The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1900-02-21

first raised the office of Vice-President TO
that dignity, and Importance in our ma
tional system which it was intended by
the fathers to possess. Instead OF being
a mere alternate, with no function and no
influence except as the mechanical mouth
piece of the Senate's action and the iiv-
ing suggestion of possible calamity to
the Chief Executive Mr.. Hobart gave to
the office a power and influence of It's
own which was a revelation and pleas
ant surprise to the country. And to the
President himself he became beloved
friend, an adviser and helper in the ad-
mnistration Of the Government of incal-
culable value, connecting in most
unique way the Executive with the coun-
ellis of the legislative branch Of the Gov
ernment, to the mutual profit and the
better understanding of both.
Mr.. Hobart was a shining example OF
what an American boy endowed with self
reliance and industrious disposition. and
an honest ambition may accomplish With
out the help of influence or of special OPP
portunity. He did not have the aid of
powerful patron, nor the advantage Whlch
prominent position or wealth would nave
given him in his school days; but he d-c
not stand about with idle hands, com
planning or railing because some OF his
fellows were born in luxury or could live
in ease All he asked was scope and OPP
portunity and a chance to qualify hlmseiI
first, and then a fair field and no favors.
He rose to success in his profession solely
on his merits. His wa no accidental ac-
cession of public confidence, but one born
of a merited trust in the accuracy of his
judgment and in the absolute integrity OF
his nature Nothing is worth so much to
a lawyer as popular confidence in his in
tegrity. No gift of genius, no penetrating
insight into legal obscurities, nor marvel
of forensic eloquence, can ever win for
him so solid and enviable a place in the
esteem of the community as that which
they assign to him by reason of his loyal
ty and warm-hearted devotion to the in
terests of his clients.
During his early years at the bar he
mingled generally in all the varieties of
ordinary law practice. Later in life, as
his sphere of influence enlarged and his
capacity became better known, his aid
was widely sought in business enterprises
of great intricacy and large extent. He
mentative lawyer. He did not depend up
on close study of the textbooks or upon
the authority of decided cases, but his
instinct for legal principles was remark
able He had an intuitiye perception OF
what - law ought to be. This was
because of his clear apprehension OF the
abstract principles of justice, his strong
common sense, and his great experience
In affairs l have often been surprised,
when comforting with him upon some mat
ter involving legal questions of great OBJ
scurity at the accuracy with which he
would without acquaintance with the le-
gal learning on the subject. suggest the
correct legal principle which ought to ap-
ply, although if he had been called upon
he would have been at a loss to cite the
authority or to affirm the principle in any
authoritative way
AS / have said, he belonged to the con-
strucaive rather than to the critical class,
and this was as true of him as a states
man as it was as a lawyer. Hi talent
was to take a thing nd make it better,
richer, more useful, and more profitable
than 1t was before it came under the
magic touch of his genius. His amazing
\ @AAAS -
progress. just as his clear vision was al
ways disclosing the bet pathway.
He lacked the profoundly rejecting
qualities of Alexander Hamilton, but in
many practical ways he was not unlike
him He had the same intense activity
in fiscal affairs, with an equal capacity
for perceiving the true basis of utility In
an enterprise and for organizing the forces
that should evolve success. His insight
was quick and true He had the same
celerity of method in reducing the ele-
ments of difficulty in any enterprise, while
his mind outran all his associates in the
invention and application of new pro-
cesses and expedients of business.
Like Hamilton, Mr.. Hobart was intense
ly practical in his mental processes. If
he theorized, it was to find a practical
plan for some object of useful enterprise,
not to crafty speculative love for mem
tai athletics. He resembled Hamilton in
the great interest he always had in en-
terprises that tend to advance and in
crease the material prosperity of the
country Movements for the extension of
trade for the enlargement of business,
for transportation, for the supply of wa
ter for public uses, and for the larger en-
ployment of the newer agencies of de-
velopment, engaged his practical and in
telligent attention and won the ready as
sistance of his great ability.
It is an interesting item in these CO.
incidences that Mr.. Hobart at the time
of his death, was the head officer of the
Society for Establishing Useful Manufac-
lures, a corporation which, created in the
year 1791, was the product of the farsee-
ing and practical mind of Hamilton, the
charter for which was devised by him
and drafted by his hand, the object and
scope of which embraced not only the
founding and government of a great city,
but also, in its ultimate aim, the estab-
lishment of a vast system of American
manufactures, which eventually should
emancipate America from its dependence
on foreign countries, and was destined a
century later to bring her to a position
among the chief contributors to the mar
kets of the world.
Mr. Hobart did not employ, either IN
business or politics, the policies that have
their origin in violence of temper or de-
nunciation of the opposition. His dis
position was placid and conciliatory. He
was always on terms of friendship with
his political opponents. so that he could
sincerely speak of them as my friends,
the enemy, But he was none the less
firm and uncompromising where just re-
.