Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 November 1894 — SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES.

1-Justice Geryge Shiras. 2— Justice David J. Brewer. 3-Justice Henry B. Brown. <—Justice John M. Harlan s—Justice Edward White. C-Justice Howell E. Jackson. 7—Chief Justice Fuller, b—Justice Horace Gray, ft—Justice Stephen J. Field.

The most dignified of all our Government institutions Is the Supreme Court, which holds Its sessions in Washington. It is composed of elderly men who are very solemn and never in a hurry., and who are as slow in their various proceedings as they can very well be. The court’s business, indeed, is several years behind, and there seems no likelihood that it will ever manage to catch up to the present. Each justice receives a salary of SIO,OOO a year, but still their job can’t be exactly called an easy one. They are in court six days in the week for four hours, and the outside preparation of their opinions requires an immense expenditure of time. Thecourt assembles each day at noon, and after putting on its black silk robes marches in procession into the court “oom. There is a theatrical touch to the entrance. The black-robed figures glide mysteriously behind the pillars, and then, as though at a prompter's signal, appear at the spaces between the pillars and nlove to their places. These places are fixed, and if you know the order which is invariably followed in assigning them you can answer without hesitation any question as to the chronological order of the associate justices. The chief justice, of course, sits In the middle. When the justices enter the court crier raps three times and says in a sing-song tone: “Oyer, oyez, oyez! All persons having business before the

honorable the Supreme Court of the United States are admonished to draw near and give attention, as the court is about to asemble. God bless the United States and this honorable court!” When the gavel first falls all those within the bar of justice rise and remain standing until the justices, at a signal from the chief justice, take their seats. As they sit down they bow to the attorney general and the members of the bar. The black robes which it has become the custom for the judges to wear—though why no one knows, for there is no law on the subject—have been made by one woman for the last fifty years. They cost the enormous price of .SIOO. The justice wears his robe only when the Supreme Court, as a body, is participating in some official ceremony. He may go gowned to a funeral, if it is an official funeral. He wears it at the inauguration of a President; but ordinarily he puts it on in the robing-room in the morning and takes it off in the robing-room at dusk. He doe's not wear it even in the consulting room; so there is very little wear and tear on it, and one robe will outwear several suits of clothing. Serving in the Supreme Court seems conducive to longevity. Several justices have had terms of over thirty years. The oldest now on the bench is Mr. Field, who has already served 31 years, and hopes to make it 34, which will equal Chief Justice Marshall’s term, the longest on record.