The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1910-07-28


President Cleveland appointed him he
was only a practicing lawyer of no
great national reputation and had
never held a judicial office. The skep-
ticism which met his appointment
was almost as universal as is now the
judgment that Mr.. Fuller ranked with
his illustrious predecessors as a prac-
tical and Woodworking man.
Originally holding to le-
gal tenets which grew to be out of
touch with modern thought, the late
chief justice well illustrated the pur
pose of the bench by listening to the
reasonable arguments of lawyers bet
ter versed at the outset than he, and
before the end of his judicial career
was found in the court records revers-
ing the applied principles of law
which he brought with him to Wash
ington. By many astute lawyers this
is regarded as one of the most strik-
ing examples of the largeness of the
judicial mind of the late chief
justice.
Combined with these judicial func-
lions great administrative ability is
required of the chief justice of the
Supreme Court. This quality Justice
Fuller possessed in a marked degree.
Few, if any, complaints have ever
been made during his administration
as presiding officer that the wheels
of the highest tribunal in the land
were turning too slowly or unevenly.
Behind the outward manifestation of
the cOurtly gentleman, and his mild
hammered voice, which in recent
years has been almost inaudible to
those seated on the edge of the court
room, was a tremendous force of
character and keen sense of JUS
tice and capability for hard and
persistent work wholly out of pro-
portion with his years.
Justice Fuller never pretended to
voice the opinions of anyone but HIM
self, and had no liking for the lime
light. His position in Washington
made it possible for him to fix his
social status where he wille6. He
had no liking whatever for anything
smacking of ostentatious display.
On and off the bench he was the per-
sonification of judicial dignity. He
possessed a sense of humor which
he employed quietly and with effect.
The subjects of his conversations
were full of substance, scholarly and
profound and rich in wisdom.
1t was Justice Fuller who practic-
ally settled the fate of the Roosevelt
propaganda for. phonetic spelling. At
the time when Congress was daily
receiving messages spelled in the
new form of photography and when
the House of Representatives was
trying to nerve itself to the point of
putting a quietus on this new sys-
tenn Justice Fuller quietly squelched
it's use in the Supreme court. At that
time, the Government printing office,
under orders from President Roose-
welt, was printing all documents for
the executive departments, including
the department of justice, in phonetic
spelling This included briefs which
were submitted to the Supreme court
In land case presented to the court
Solicitor-General Henry M. Hoyt Of
fered one of these briefs. In glanc,
ing through it hastily Chief Justice
Fuller espied a quotation from an
opinion by Former Associate Justice
Bradley in which the word through
was spelled thru"
Did l understand you to say that
this purports to be literal quotation
from the opinion of Justice Bradley"
inquired the chief justice.
1t was not necessary for him to say
more. Mr.. Hoyt realized from this
inquiry that phonetic spelling would
not be tolerated by the Supreme
court and that serious blunder haC
been made in changing the spelling
used by a former member of tha
court. He promptly and quietly in
formed the court that there would
be no repetition of the offense. Tha
ended phonetic spelling in the THIRD
coordinate branch of the government
and shortly thereafter Congress itsel
limited it's use to correspondence be
tween executive departments.
With other members of the court
Justice Fuller had an adherence fot
those who used its decisions as
vehicle for making money on tn
stock market. Nothing was eve
said on the subject in the open court
but every obstacle was put in tn
way of such persons when opportuni
| al n