The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-04-20
CAPT. w. H. DAYS SPEECH
ACCEPTED BY CHIEF JUSTICE
FOR THE COURT.
IT is A MOST STRIKING LIKENESS
Il Was Painted by Randall and Given to the
Court by Judge Bynum-' Hung on
The South Wall of the
Court Room.

IL
south wall of the Supreme court roohl'
a new picture i is a portrait OF JUICY
w. L. Bynum, who sat on the supreme
bepch of North Carolina during tbe
seventies.
dt was painted 10y Randall and Is u
speaking likeness of this distinguished
iurist. Hanging just i'll front OF tle
door. its kindly eyes look down inqulrlns
IL rs Won enter from the library. For
the moment you can imagine the lips are
about TO utter the question that those
eyes speak. 1t IS gooG picture OIL
a great and good man.
The formal presentation was made at
10 o'clock yesterday morning, imlne-
d,ately after the court assembled. Ile
spe.eh of presentation was made by
GIANT. w. III, Day in the presence of the
full bench and quite number OF State
officials. including Gov. Russell, menu
lers of the bar and several visitors.
In presenting the picture to the court,
Capt. Day said:
Your Honors: l have been requested
by the Hon. w. +. Bynum. an ex-mell-
her of this court, to present to you MS
portrait.
$40 me. for personal reasons. it is a
pleasure: and / feel in doing this, am
assisting in handing down TO those VINO
shall follow us. here, the features OF
great iurist and good man.
Had Judge Bynum lived during the
ueriod of our Revolution. he would have
been of the few who shaped and moulded
government. Living in these days OF
banalities. he, by his life, gives express
sion to the highest anticipation of the
fathers.
"Strong. virile. earnest. in his manli-
ness is his power! These great attrl-
butes will leave upon coming generations
the impress of this man. No influence
can be exerted upon the life of another.
but by those who have Il real life OF
their own. All other men are imltaters.
Judge Bynum is too original and sincere
for this. He stands for himself: some
times isolated, always erect. lie was
courageous enough in 1860. TO Wrlng
himself away from the baneful preju-
dices of 1861. A strength vouchsafed
to but few men of those titantic days.
I'm her army. in her legislative halls.
upon her bench, he has served North
Carolina well.
Called to this court in 1878. he n
once commanded the respect. and then
the admiration of the legal profession,
and through it, that of our entire peo-
pie!
His dissenting opinion in the State
against Blalock rang out upon our pro
fession like tocsin in the dark: its
clear tones aroused them to full appre-
citation of their rights.
c. re vii ~ rim fha ~
succeeding Legislature unanimously en-
acted it to be the law
..In the State against Turpin. his clear
sympathetic reasoning exercised from
our State. the last CHEST of common law
brutality.
In his opinion in the State against
the Richmond and Danyille Railroad
Company. with the keen foresight Of /;
genuine seer he foretold the result upon
our liberties of the aggregation OF cor
porate power. Said he: The rapid null
tjplication OF these bodies. their re-
sources and far reaching ambition. thej
ubiquity- and vast combinations. al
moved and directed by concpntratet
power and talent constitute them dis
tinct and almost independent oyershad
owing power in our government. and, il
fact, the great social and political prob
lem of the age. Whether they shall
control governments, or government
shall control them. are questions thu
are forcing themselves upon public atten
ton. and fast assuming practical i'm
portance. They should and will he main
tanned i'm the exercise of all their essen
tial and legitimate powers, as necessar'
and useful institutions of modern civil
zation. But if. in addition to the danger
Gus power of transferring all their prop
erty and franchises TO anybody any
where, it should also be held that thel
corporate powers are such contracts a
puts them beyond the reach of all leg
islative check or control. then the prob
lem will have been solved. But gov
eminent, i'll my opinion, will have alb
Dictated its sovereignty. heretofore sup
posed inalenable. and society will be lef
without protection against chartered il
responsibility
when these words were uttered. man.
cafed them wild; a few called then
wise. To-day, every thinking man shud
ders to know that these truths fell llpol
deaf ears. Had this timely warnin
been his only life's work it would not b
had been great. | claim no North Caro-
lnian is entitled more to this praise.
His opinions contained in our reports
from volume 40 to 70, rank him, easily
by the side of the greatest judges wi
have ever adorned your bench and VIII
have helped TO make Anglo-Saxon Law
synonymous with human liberty.
Judge Bynum is the best misunde,
stood man in North Carolina, he Wi
not be fully appreciated until we hay
lost him. and he shall have Joined tn
silent majority. Then. not till then. Wi
the transformations charity of his life b
known-a charity as broad and genia
as the casing air
But. your Honors. | am reminded,
speak of q living man; in doing this,
must not I've as frank and candid a
when speaking of the dead So. / leav
unsaid, to-day, many things that will ~
sadly. said of him hereafter; all in hi
pra ise.'
At the conclusion OF Capt Days n