ASSOCIATE JUSTICE JOSEPH MCKENNA - AUTOGRAPH 03/16/1899 CO-SIGNED BY: DAVID R. FRANCIS - HFSID 34965

JOSEPH McKENNA and DAVID R. FRANCIS
Sheet of paper signed by McKenna on one side and by Francis on the other
Signature: "Joseph McKenna/March 16-99", on 6¼x1¾ sheet of white paper, and on verso "D. R. Francis/Secy Interior 1896-'96". JOSEPH McKENNA (1843-1926) served in all three branches of the US government: the legislative, as US Representative from California (1885-1893), the executive, as Attorney General under President McKinley (1897-1898) and the judicial. Having served previously as a circuit court judge, McKenna became an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court (1898-1925). A centrist on the Court who wrote few dissents, McKenna did write some important decisions, most notably in the case of United States v. U.S. Steel Corporation (1920), in which the "rule of reason" principle, declaring that only those combinations that are in unreasonable restraint of trade are illegal. American politician, DAVID R. FRANCIS (1850-1927) not only served as Secretary of the Interior (1896-1897) under Grover Cleveland but was also the Ambassador to Russia (1916-1917) during the Russian Revolution of 1917. First elected to public office in 1885 as Mayor of St. Louis he is also the only St. Louis Mayor to become Governor of Missouri (1889-1893). Francis was a major promoter of the St. Louis World's Fair (1904) and served as President of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Nail head size brown stain at left edge. Worn and toned on edges. Otherwise, fine condition.