The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-03-24
MORRISON II WAITE.

Truly AMI sincerely does the nation
mourn the dea,h OF Chit Justice Nor
rison E. W lite, the sorrowul news OF
which event started and bowed the re-
public yes. rI.y morning as it was
flashed along the wires. Information
of his illness preceded the announce
ment OF his death only a few hours. and
even the news of The sickness was not OF
q naturs to occasion alarm or apprehen
sion.
Judge Waite had been Chief Justice
fourteen years, having been appointed
nv Grant in 1874 and while his fame as
a jurlst WAS not equal to that OF some
OF his predecessors he was everywhere
recognized as a capable judge, abso-
lutely incorruptiDle, and one of the
hardest workers ever on the Supreme
bench. Els industry was proverblai,
and it has been said that
he worked harder than any
of the associates. His mind was JUDI
cial aad his habits aud m' thods those
of thu Judge; that is to say, he was ID
no sense politician. IN his early
manhood he was elected to the Leglsla-
ture of his adopted State (Ohlol aud
had mis- b mt BEEN in that direction
prominent pl ace il politics was open to
him: but ne Low d the law bitter than
politics. The early life of Mr.. Wait
was marked by nothing extraordinary
Born in sLraIght-laced Connecticut of
Puritan parents, be was brought up
strict Ca ,isuaa, and retained through
life evidences OF his church going
training. lis father having been a
lawyer and judge the son took
naturally to the Law, reading
in the Office of his father. Before he
was admitted to the bar, however, he
came to the then far west" aud set 40
for himself in the Buckeye State, where
for third of century ne pracllced bis
loved profession, without achieving
more than local fame, however. He
first came into uistinCuon through his
services as counsel for government in
the Geneva Arbitration Commission.
There his ability and learning as
lawyer and statesman were exhibited
in sucn manner as to bring Mr..
Waite prominently before the nation.
There was even talk of nominating him
for President, but ne never encouraged
the suggestion. Again in 1873,
after he had been ye
on the supreme bench, Ohio
Republicans urged him for the Presi
dental nomination, and were so press
ing in the matter that he was impelled
10 positively decline the nomination,
which he cid in a letter that further
raised him in the esteem of the nation,
and made frmer the popular belief that
the Chief Justice was abJYe politics. At
the beginning of 1874, vacancy occur
ing in the Chief Justlceship, Pr sident
Grant nominated Judge Waite to the
exalted position, the latter taking the
oath and assuming his duties as head OF
the highest tribunal on earth on March
4th OF the year named.
He was by no means brilliant man
but his record on the bench is one of
which the country is proud. His opinions
are among the clearest and soundest in
the books, eVidencing both the logiclan
and the man of deep learning in and
unbounded respect for the Jaw, and
showing an absence of the partisan poll
tical bias which has been seen in so
many of our judges.
The nation may well mourn for Chief
Justice Waite, for it has few men as
good and as pure as he.
Judge Waite was born on November
10Th, 1916.