Note 4 — Chapter XVII · Governor Taft, 1903 (Continued)

To show how absolute was the executive and legislative power over 8,000,000 of people entrusted by the sole authority of President McKinley to Governor Taft—without consulting Congress, though afterwards the authority so conferred was ratified by Congress and descended from Governor Taft to his successor—an incident related to me in the freedom of social intercourse, and not in the least in confidence, by my late beloved friend Arthur W. Fergusson, long Executive Secretary to Governor Taft, will suffice. In 1901 the Commission had passed a law providing for the constitution of the Philippine judiciary,4 according to which law an American, in order to be eligible to appointment as a Judge of First Instance (the ordinary trial court, or nisi prius court, of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence) must be more than thirty years old, and must have practised law in the United States for a period of five years before appointed. In 1903 President Roosevelt wanted to make Hon. Beekman Winthrop (then under thirty years of age) now (1912), Assistant Secretary of the Navy, a Judge of First Instance. Governor Taft called Fergusson in and said: “Fergy, make me out a commission for Beekman Winthrop as a Judge of First Instance.” Fergusson said: “You can’t do it, Governor. It’s against the law. He’s not old enough.” Winthrop was a graduate of the Harvard Law School. Governor Taft said humorously, “I can’t eh? I’ll show you. Send me a stenographer.” A law was dictated5 striking out thirty years and inserting twenty-five, and adding after the words “must have practised law for a period of five years” the words “or be a graduate of a reputable law school.” Fergusson was then called in, and told to go down the hall, see the other commissioners,6 and get them together, which he did, and the law was passed in a few minutes. Then Fergusson was sent for, and the Governor said, handing him the new “law”; “Now make out that commission.” Even if Fergusson colored the incident up a bit, in the exercise of his inimitable artistic capacity to make anything interesting, his story was certainly substantially correct relatively to the absoluteness of the authority of the Governor, as will appear by reference to the two laws cited.