from 1918 to 1918.
Justice Buffers parents, Patrick
and Mary Butler, worked a farm
near Northfield, MINI. They were
Irish and their son Pierce was born
on st: Patrick's Day, March II
1866. He attended pioneer school
did chores on the farm and then
at Is entered Carleton College at
Northf1eld, MINI. There he rustled
milk cans in a dairy to pay his
expenses.
He was graduated from Carleton
in 1887, went to st. Paul to read
law in an attorneys Office and the
next year hung out his shingle, con.
tinuing in active practice until his
appointment to the Supreme Court
One of his early partners was Will