Francis M. Scott. legislative committees in matters concerning his city, and his experience soon became a legislative touchstone for committees, and even for speaker and governor, regarding all bills and resolutions affecting the cor porate or statutory interests of the New York municipality. Nor did he cease such supervision after, in 1895, the late re form Mayor Strong commissioned him full counsel. Scott's imprimatur to a city bill was always accepted by statute makers, and the negative shake of his head, accom panying good reasons for the shake, usually killed the opposed measure. For, the legis lators knew (as city creditors of a hazy kind knew) Scott's proverbial probity and knowl edge of the cunning plans and temptations and traps set by hungry lobbyists. Scott's high character and that of Judge Van Wyck, now at the head of the much-discussed Tammany elective ticket, contributed greatly to its phenomenal majority last November, that so excited the mawworms of the Lon don press. There came an interregnum to Scott's connection with the corporation counsel's office while the high-minded Hewitt was mayor, when the latter appointed Scott one of the commission which was to build the new thirty miles of aqueduct reaching from the Croton river to the city — as stu pendous a water work as ever ancient Rome knew. What with the aforesaid legislative super visions, and the argument of corporation appeals in the Albany court, and the prep aration of office opinions for municipal heads of departments in his native city, Mr. Scott's legal labors became unique and often personally oppressive. But he re mained an exemplar of Secretary Seward's epigrammatic maxim " The more a public man has to do the more he can do." Be ing temperate in habits, and blessed with elasticity of temperament and phenomenal health, those labors never took the bright ness from his eye nor the versatility from his
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brain. Indeed as he sits now on the bench — a very legal veteran — he rivals in youth ful looks any of his fifteen associates. Some writer half a century ago dubbed Daniel Webster " a steam engine in breeches." The phrase might be applied to Judge Scott. His duties as corporation counsel have been colossal. When the late lamented Frank Lockwood, Q. C, was a visitor to New York in company with Lord Chief Jus tice Russell his attention amid many inqui ries of legal curiosity was attracted toward the office of corporation counsel, and after due examination he pronounced it undoubt edly the most extensive law office in the world. He found on the Scott office doc ket entries of four thousand litigated cases in various stages of procedure, and a record of eight hundred opinions furnished during the expired year to the twenty departmental and bureaucratic municipal offices whereof Scott was statutory counsel. Few of his predecessors had personally argued appeals, but these he took oratorical charge of; while the routine of nisi prius was mainly committed to assistants, who themselves were trained lawyers at excellent stipends, for the New York municipality is not niggardly toward the salaries of any of its legal and judicial agents. While he was aqueduct commissioner litigation dogged his executive footsteps, because contractors on public works are ever greedy in claims, and seem to regard a pub lic treasury as a golden goose for the pluck ing of feathers and disentrailing. If their greed is frowned upon they raise questions of violation of contract; and implications of extra pay; which if answered to their dis like result in lawsuits. There had been a previous commission to the Hewitt one, of which Scott was made legal member, and it had made contracts loosely and extrava gantly. Thirty millions of dollars were to be expended, so that when the new com mission acceded, much material for lawsuits
