Show CHANGES IN N THE U UNITED STATES SUPREME I COURT observation having b been en made that It may tall fall to tho Tim TItE lot of at It If he be should bo be elected to 1 a second turn term to appoint more justices ot of the lire supreme court than any ot of Ills mils In recent times limes pertinent tho personnel of at thAt most august body bOlh In the tho world It WAS only a 11 year car ogo no last January that the cen centennial ot of Chief Justice Installation was commemorated yet the great groat expounder ot of the was the tho fourth appointment nail and there have been Jut but tour four chief Justices ju s President Washington the three chief Jay JayJohn JayJohn John Rutledge and Ellsworth John was lIIS appointed by John Adams Adam by Andrew Jackson Jack son lion S I 11 by Abraham Lincoln M n ft Waite by 1 U ty HOrant N Grant and Melville W Fuller by Grover trover Gleve land Chief Justice Fuller ls the eighth t occupy the tho elevated position and now that It ft Is rumored that ho hI may retire upon full tull pay ay pension when Iw he L the ngo Q limit of oC seventy which Is IB next February la Is rite rife he bs to his successor Who tho that sue sUI cessor may moy bl be It is 18 to deter determine mine mille In advance nce Of any express ration b by tiro tho president nil as there thoro Is no precedent by which bleh the nomination to the tho may be prefigured Of OC the tho eIght chief justices only one Rutledge of at South served previously all as on an associate Jus JUB lice each ach of oC the tho other incumbents hay In InK been taken from outside the court John Jay as Is well known was a dle jurist and who hud had preViously held the tho position ot of secretary of It slate for tor affairs Marshall the fourth justice was tary ot of state had been heen attorney general Jeneral and nOlI had also been nominated nomina tell for Jor secretary or of elate but not con confirmed firmed 1 Cho Chase e was great sec lice ot of the tho treasury Waite had not been In politics but hall had been 1 a mem ilium member ber ot of the Geneva award commission Fuller Wits way n a politician and ond II a success tut Chicago r when nominated by Cleveland hut but had previously held no high po position under th the government The functions tilled HUed by the tho court ns lie ono or of the three great Kroat co or of our government and the most powerful and least assailable or of th three render It imperative or of course that only men of at spotless char nuter fluter and undoubted ability shall IJ be cho chosen tn not only for tor the tho chief Justice ship but tot for the associate ns as well v II the tho filling ot of u vacancy by the death or re Mall of an justice the has hns n 11 wilier wider range anti amI a 11 larger choice of at Plo Incumbent bents bent Null Now that It has hns been positively slated that Associate Justice Shims M sires to retire In October having passed Ids his seventieth birthday by moro more than I seven oven months names have been ns as thou those from which the president may make a choice as aM to his hili successor Those most prominently brought f forth are the tho present attorney general ot of the United States Statu Hon V 1 Hi 4 II I C Knox the governor fit et the lItO Hon William H 11 raft and WillIam Ullam It H nay Day Judge ot of the United States circuit court since ml 1899 All are well well Velt known v v to 10 needmore need more than mention In this con connection connection Attorney like Shiras line hns been a corporation lawyer ot of renown and moreover Is 1 a native ot of from which slate was appointed Although Ills It is only In accord with nn an law that vacancies dc yo ll from the tho states or hl nl sections represented by the tho Justices It hM has been pr pretty tty well re reo The Tho court In tact fact Is well ap 1111 portioned geographically as Of at pre nl constituted the tho sections being all as follows Chief Justice Fuller uller Illinois Justice Horlon Kentucky Brewer Brown Shiras White While and Peckham New York California and Homes recently pointed to succeed s bra Ura sells The geographic apportionment would woud be well maintained by the tho up ap u riCe Ud e WH r Shims Sh r l a t G lIr M v JF r F tl ff G o ta t a n 1 W I R P r Ally f GeR en Knox of at any nil one of at the three men mentioned Knox being from Shims own slate while Day and Taft are na natives tives ot of Ohio Knox IJ by the way Is 1 a graduate elf t Union college OhIo though his home is III In Taft Is n a graduate ot of Yale inlo university and Days s mater la If University the of at I f I B lh Knox Kno and Taft are still I In n before the the former as fI general a po v sitton eillon ho has held hela March or of last the tho latter as civil the first ot of the Philippines since the drat week w cl ot of Jun June 1901 Taft Is the tho youn oun gent gest of oC the tho trIo being beng years old Day Is in and Knox Kno Is sixty As judge ot of the tho superior court lot of Ohio 1567 r rI I general mo And cir clr cult Judge 1892 1900 Taft has baa hind a wide range of experience It if his eminent service the t o Philippines be considered lie Ile won salutatorian and class orator when lie he graduated from Yale Yalo and has haB held a high for tor Judge Day lies has been less leu conspicuous ot of than Ihan aft Or Knox noc but only Dilly n a tew ow years ago Willi In the full tull blaze of at publicity lie Was assistant they ot of slate In 1897 and succeeded till the late lato John Sherman nil as secretary of ht state slate April 1898 in III ot of that year he was o of the now historic l n which met ut at and effected permanent peace between Spain and the United Slates Jt It Is III quite germane to 10 the tho subject to Inquire an II to precedent In the tho matter or of ago ngo when Ie the sn court cout lire and also liB as asto to the number of oC members that custom has II Which latterly line hns been fixed at nine Chief Justice Puller Fuller reaches the age of It seventy next l lUll and Justice next June Thu Tho oldest is Jus Justice tice Shires mentioned as being seventy and for tor retirement After Atter Shuns comeS Justice Brown aged Brewer la If Peckham s ty fifty litty nine nino nod White the of the bench will be next November The average age uge of at tho court Ourt as nt at present constituted with In place ot of Gray Is b about years whIch Is two years below the thO average hitherto Thu average age ot of former chief Justices on teath or retirement was ns n a little more than seventy years Taney the tho oldest chief justice lived to tM the age oge of at and the youn younge ge gent t John Joy Jay relined oL at fifty and lived to The oldest ns ut or Maryland resigned at and lived to the great age of ninetysix The Thc youngest appointed nt at the Iho ngo ot of and resigned at al None of at the chief justices except per hops Taney lived to lag superfluous on the tho stage although Marshall complot ed thirtyfour years In Isla term and Taney twentynine Ot Of the associate justices the Int venerable Stephen J heM held tiro tho record 1011 he retired not Ilot only for tor length of at then four years and six mon as the tho oldest oilIest be rl he having survived two cholo courts lIe died 1111 In at the I ag ago Of If Chief Justice Fuller should avail himself ot of the under the tho law I ot of retiring nl at the age ot of seventy upon full tull pay pension after ten years sen ice hIs term would then have exceeded the average ot of his predecessors Jay sat six years one OM year Ella worth three years earA ten years ears Marshall yearn Taney falley twentynine years and Waite Walto fourteen years Chiet Justice Fuller uller has hAil already sat M as man many his immediate predecessor and having honors without stint Is certainly to fo Ii a end endIng lag Ing for his old age |