The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-05-04

of his time. He was not an agItator
to found or to overturn institutions.
But If he set in motion no tidal wave
of supposed reform to sweep over the
country he left. no cities ruined and
desolate and no fair coasts devas tated,
like those so often revealed when such
a wave has ebbed. Instead of this he
presented the gratifying spectacle of
man sagacious and strong, moderate,
tolerant and cons ervative, with cult
waited mind. with reason and under
standing well developed, who, accept
ing the worlds order as wholesome
confronted his duties and opportunities
day by day with patience, fortitude
and f1rmneSS, with energy, frankness,
candor and serenity of temper; and
because of this attitude, habit and
constitution of mind and character ne
was especially we'll fitted for discover
ing and disclosing just rules for the
guidance of his fellowmen in their
relations to each other and to the
state.
AS a practitioner at the bar Judge
Greene discharged we'll the debt which
in Lord Bacon's phrase every man
owes to his profession. He was help
and an ornament, was honest and lib
eral, never descended into any course
which was unworthy or corrupt and
preserved himself free from all the
abuses which, infest the practice Of the
law. Beyond this, as the great chan
cellor would have, he visited and
strengthened the foundations. of the
science itself thereby not only grac-
simplifying it in profession and sub
stance"
An episode in his career at the bar
we'll illustrates his character de-
termined effort was made in Harvey
county to prevent the enforcement OF
the Intoxicating liquor law, and so far
as possible to nullify it. The county
aft
of friends of the law, and Judge Greene
was appointed to fill the vacancy. He
suffered no embarrassment on account
of the situation confronting him be-
cause he held no mongrel notions OF
the nature Of official duty. The course
to pursue was as clear as sunlight to
him. Whether or not the law was
| popular thing with his fellow citizens
was of no consequence to him as
| public officer sworn to do his duty
| The legislature had possessed dis
| erection as to what should be law In
| Harvey county. That discretion had
| been exercised and no county attorney
could then exercise any option as to
| what laws legally enacted should be
| enforced. OF course, the unlawful traf-
fc was broken up. but Judge Greene
| did not stop with that. Defenses to
| the prosecutions which he had con-
Quoted had been made under a general
contract for pay for professional ser
vices to be rendered in defending sa-
| loon keepers and druggists for viola
| lions of law to be committed in the
| future and in the contemplation of the
| parties when the contract was made.
! To Judge Green's mind such a contract
was void in it's inception as violative
of public policy. Therefore he readily
accepted private employment on behalf
of the men he had convicted and pro-
| cured a judicial condemnation of the
contract.
| AS member of this court his work
was worthy of its best traditions. He
| had a firm grasp upon fundamental
principles and never shirked from Sc
we're and logical thinking. In consulta-
ton the friction of mind upon mind
served to exhilarate his own faculties
and to sustain the momentum of his
own thought, but never to overcome
| the integrity of his own intellectually.
| His opinions are distinguished for pre-
| cision, reserve of statement and the
weighing of words. The strength of his
| passion against the dishonest and I'M
i considerable may be judged from the
memorandum opinions which he filed
in disposing of two noted cases involv-
4 ing conduct of that character-one that
of a lawyer who pleaded an Ubiquitous
| agreement in justification of the deten-
ton of property not his own, and the
other that of a professional violator of
law who besought the aid of a court of
equity to protect him from prosecution
so that he might pursue his criminal
vocation. His heart was so tender that
his voice would choke and his eyes fill
with tears when presenting to the
court in consultation the record con-
tanning some story of human affliction.
His noble fortitude and devotion to
duty in striving day after day to deal
adequately with the ceaseless stream
of cases which pours in upon the court
while only the half of one of two nee
essary organs of his body was left to
perform a vital function should be one
of the cherished heritages of the peo-
pie of this commonwealth.
In times of public unrest or politica
excitement the number is frequently