Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-18
Honors to the Memory of JUS
tice Peckham.
Eminent LAWYERS THERE
Judge Alton B. Parker Presides and
Delivers Address.
RESOLUTIONS OF RESPECT
Expression of Esteem for Deceased
Jurist and Regret for the
Country's Loss.

Members of the bar of the Supreme
| the courtroom at IL o'clock today to pay
tribute to the memory Of the late Mr..
Justice Peckham. The gathering includ-
ed lawyers of distinction from other cities
as we'll as Washington. Among those
who attended were Bernard Carter. Bal
timore: Shirley Carter. Baltimore; James
H. Hayden. Evans Browne, Fred S. Ty-
ler, William II. Robson. E. HI. Thomas.
John c. Fay, Nathaniel Wilson, Assist
ant Attorney General Russell, Otto T..
Barnard. W. J. Hughes, George P. Mer-
rick, Alton B. Parker of New York. Elihu
Root. Solicitor General Bowen William
A. Maury. Delaney Nicoll of New York.
Assistant Attorney General Fowler,
Thomas II. Clark, Charles f. Patterson
of Albany. A. J. Gordon Kane of New
York.. Daniel NJ. Ransdell William F.
Mattingly, Wade n. Ellis, A. B. Browne.
George. H. Patrick and Charles H. But
Ter.
Solicitor General Bowers of the De-
partment of Justice called the meeting to
order and upon his motion Judge Alton
B. Parker of New York was made chair
man. and upon taking the chair made
an address.
Judge Parker's Tribute.
Judge Parker paid high tribute to
| Justice Peckham and incidentally spoke
OF the highest court of the nation in
terms of praise.
I'VE are here today, he said. ito
the highest development of our dem
ocratic institutions, as manifested In our
judicial system, and, at the same time,
to recall a man sturdy, independent.
kindly, modest well-poised and many
sided
"The devotion of Rufus Wheeler Peck
ham to the law was akin to his heritage
Of life itself. He came from an ancestry
distinctly legal. There have been fami-
lies whose members have illustrated in
one generation after another, the best
human qualities. but our history does not
reveal another In which the public career
Of son has touched that of father
at more, if so many, points"
After citing incidents in which Judge
Peckham and Judge Peckham's father
had filled the same positions Mr.. Parker
continued:
His personality was engaging and
kindly. His attachment for old friends
warm and tenacious. His hatred of fraud
and deceit was so deep-seated and his
vigilance in its detection SO untiring. that
he who. in the words of Blackburn.
so palters in a double sense as to ''iie
like truth" could not thereby escape the
consequences of his deceit.
A Lover Of Justice.
He loved justice with all his heart
and his highest. indeed his only, ambition
was to devote his life to its administra-
ton. Therefore he welcomed the oppor-
tunity, which his modesty and dignity
prevented him from seeking. of service
to all the people of the United States in
their court Of last resort
And so. in a process of evolution as
orderly-I had almost said as any of the
came to be a constituent of the tribunal
which occupies this modest court room
And what tribunal.
1T is at once the eminence and the base
of the most imposing, the most benef1cent,
the most firmy planted of the govern
ments the world has ever known.
In its beginning statesmen and stu
dents of history gravely considered
whether a government could live with
such power lodged in the court: but after
and amid the vicissitudes of a century
and nearly one-quarter. involving bitter
strife in the domain of politics. heated
and even angry controversies in the leg
islative halls. quarrels between the Iegis-
lature and the Executive. and contest
of arms evoking destruction of lives
and material treasure appalling to the
Imagination. its light burns with blight
er glow and a wider radiance of hope
and assurance among mankind
Through it all this court has preserved
it's serenity, its majesty. its influence. It's
power and the respect and confidence of
all the people. To the sovereign state 1t
says. Here is the limit of your territory
or your authority: to the legislative de-
partments, state or national, II says, You
have exceeded the limit Of your power and
Your doing is void: TO the humblest and
most destitute of humans it unlocks the
prison door closed upon him by SOW
ereign: to the greatest aggregations of
organized wealth and power 1t says, Dis
solve and disperse.' and IT is so. And all
this has been accomplished. In the words
of the Marquis de Mobis. by a power
which has no guards. no palaces, no
treasures no armies but truth and wis
DOM
Enhanced It's Dignity.