Evening star., 1939-02-14
BY ]. A. FOX.

by J. "A. FOA.
When the powerful interests of the
country were using every weapon at
their command to keep Louis Dem
bitz Brandeis from donning the
robes Of a justice of the Supreme
Court, the late Senator Culberson of
Texas, chairman Of the Senate Ju-
dietary Committee, which was con-
sidering the nomination. wrote Pres
ident Wilson, asking his reasons for
the appointment.
The President replied:
ut is my deliberate judgment
that, of all men now at the bar
whom it has been my privilege to
observe, test and know, he is excep-
tionally qualified. cannot speak too
highly of his impartial, impersonal
orderly and constructive mind, his
rare analytical powers. his deep
human sympathy, his profound ac-
quaintance with the historical roots
of our institutions his knoWl-
edge of modern economic conditions
and the way they bear upon the
masses of the people. -
This friend of justice and of men
will ornament the high court of
which We are all so justly proud"
That was early in 1916
History will record that for %
years, this American-born son of a
Jewish immigrant, justified in full
measure this gauge of character and
ability.
A whim of fate sent the crusading
Brandeis to the bench.
Considered for Cabinet.
In his letter to Senator Culberson,
President Wilson recalled that three
years earlier, he had investigated
charges" against the nominee when
considering him for a place in the
cabinet. That post, it is assumed,
was the Attorney Generalship, va
Gated by James C. McReynolds upon
his appointment to the Supreme
Court, where he and Justice Bran
deis consistently have clashed in
their views. The portfolio, however,
never was offered.
1t was a passion for public service
that had demonstrated itself in a
very material way that drew atten-
tlon to the Brandeis of an earlier
day..
Born in Louisville in the family
OF a cultured and well-to-do Jew
who had left Bohemia in the revo-
luton of 1848, young Brandeis was
educated in the public schools, and
after the Civil War, was placed for
two years in a Dresden realshule
His father urged him to remain in
Europe to pursue an academic
career, but he had made up his
mind to return to America and fol-
low the footsteps of an uncle who
was an attorney.
One account has it that his desire
to come back to this country was in
f1uenced by a brief brush with the
law. According to this story, the
youngster came home late one night
to discover that he had no key. He
was tossing pebbles against a win
dow in the hopes of arousing some
member of the family when a police
man appeared and gave every indi.
cation of intent to take summary
action. The matter was adjusted
without serious complications, but
young Brandeis decided there was
not enough freedom of action there
to suit him.
| Financed Course in Iaw
Financial reverses his father haG
suffered made it necessary for the
youth to finance his own law course
at Harvard, and his work there was
so brilliant that the rules were sus-
pended to allow him to take his de.
gree at 20. He also had used his
time outside of class with such sue.
cess as a tutor that he left schoo
with $1,000, but at the cost of 8
strain on his eyes from which hi
never fully recovered.
In 1873, at the age of %, Brandeis
started practice in St. Louis, but re.
manned only year, when he re.
turned to Boston as the junior part.
ner in the firm of Warren & Bran.
deis. Within eight years, he had q
successful corporation practice, ane
an assured social position. Bu
Brandeis wanted more.
Once he wrote: "We hear much o1
the corporation lawyer and far toe
little of the peoples lawyer"
He aspired to be a peoples law.
YER and so earnestly did he pursue
this goal that when he was nom.
mated to the Supreme Court more
than half his time was being de.
voted to public causes. It wa.
brought out at the hearing on hi!
nomination that on one occasion
when the firm of Warren & Bran.
deis was sought as counsel thu
junior partner felt the case at issu,
was one of public rather than pri.
vate concern, so he declined the pri.
vate employment, but at the sam.
time personally paid his firm $25 ,00l
50 his partners might not suffel
from this course.
Aroused by Shooting Of Strikers.
1t was natural that the study O
relations of labor and industr,
would commend itself to Brandeis
but it was the battle at Homestead
Pa, in 1892, when striking stee
workers were shot down by hiret
plant guards, that intensely rouset
his interest.
One biographer quotes him Is de
claring that ut took the shock o
that battle, where organized capita