Formally inducted as a Justice of the Court of Domestic Relations. Jacob Panken, veteran Socialist leader sat on the bench yesterday in Children’s Court, at 137 West Twenty-second street, before a throng of well-wishers, with Mayor LaGuardia and Presiding Justice John Warren Hill seated beside him.
From behind a bank of flowers sent by admirers, Justice Panken promised his court would be a “humane agency” for those who came to it in trouble.
“We will not bother with involved legalisms,” he said as Mayor LaGuardia beamed his approval and made a brief address of tribute.
Justice Panken was presented with a red banner and a silver gavel by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers’ Union, whose vice-president, Louis Hollander, hailed the judge and Mayor LaGuardia as “comrades and dues-paying members.”
Others who spoke in tribute were Socialist leaders Charles Solomon, Algernon Lee, Sidney Hillman and Abraham Cahan, Joseph Schlossberg of the Amalgamated, Justice Hill and Matthew M. Levy, Mr. Panken’s law partner.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.