Confirmed

Harlan Fiske Stone, Attorney General of the U. S., appointed by the President to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, was confirmed, last week, in this appointment by the Senate. The statement of fact is simple, but the manner in which it came about was not.

When Mr. Stone was named for the Supreme Court by the President (TIME, Jan. 19), the appointment was referred to the Committee on Judiciary. Then one Colonel James A. Ownbey came out of the West strongly objecting to Mr. Stone's confirmation. Some years ago. Colonel Ownbey, while serving as a mining engineer, had had an altercation with the heirs of J. P. Morgan. They sued him in Delaware and secured a verdict against him. He appealed to the Supreme Court. Mr. Stone was then hired by the Morgan heirs to appear before the Supreme Court and argue the constitutionality of the Delaware court's decision. Mr. Stone won the case, and Colonel Ownbey asserted that he was robbed of a large fortune. A fortnight ago the Committee on Judiciary considered Mr. Stone's appearance before the Supreme Court and found nothing reprehensible in it. His nomination was favorably reported to the Senate. In the executive session which followed, a new objection was found to Mr. Stone. Senator Wheeler, when conducting an investigation of Attorney General Daugherty last spring, had been counterattacked. The Department of Justice had had him indicted in Montana on a charge of having accepted a fee to appear before a Federal agency for a client after becoming a Senator. That case is still hanging fire. Meanwhile, a Senate committee had investigated the charge and declared it base- less. But recently Attorney General Stone announced his intention of placing certain evidence before a grand jury at the Capital, with a view to securing a new indictment against Senator Wheeler. Certain Senators considered this political persecution and, after protracted debate, the Stone appointment was referred back to the Committee. Again the Judiciary Committee considered. This time Attorney General Stone appeared before them, made a statement and was cross-examined by Senator Walsh of Montana, Attorney for Senator Wheeler. The Attorney General -- large, strapping, big -- appeared, declared that the new indictment to be sought was of a different nature from that secured in Montana, that he personally took full responsibility for the Department of Justice's action. Again the Committee favorably reported his nomination to the Senate. Another executive session was held. Then it was voted to act on the appointment in open session. The open session lasted six hours. Senator Walsh of Montana attacked the nomination because of Mr. Stone's contemplated action against Senator Wheeler. Senator Heflin attacked Mr. Stone because of the Ownbey case. Senator Norris objected to Mr. Stone as "Morgan & Co.'s attorney." Senator Reed of Missouri and Senator Borah declared that they did not approve of the practice of seeking an indictment against a man far from his home, but announced that they would vote for confirmation. Mr. Borah added: "I want to call the attention of my friend the Senator from Nebraska [Mr. Norris] to the fact that in my opinion the Attorney General is one of the most liberal-minded men who has been in the Attorney General's office in a decade. He is not only a man of extraordinary ability but he is a man of liberal mind, and the deepest regret I have in seeing him advance to the Supreme Court bench is that he is leaving the Attorney General's office, where I think he has been doing magnificent work ever since he has been there." The upshot of this prolonged consideration was that Mr. Stone was confirmed as an Associate Justice, 71 to 6. The only Senators who voted against him were Heflin and Trammel (Democrats), Norris and Frazier (Insurgent Republicans), Shipstead and Magnus Johnson (Farmer-Laborites). Senators Wheeler and Walsh, both of Montana, asked to be excused from voting. With the exception of Messrs. Norris and Frazier (and Senator LaFollette, now in Florida for his health, but who, it was announced, would have voted against Mr. Stone), the Insurgent Republicans lined up with their Regular colleagues and with the bulk of the Democrats to settle the matter decisively in Mr. Stone's favor. Following the confirmation, Colonel Ownbey, a septuagenarian, announced: "I have been denied justice and will never again exercise any rights as an American citizen. I am going back West and get my boy and we will go abroad to live. I hoped the Senate would not place the rights of American citizens in the hands of one who had disregarded them. I could not be happy here now. I don't think in my heart I could be loyal to--" and his voice trailed away.