FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81  
82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   >>   >|  
e. "Gentlemen," he said, "as I have come unprepared for this pleasure, I shall have to fall back on story-telling. In the small hours, one morning, two men who had been having rather too good a time were navigating from street corner to street corner. Said Smith, 'Jonesh, shtime to go home. Shgetting broad daylight. Theresh sun shining up there.' "'No, Shmith,' replied Jones, 'you're mistaken. Tha'sh moon up there, and it's night.' They staggered down the street, Smith insisting that it was day, Jones insisting that it was night, until they met a fellow inebriate clinging to a fire plug. To him they appealed their dispute. He heard them out, and then looked thoughtfully up at the moon. For a long time he puzzled over the problem, and finally, giving it up, turned to them and said politely, 'Gentlemen, you'll have to 'scuse me. I'm a stranger in town.' "And, gentlemen," said Bassett, again looking about from face to face, "you'll have to excuse me. I'm a stranger in town." Judge Wilfley began by calling upon every American lawyer who was practicing in Shanghai to bring a certificate of good moral character and to pass an examination before he could be admitted to practice in the new court. The examination was given, and only two of the lawyers passed. At once there was a hubbub. The judge was attacked hotly. One of the lawyers who failed to pass hurried over to this country, making a speech at Honolulu, on the way, in which he insinuated charges of corruption against Judge Wilfley. Shortly after his arrival at San Francisco, he prevailed upon the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, on the Pacific Coast, to reverse one of Judge Wilfley's decisions without having the facts of the whole case in hand and without a hearing from the China court. He went on to Washington, and within a month or two last winter actually got a bill through the United States Senate reinstating all the disqualified lawyers. The bill is before the House at this present session. He has conducted a newspaper campaign against Judge Wilfley in this country since his return last year. It seems only fair to call attention to these facts on a fearless and able man, because Judge Wilfley is too hard at work in a distant country to be able to defend himself. In the course of my travels from port to port last year, it became clear to me that this new court was the one uplifting factor in a distressing general condition. Judge Wilfley, like his district at
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81  
82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Wilfley

 

country

 

street

 
lawyers
 

stranger

 
Gentlemen
 

examination

 
insisting
 

corner

 

decisions


reverse

 

Circuit

 

Pacific

 

Appeals

 
charges
 
hurried
 
making
 

speech

 

Honolulu

 

failed


attacked
 

arrival

 

Francisco

 
prevailed
 

Shortly

 

insinuated

 

corruption

 

reinstating

 
distant
 
fearless

attention
 

defend

 
general
 

distressing

 
condition
 

district

 

factor

 

uplifting

 

travels

 

return


winter

 

hearing

 

Washington

 

United

 

States

 

session

 

conducted

 
newspaper
 

campaign

 

present